High School Football: 3rd-ranked Pierz stays unbeaten

HOWARD LAKE-Reese Kapsner returned the opening kickoff 70 yards for a touchdown and Jalen Jansen ran for two scores as Class 3A's unbeaten and third-ranked Pierz Pioneers rolled to a 52-7 win over Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted Friday in a Mid-State Subdistrict 1 matchup.

Also running for touchdowns for the Pioneers were Luke Girtz, Carson Huls, Alex Gross, Johnathan Hopkins and Alex Barclay.

Pierz amassed 269 yards rushing and 46 yards passing while the Pioneers limited HLWW to just 72 yards rushing and 42 yards passing.

Howard Lake-WW 7 0 0 0-7

Pierz 6 15 13 18-52

First quarter

P-Reese Kapsner 70 kickoff return (kick fail) 11:49

HLWW-Brennan Barth 16 run (Nate Heuer kick) 5:23

Second quarter

P-Jalen Jansen 14 run (Kapsner run) 4:43

P-Luke Girtz 11 run (Preston Rocheleau kick) 2:33

Third quarter

P-Jansen 5 run (kick fail) 8:22

P-Carson Huls 1 run (Rocheleau kick) 2:05

Fourth quarter

P-Alex Gross 4 run (kick fail) 6:22

P-Johnathan Hopkins 1 run (kick fail) 4:06

P-Alex Barclay 15 run (run fail) 0:50

Team statistics

Rushes-yards: P 47-269, HLWW 36-72

Pass comp-att-int-yds: P 4-4-0-46, HLWW 7-11-0-42

Total offense: P 315, HLWW 114

Individual leaders

Rushing: P-Luke Girtz 9-83, Jansen 6-46

Passing: P-Preston Rocheleau 4-4-0-46

Receiving: P-Ben Herold 2-33

Sub: P 5-0. Overall: P 6-0. Next: Pierz hosts Paynesville 7 p.m. Friday.