ETHAN BOLL RUNS FOR OVER 200 YARDS AND 4 TD’S, BUT HAWLEY COMES BACK TO WIN

Crookston’s Ethan Boll ran for over 200 yards and four touchdowns, but the Hawley Nuggets took their first lead of the game in the fourth quarter and held on for a 34-32 victory in a Section 8AA matchup in Hawley.

FIRST QUARTER
Crookston started the game with the ball and after a great kick return from Ethan Boll, they started the drive in Hawley territory.  On the second play of the game, Boll had a 33-yard run, and two plays later he had a nine-yard run for another first down to set up a first and goal situation.  The Pirates had two low snaps and back-to-back one-yard plays.  After a one-yard loss, Crookston had a fourth and goal at the five-yard line.  Crookston tried to run the ball and lost two yards and turned the ball over on downs at the seven-yard line. 
Hawley fumbled the ball on their second offensive play of the game and Jacob Hesby recovered the ball and Crookston had the ball at the Hawley 11 yard line.  
Ethan Boll ran for three yards on back-to-back plays and after an incomplete pass, Boll broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage on a run off the left side of the line for a five-yard touchdown to give the Pirates a 6-0 lead with 6:07 left in the first quarter.  Boll converted the two-point conversion and the Pirates had an 8-0 lead. “Ethan ran the ball hard,” said Pirate Coach Scott Butt. “We did a good job of mixing up the plays and Ethan was impressive and it was nice to get on the board early.”
Hawley responded with an impressive 10 play 60-yard drive that took almost five minutes off the clock with a mix of passing and running plays and they took advantage of Pirate penalties when Sam Burkel scored on a five-yard run with 1:13 left in the quarter and after a Burkel extra-point kick, Crookston’s lead was 8-7.
Crookston answered with another heavy dose of Ethan Boll.  He had carries of 14 and 26 yards on the first two plays of the drive and after a Hesby carry for three-yards, the first quarter came to an end.

SECOND QUARTER
After the quarter break, Crookston’s Gunner Gunderson ran for two yards, Ethan Boll ran for 21 yards to get down to the Hawley two-yard line.  Boll scored on the next play and after he also converted the two-point conversion, the Pirates led 16-7 with 9:38 left in the half.
Hawley seemed to have a huge spark when Burkel returned the Pirate kick 55 yards, but the Nuggets fumbled on the next play when Crookston’s Zach Brown made the initial hit and Jack Doda finished off the hit and recovered the fumble to give the Pirates the ball back.
Crookston wasn’t able to take advantage of the fumble recovery and was forced to punt.  Hawley gave the ball back to Crookston on a turnover on downs after a fourth-down passing play come up short, just inside the Pirate 40 yard line.  Penalties continued to kill drives in the second quarter, this time it hurt Crookston and they were forced to punt again.  “We had too many costly penalties,” said Coach Butt. “They hurt us when things were going our way.”
Hawley started the drive at their own 48-yard line and a few plays later, Cole Sunde lobbed a pass downfield and Jackson Aakre came back to the ball on an underthrown pass and made the catch and ran to the middle of the field for a touchdown and after an extra point kick, Crookston’s lead was 16-14 with 2:35 left in the half.
Crookston turned the ball over on downs at their own 41-yard line with 12 seconds left in the half. Hawley tried to passing play and Crookston’s Gunner Gunderson knocked the pass down, but the Pirates were called for pass interference on the next play to put the ball at the 26-yard line with three seconds left in the half.  Hawley completed a passing play along the sideline and the receiver tried to dive into the endzone but came up a yard short and that was the end of the first half and Crookston led 16-14.  “We did a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage, I thought,” said Coach Butt. “We will have to continue to do that in the second half.”
Crookston outgained Hawley in the half 155-140.  

THIRD QUARTER –
Hawley started the second half and had a decent drive going and tried a fourth-down pass, but Crookston’s Alex Longoria had great coverage and knocked the ball away to stop the drive.
Crookston responded with an impressive drive that started in a big way when Gunner Gunderson found Cade Coauette for a 20-yard pass completion.  Ethan Boll followed with a 32-yard run and after two Pirate penalties, Boll ran for 12 yards, Brooks Butt carried the ball four yards and Boll followed with another big gain of 16 yards to set up a first and goal at the two-yard line.  The Pirate continued to ride their big horse, Ethan Boll as he scored his third touchdown of the game on a two-yard run and after the two-point conversion, Crookston led 24-14.  “Ethan had a pretty good game tonight,” said Coach Butt with a big smile. “He ran hard and was huge for us tonight.”
Hawley answered on their next drive with a five-play 52-yard drive with a 35-yard pass from Cole Sunde to Joey Aakre to move the drive downfield.  The drive was capped by Sunde finding Aakre for a nine-yard touchdown to bring the Nuggets within a 24-21 deficit with 31 seconds left in the quarter.

FOURTH QUARTER-
Hawley put a nice drive together early in the fourth quarter and capped a drive with a screenplay with Cole Sunde floating a short pass to Sam Burkel who scampered into the endzone untouched for a 29-yard touchdown to cap a seven-play 63-yard drive to take a 26-24 lead with 7:09 left in the game.
On the ensuing kickoff, Hawley kicked it into the endzone for a touchback.  On Crookston’s first play of the drive, they fumbled the ball and Hawley recovered on the Pirate 19 yard line.
On the first Nugget offensive play, they ran the ball for a first down, then they were called for a holding penalty.  The next play went for no gain before Sunde fired a perfect pass across the middle of the field into the endzone to an open Ethan Brue for a 19-yard touchdown pass.  The Nuggets kicked the extra point and missed, but Crookston was called for a penalty on the play and Hawley got a second chance and made the kick on the next attempt for a 34-24 lead with 5:02 remaining.
Crookston answered with a five-play 69-yard drive that was fueled by 19 and 31-yard pass completions to Zach Brown before Ethan Boll capped the drive with a two-yard touchdown run and after the two-point conversion, the Pirates trailed 34-32.  “That was a huge drive for us,” said Coach Butt. “We had so many players out there playing hurt and I couldn’t have been prouder of how we competed.”
Crookston went with an onside kick and recovered the ball, but the drive was stopped by the Hawley defense and the Nuggets held on for a 34-32 victory.  “For us to have a chance to win it in the last minute of the game, that was huge,” said Coach Butt. “The kids played great and never gave up.  We didn’t panic.  We scored, got the onside kick, and did everything we asked of them.  You had two teams that fought their tales off tonight.”

Crookston drops to 1-4 on the year and will wrap up the regular season hosting Barnesville on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.  Hawley improves to 3-1.

1st Quarter
6:07 – Crookston – Ethan Boll 5 yard run (Ethan Boll run)
1:13 – Hawley – Sam Burkel 5 yard run (Sam Burkel kick)

2nd Quarter
9:38 – Crookston – Ethan Boll 2 yard run (Ethan Boll run)
2:35 – Hawley – Joey Aakre 35 yard pass from Cole Sunde (Sam Burkel kick)

3rd Quarter
4:02 – Crookston – Ethan Boll 2 yard run (Brooks Butt run)
0:31 – Hawley – Joey Aakre 9 yard pass from Cole Sunde (Sam Burkel kick)

4th Quarter
7:09 – Hawley – Sam Burkel 30 yard pass from Cole Sunde (kick failed)
5:02 – Hawley – Ethan Brue 19 yard pass from Cole Sunde (Sam Burkel kick)
2:31 – Crookston – Ethan Boll 2 yard run (Ethan Boll run)

INDIVIDUAL STATS