By Michael Rodgers

The Goshen Eagles played Luverne close for a half, but the Tigers pulled away in the third quarter for a 40-13 win Friday night in Luverne.

Head coach Bart Snyder said that even though the scoreboard doesn’t show it, his team showed great improvement from last week.

“We are 100 times better than we were this time last week,” he said. “These guys played four full quarters, and they played their heart out.”

The Goshen defense made the Eagles’ first statement of the game by stopping Luverne on fourth down at the Tigers’ 43-yard line midway through the first quarter.

The Eagles trailed 14-0 when the offense started clicking and moving the ball down the field against Luverne in the second quarter.

Sophomore Terrainno Griffin broke a run of 19 yards to move the ball inside the Luverne five-yard line, but the Eagles took a step back when the Luverne defense dropped Deangelo Orum for a loss.

Facing third down and goal from the five-yard line, quarterback Ramsey Rigby fought through the defender trying to bring him down to connect with Marquel Gibbs for a touchdown to cut the score to 14-7 with 8:10 left before halftime.

The Tigers responded with a quick strike on the ensuing drive and put the game further out of reach in the third quarter.

The Eagles’ other score of the game came with 7:53 left in the final period when Orum punched it in from a yard out.