The Albert Lea football team can say it’s 1-0 for the first time in 12 years after a 6-0 overtime win over Waseca Thursday night at Hammer Field.

It was only the first win of the season, but it was so much more for a program that hasn’t started out the season with a win since 1995 when the Tigers upset Rochester Mayo Sept. 1 in Rochester. That was also the last year Albert Lea had a winning record.

“No words can explain this,” Tigers linebacker Jordan Holland said. “We just kept battling.”

The defense was the strength of Albert Lea all night and there was no finer moment for the unit than with the game on the line in overtime. The Bluejays took over at the 10-yard line to begin the extra session and ran the ball to the 1-yard line setting up what appeared to be a likely touchdown — but that’s when the Tiger defense found whatever ounce of energy and strength it had left to deny Waseca three times at the goal line. On the final stand Albert Lea penetrated into the Bluejays backfield and wrapped up quarterback Brad McIntosh to turn the ball over to the Tigers offense.

Albert Lea needed just one play a handoff up the middle to running back Luke Grossman. The offensive line fended off the Waseca defense to open up a hole for Grossman to scamper 10 yards for the game winning touchdown.

“I tip my hat to the kids for never giving up and battling all the time and coming through with a great goal line stand,” head coach Clay Anderson said. “We’re 1-0 and we’ve won three out of our last four. It’s a good feeling right now we have and the first week of school we’ll be riding high.”

The victory was especially sweet for the Tigers as it made up for two years of disappointment against the Bluejays. Last season Albert Lea lost 24-0 and the year before it lost 27-0.

Grossman described the win as the best moment he’s ever had in sports and a lot of the credit was due to the defense stepping up when the offense made mistakes.

“We just know that we have to play defense as hard as we can even if our offense has a turnover,” Grossman said.

The Tigers had three turnovers in the game but after two of the three turnovers the defense stepped in and put the ball back into the hands of the offense.

Albert Lea lost a fumble with 7:24 to go in the fourth quarter, but two plays later free safety Matt Tiegs intercepted a pass and returned it to the Waseca 46-yard line.

In the first half the Bluejays picked off a pass at their 1-yard line, but cornerback Logan Kortan came up with an interception of his own to prevent Waseca from taking advantage of the turnover.

“We count on our defense to pick up our offense and we count on our offense to pick up our defense,” Holland said.

Both teams threatened to score, but the Bluejays had the best chance of putting points on the board as the first half was coming to a close. Waseca lined up for a field goal with seconds left on the clock, but the attempt went wide left and the game remained tied at half time.

Grossman led the team in rushing with 86 yards on 13 attempts and Matt Tiegs added 71 yards on 14 attempts as the Tigers used their running game for the majority of their offense. Albert Lea outrushed the Bluejays 156-137.

Much of the game was marred by penalties as the two teams combined for 23 penalties and multiple times there were successive penalties in the same drive.

The Tigers were dealt an early blow when junior offensive tackle and defensive tackle Mitch Webb was injured during the first series.

Anderson said it was a great way to start the season and gave his team a lot of confidence heading into the rest of the season, but there is still much to be done.

“The key for us will be to keep getting better and work hard,” Anderson said. “Hopefully it will give us a positive attitude this week and put a good week in, of course we’ve got the big boys next week.”

Albert Lea will play Rochester Mayo next Friday at 7 p.m.

Albert Lea 6, Waseca 0

Albert Lea – 0 0 0 0 6 — 6

Waseca – 0 0 0 0 0 — 0

First quarter

No scoring

Second quarter

No scoring

Third quarter

No scoring

Fourth quarter

No scoring

Overtime

AL — Grossman 10 run

Individual statistics

Passing — Cody Hansen 1 for 8 for 13 yards

Rushing — Luke Grossman 13 for 78 yards