It wasn't a perfect performance, but it was good enough to keep the Martin County West football team's perfect record approaching the halfway point of its regular-season schedule.
The Mavericks defeated Minnesota Valley Lutheran 34-16 Saturday night in Sherburn to put their record at 3-0. The Chargers slid to 1-2.
Joseph Forsberg scored three touchdowns for MCW.
On offense, he scored on runs of six and 49 yards and ran in a pair of two-point conversions.
On defense, he returned an interception three yards for a TD.
"It's a great win," said the 5-foot-7, 160-pounder who had missed some playing time in the Mavericks previous game vs. Sleepy Eye due to a thigh bruise.
"There's some things to clean up but it was great effort and a great team win. I fumbled a couple of times. I need to keep the ball high and tight. Good things will happen once I do that. I need to put it behind and keep a positive attitude."
Early in the second quarter, defensive end Tanner Sinn pressured MVL quarterback Luke Thompson as he tried to throw out of his own end zone and forced an off-target throw that Forsberg was able to pick off and stroll in for a touchdown.
"I think that was a turning point where we started to hammer it down," said Forsberg, who plays linebacker on defense. "It was a great play."
Jesse Potts caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from Christian Bachenberg and Carver Rohman returned a fumble 21 yards for a TD.
Forsberg led MCW in rushing with 149 yards on 25 carries.
Bachenberg was 6-for-13 passing for 83 yards. Tanner Sinn caught three passes for 45 yards.
"We'll take a win any time we can get it." said MCW coach Tom Elliott. "We definitely have some things we need to clean up. One is ball security. We put the ball on the ground way too many times. That will be a focal point moving forward."
The Mavericks had 298 yards offense, 215 rushing and 83 passing. They held the Chargers to 144 yards, 39 on the ground and 105 in the air.
"We were able to do what we thought we could," Elliott said. "Obviously you never really know until you kick the ball off but we were able to establish the ground game and then hit some passes. I liked the efficiency of the offense and the defense played great. We gave up a couple of scores on some missed assignments but we got the 'W' and we'll take it."
It all starts up front and Elliott said MCW's linemen played well offensively and defensively.
"The guys up front are the MVPs of the game on offense and defense," he said. "They were able to establish the line of scrimmage on almost every play that we asked them to convert. They worked really hard and MVL did not have small guys up front so they had their work cut out for them and they did an awesome job.
"All game defensive line was able to get the quarterback off his spot and if we can get errant throws like we did on the Pick Six, that's what we're trying to do. They did a great job in the run game too. They read their keys and were able to get off blocks, flow sideline to sideline and make plays."
Max Olson made nine tackles to lead the Martin County West defense. Jacob Fiala was next with six.
The Mavericks travel to Adrian on Friday. The Dragons are 1-2, opening with losses to Minneota and Tracy-Milroy-Balaton before beating Sleepy Eye 28-6 on Friday.
MCW football schedule
Fri., Sept. 3 - at St. James Area, W 47-13
Fri., Sept. 10 - Sleepy Eye, W 22-14
Sat., Sept. 18 - Minnesota Valley Lutheran, W 34-16
Fri., Sept. 24 - at Adrian, 7 a.m.
Fri., Oct. 1 - New Ulm Cathedral, 7 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 8 - at Murray County Central, 7 p.m.
Thurs., Oct. 14 - Springfield, 7 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 20 - at Tracy-Milroy-Balaton, 7 p.m.