The Crookston Pirate Football team’s Joseph Ramirez recovered a fumble in the endzone for a touchdown late in the third quarter and that was the difference as Crookston beat the Roseau Rams 16-8 in a game played on a mud-covered field in Roseau.
FIRST QUARTER-
Crookston won the coin toss and elected to receive to start the game. Crookston started the drive at their own 25-yard line. The first two plays of the drive were two-yard runs by Ethan Boll and Leyton Salentin. On a third down and six play, Crookston elected to go to the air and Salentine threw a pass high in the air and Quinn Westlake caught the pass, after a Roseau defender slipped, for a 37-yard reception to keep the drive going. Crookston continued to move the ball at four to five-yard chunks. On the 11th play of the drive, and on a 3rd down and goal play, Salentine ran to the right side of the field before cutting back to the middle of the field, finding an opening along the Pirate sideline as he sprinted into the endzone for a 14-yard touchdown. Salentine also ran the ball on the two-point conversion and dove across the goal line to give Crookston an 8-0 lead with 5:13 left in the first quarter. “I thought we did a really good job on the drive. I thought our lineman did a good job of staying low,” said Pirate Coach Scott Butt. “I thought the big play was the pass to Quinn Westlake and the drive was exactly what we wanted. We ran a bunch of plays and a lot of time off the clock.”
On Roseau’s first drive of the game, they rolled the dice on a fourth down and one play at midfield and got the first down to keep the drive going. Two plays later, Roseau’s Danny Wensloff found Ben Olson for a 16-yard pass and another first down. Roseau lost a yard on the next play, before getting the yard back on a run to set up a third and 10 situation. Roseau threw back-to-back incomplete passes to turn over the ball on downs with 53 seconds left in the first quarter.
SECOND QUARTER –
Crookston’s first drive of the second quarter ended after five plays and an incomplete pass for a turnover on downs at the Ram 46 yard line. Roseau took advantage of the short field and after two carries for six-yards, Ram quarterback Danny Wensloff scampered down the sideline for 28 yards. Four plays later Wensloff struck again, this time through the air with a 17 yard pass to Jace Hulst who made the grab after it was tipped by Crookston’s Zach Brown and Roseau scored. As the two players ran down the field, water was splashing with each step they took inside the five-yard line. Roseau converted the two-point conversion to tie the game at 8-8 with 6:40 left in the first half. “Zach deflected the ball and the Roseau kid made a great play on the ball after it was batted away,” said Coach Butt. “Sometimes you play things perfectly and they still make the play and that was the case on that play.”
Crookston tried to answer with a 10 play drive that took over four minutes off the clock, but they were forced to punt and Roseau had the ball back. Neither team could move the ball the rest of the half and the teams were tied at 8-8 going into halftime. “We were happy with how we moved the ball in the half,” said Coach Butt. “We were really happy with how our defense played.”
THIRD QUARTER-
Roseau started the second half with the ball and ran four plays before Crookston’s Jaxon Wang intercepted a pass at the Pirate 41 yard line, but he fumbled the ball at the end of the return and luckily Joe Doda jumped on the loose ball. Crookston started the first second-half drive at the Roseau 40 yard line. On a third down, Salentine threw a perfect pass to Westlake for 18 yards to keep the drive going. Six plays later the drive stalled at the Roseau five-yard line after an incomplete pass. Roseau’s first play was a loss of three yards and the next play was a run of one yard. The third play of the game was the difference as the Rams fumbled the ball in the end zone and Crookston’s Joseph Ramirez jumped on the ball for a touchdown to give the Pirates a 14-8 lead. “I just broke through the right guard and saw the runningback dropped the ball and I jumped on the ball and apparently I was in the end zone,” said Ramirez. “It felt great. It was one of the best feelings of my life when I realized it was a touchdown.” After the two-point conversion pass from Salentine to Gunderson, the Pirates led 16-8 with 1:22 left in the third quarter. “That was huge and I am so happy for Joseph,” said Coach Scott Butt. “He works so hard and gets after it in practice and is a wonderful young man. To have him score on defense was huge and it turned out to be a big, big play.”
FOURTH QUARTER –
In the fourth quarter, the field was basically mud-covered and both teams had trouble moving the ball. Crookston had the only drive that went over five plays and that was the first drive of the quarter.
Roseau had the ball at their own 21-yard line with 1:34 left in the game and after a loss of eight yards and an incomplete pass, Wensloff found Cayden Loken for a 34-yard pass. After the Rams spiked the ball, the ball slipped out of the hands the Roseau players and Crookston’s Brady Butt jumped on the ball. Crookston took a knee and ran out the clock to win the game 16-8. “I don’t know what it is with this team, but we like to play in wet and muddy conditions,” said Coach Butt. “That is fine because I have a feeling the field will be muddy the rest of the year.”
Crookston improves to 2-4 on the year and will host Breckenridge on Crookston High School’s homecoming on Friday night. Roseau drops to 2-4 on the season.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| CROOKSTON | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 16 |
| Roseau | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
1st Quarter
5:13 – Crox – Leyton Salentine 14 yard run (Leyton Salentine run)
2nd Quarter
6:40 – Roseau – Danny Wensloff 17 yard pass to Jace Hulst (Ben Olson run)
3rd Quarter
1:22 – Crox – Joseph Ramirez fumble recovery in end zone (Leyton Salentine pass to Gunner Gunderson)
4th Quarter
No Scoring
| TEAM STATS | CROOKSTON | Roseau |
| Rushing Yards | 137 | 37 |
| Passing Yards | 75 | 87 |
| Total Yards | 212 | 124 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 3-0 | 1-1 |
| First Downs | 13 | 7 |
| Penalties-Yards | 4-30 | 4-40 |
| Punts | 3-69 | 3-106 |
INDIVIDUAL STATS
| CROOKSTON | Roseau | |
| Rushing | Rushing | |
| Ethan Boll 31-93 | Ben Olson 11-19 | |
| Leyton Salentine 8-30 | Danny Wensloff 8-13 | |
| Jaxon Wang 4-14 | Steele Walsh 2-8 | |
| Garon Schumacher 1-(-1) | ||
| Race Knochenmus 1-(-2) | ||
| Passing | Passing | |
| Leyton Salentine 3-11-0 75 yards | Danny Wensloff 7-12-1 87 yards | |
| Receiving | Receiving | |
| Quinn Westlake 3-75 | Cayden Loken 2-46 | |
| Ben Olson 2-18 | ||
| Jace Hulst 1-17 | ||
| Steele Walsh 1-5 | ||
| Maverick Jacobson 1-1 |
