Things could not have gone much worse for Aberdeen Central on the gridiron Friday night.

The Golden Eagles had a tough time stopping the run, had two apparent touchdowns called back, turned the ball over three times, and lost a key player to injury in a 40-0 non-conference football setback to Sturgis at the Brownell Activities Complex.

“It’s kind of been the theme for tonight, it’s kind of been the theme throughout the year, the wrong players going down, just the tipped balls that just don’t go our way. It’s kind of been our theme for the year,” said Central coach Justin Briese. “Things just aren’t rolling our way. Give our kids credit. They keep coming back to work. They keep their head down, they keep working hard, and our coaches are trying to get our kids in good positions.”

The Scoopers set the tone for the evening, taking their first possession and marching down the field for a touchdown. However, things really took a tough turn for the Golden Eagles early in the second quarter.

Key offensive weapon Porter Lozenski went down with an injury on the first play of the second period. Two plays later, Gage West of Sturgis intercepted a pass and returned it for a 45-yard touchdown. Then on Central’s next play from scrimmage Gage Miller intercepted a pass for the Scoopers, who scored on a 20-yard pass play on the very next play for a 21-0 lead with 10:49 left in the half.

“Can’t catch a break. That’s kind of been the theme, whether it’s offense, defense or special teams,” Briese said. “Things just don’t seem to roll our way.”

Sturgis tacked on another touchdown on a 61-yard run for a commanding 27-point advantage with 8:56 left in the half.

While Central made adjustments on defense in the second half, the hole was too big to climb out of as the Scoopers were able to find running room throughout the opening half.

“It was combination of our D-line not fitting right, and our linebackers not fitting right, and then missing tackles on top of that,” Briese said. “We made adjustments and talked about it at halftime, and sat down our guys and said here’s what they’re doing. It’s what we saw a week in practice and what we prepared for, but we’re just not executing it in our gaps correctly.”

It appeared that the Golden Eagles had scored twice in the second half, only to have both scores negated. The first came when Carter Lust hauled in a 34-yard pass in the end zone. However, the score was erased because of off-setting penalties on the play.

“You got to look at the bright side,” Lust said, “I mean you made the play happen, so it can definitely happen again.”

The speedy Lust is a threat to score any time he touches the ball. He picked up 33 yards on a jet sweep, and had multiple returns that gave Central prime field position in the contest.

“It’s a good feeling. I like getting the ball,” Lust said. “I know when I get hands on it I can make a play, so I just push it up field for our team.”

The Golden Eagles had another apparent score wiped out when it was ruled that Paden Appl had stepped out of bounds at the 11-yard line after he had darted into the end zone. That drive was stopped on downs at the Sturgis 3-yard line.

Despite giving up 40 points, Central did make solid plays on defense, including a pair by Jackson Dargatz, who stopped ball carriers in space to prevent potential chunk yardage for the Scoopers.

“I have to thank wrestling for that,” Dargatz said of his footwork.

He said the key to producing plays like that are to stay true to his technique.

“I just go back to the basics of tackling, my form,” Dargatz said, “just believing in myself to make a play.”

Lozenski’s injury was the latest in a string of many for the Golden Eagles this season.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries this year, and a lot of important ones,” Dargatz said, “a lot of important guys going down, so it’s just next man up.”

While Central slipped to 0-6 on the season, Lust said there is still plenty of motivation for the rest of the campaign.

“For our senior class, right now we’ve got nothing to lose,” Lust said, “so we might as well lay it all out on the field.”

The Golden Eagles will play their final home game of the season when they host Watertown on Friday night.

“We’ll get back to work on Monday and get our guys ready to go and get better, and see what Friday night brings next week,” Briese said.

One thing is for sure, the players are not about to give up the fight.

“We may be perceived as not so good of a team right now,” Lust said, “but deep down we’re a bunch of guys who are putting in the work.”

When asked about the key for next week’s contest, Dargatz responded, “It’s going to take the whole team. It’s got to be everybody in the right mindset, right preparation the whole week.”

Sturgis (3-3) 7 20 6 7 – 40

Aberdeen (0-6) 0 0 0 0 – 0

First Quarter

S – Zhoel Irion 5 run (Izaac Smith kick), 4:30.

Second Quarter

S – Gage West 45 pass interception return (Smith kick), 11:13.

S – Brody Bulat 20 pass from Tate Johnson (Smith kick), 10:49.

S – Irion 61 run, 8:56.

Third Quarter

S – West 14 pass from Austin Flohr (Smith kick), :37.

Fourth Quarter

S – West 23 pass from Flohr, 7:52.

OFFENSE: Sturgis rushing 39-249 (Irion 15-107, Garrett Rohloff 7-64, Mason Hagen 6-61, Johnson 6-32, Flohr 5-5), passing 10-16-0 for 115 (Flohr 5-7-0 for 68, Johnson 5-9-0 for 47), receiving (West 3-41, Bulat 3-30, Devin Ross 1-21, Jack Jolley 1-9, Irion 1-8, Gage Miller 1-6), first downs 24; Aberdeen Central rushing 30-120 (Polin Joseph 10-49, Carter Lust 1-33, Paden Appl 11-32, Porter Lozenski 4-18), passing 12-26-3 for 94 (Jackson Berry 11-25-3 for 84, Lozenski 1-1-0 for 10), receiving (Owen Ward 4-44, Lozenski 2-17, Ben Weishaar 3-16, Lust 1-7, Gary Wade 1-7, Appl 1-3), first downs 9.

DEFENSE: Sturgis, Rohloff 5 tackles, Bulat 5 tackles, Dion Reece 3 tackles, Irion 3 tackles, Miller 2 interceptions, West 1 interception; Aberdeen Central, Jude Sumner 8 tackles, Ward 6 tackles, Jackson Dargatz 5 tackles, Oaklee Wurtz 4 tackles including 1 sack, Micah Bruns 3 tackles.