Picking off a win!

A week’s worth of practice had told Keegan Tenge what was coming next.All week the New Hampton coaches had told Tenge and his fellow defensive backs that the Cowboys liked to run curl pass routes when they faced third-and-long.So midway through the third quarter, with New Hampton clinging to a 14-6 lead and the Cowboys staring at a third-and-8 play, Tenge was ready and sure enough, the CGDC receiver ran a curl route.Tenge read it beautifully, made a perfect break on the ball and picked off Kainan Braun’s pass and raced 33 yards to the end zone and New Hampton had breathing room on its way to a 35-6 Class 2A, District 2 win.“For the most part, on third downs especially, they’re just going to run to the sticks,” Tenge said, “and I got a good read on the ball and he ended up throwing it right to me. ... Once I had it, I don’t know if I was thinking touchdown right away but yeah, there was a lot of green in front of me.”  For the full story, please see the Sept. 27 Tribune.