WELLS &045; A tipped pass and a missed pass.

It was only two plays among dozens for United South Central and Windom Area, but it made the difference.

Top-seeded United South Central fell just short and saw its season end with a gut-wrenching 14-13 loss to the underdog Eagles in a Section 2AA semifinal football game at Wells Saturday.

It was the first loss of the year for the top-seeded Rebels, who finished 9-1 and were rated No. 1 in the final Class AA state poll. Third-seeded Windom Area improved to 5-5 and advanced to the section title game against seventh-seeded Springfield, which upset Madelia/Truman 18-13 Saturday.

While disappointed with the loss, USC coach Brent Schimek said he’s proud of his players’ accomplishments and the fact they fought hard to the end.

&uot;It was a good year,&uot; said Schimek. &uot;We went up against a good team. If you’re going to go out, you want to go out playing well, and we did. We were just a tipped pass and a missed extra point short.&uot;

The tipped pass came after Windom’s second touchdown, which gave the Eagles a 14-7 lead in the fourth quarter. The Rebels tipped the pass on the two-point conversion &045; right into a Windom player’s hands.

The Rebels answered late, driving 76 yards in six plays with Nate Pederson catching a 23-yard touchdown pass from Ben Wetzell with 1:39 remaining. Schimek opted to try for two and the win, and Wetzell’s pass was intercepted.

The Rebels tried an on-side kick and recovered it, but the officials ruled USC off side on the play. A second attempt was recovered by Windom.

The Rebels were outgained 222-136.

Steven Wood led the USC defense with 13 tackles. Ryan Treptow had four tackles and a sack.

WA

&045;

0

6

0

8

&045;

14

USC

&045;

0

0

7

6

&045;

13

First Quarter

No scoring

Second Quarter

WA &045; Anderson 7 pass from Karschnik (kick wide)

Third Quarter

USC &045; Wetzell 2 run (Knutson kick)

Fourth Quarter

WA &045; Anderson 10 pass from Karschnik (Zimmerman pass from Karschnik)

USC &045; Pederson 23 pass from Wetzell (pass failed)

WA, USC

Rushing yards: 222, 136

Passing yards: 92, 103

Total yards: 314, 239

Pen.-Yds.: 7-60, 5-48

Turnovers: 1, 3

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING&045;USC, Niebuhr 12-60; Haugh 9-50; Wetzell 6-25.

PASSING&045;USC, Wetzell 5-13-3, 103.

RECEIVING&045;USC, Voigt 1-51; Pederson 2-41; Haugh 2-11.