The Stephen-Argyle Storm ran for 312 yards and get a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown to beat the defending state champion Fertile-Beltrami Falcons in the season opener played in Fertile.
1st Quarter –
Fertile-Beltrami started the game with ball after Stephen-Argyle won the coin toss and diferred to the second half. Fertile-Beltrami had a fourth down and two and decided to go for it at their own 48 yard line. Stephen-Argyle’s defense made the stop and started their first offensive series at the Falcon 48 yeard line. Stephen-Argyle’s Raydon Woinarowicz carried the ball for four yards before a penalty. Kellen Johnson carried the ball six yards for a first down and followed up with a 24-yard run for another first down. Anders Thompson carried the ball for two yards before Johnson carried the ball three times for nine yards and scored on the third carry from two yards out and the Storm scored the first touchdown of the game with 7:18 remaining in the quarter. Johnson completed the two point conversion on the ground for an 8-0 lead.
Fertile-Beltrami tried to answer and carried the ball twice for a total of six yards before and incomplete pass and they were forced to punt. Preston Hanson had a nice 37-yard punt down to the 20 yard line. Stephen-Argyle started their second drive of the game at their own 20-yard line, but that didn’t matter as Woinarowicz broke a tackle and found an opening and took off down the sideline for an 80-yard touchdown run. The two point conversion failed and the Storm led 14-0 with 5:38 to go in the opening quarter.
Fertile-Beltrami, facing a third down and 21 play, went to the air and senior quarterback Gavin Aakhus dumped a pass to Bryer Strem who eluded several tackles and took off for a 70-yard touchdown. Aakhus found Drew Gullickson for the two-point conversion to get within a 14-8 deficit with 4:06 left in the quarter.
2nd Quarter –
The Storm started an impressive drive with 4:01 left in the first quarter and methodically moved the ball down the field with gains of 1, 5, 2, and three yards for a first down to keep the drive going. Shay Setterholm dropped back to pass and found Woinarowicz for a 23-yard completion for another first down. The storm picked up tow more first downs on the next two playes to get down to the five yard line. After two carries of two yards by Johnson, Setterholm scored from one yard out on a quarterback sneak. The two point conversion failed and the Storm led 20-8 with 9:39 remaining. The drive was over six minutes long on 11 plays.
Ferto;e-Beltrami looked to answer again as they had a third down and four play when Aakhus found Drew Gullickson for a 13 yard passing play for a first down. After a one-yard run, Aakhus completed an 11-yard pass to Strem for another first down. Three plays later, Aakhus completed a 12 yard pass to Strem again. The next two plays went nine yards and on a third down play, Stephen-Argyle’s Anders Thompson, who led the team in interceptions last season, picked off a pass on the goal line and cut to the sideline and sprinted 100 yards for an interception return touchdown after a Dylan Widner two-point conversion run, the Storm led 28-8 with 2:25 left in the half.
Fertile-Beltrami bounced back with a three-yard carry a 12-yard pass to Strem for his 94 yard receiving in the half. Aakhus found Gullickson for an 18-yard pass and another first down and after two carries for six yards, Aakhus scored on a one-yard quarterback keeper. Strem converted the two-point conversion to get the Falcons within a 28-16 deficit going into halftime.
3rd Quarter –
Stephen-Argyle started the second half with the ball and the Fertile-Beltrami kick went into the endzone for a touchback. The Storm started the drive at their own 20-yard line. The first play was a five yard run by Johnson and a three-yard run by Thompson. The next play was an 11-yard run by Johnson for a first down. Three plays later, Setterholm found Thompson for a 20-yard completion and another first down. After two running plays for a total of five yards got the ball to the Falcon 20-yard line, Setterholm found Woinarowicz for a 20-yard touchdown pass and after a Johnson two-point conversion run, the Storm led 36-16 with 5:21 left in the quarter. The Storm scoring drive took over half the quarter while chewing 6:39 off the clock. Fertile-Beltrami tried to respond, but the Storm defense only allowed one yard on three plays and the Falcon’s turned the ball over on downs.
4th Quarter –
Stephen-Argyle started the fourth quarter with the ball as they ran out the final three minutes of the third quarter with with 18 yards on five carries. The Storm continued to move the ball down the field and Zaiven Martinez got the handoff and sped into the corner of the endzone for a six yard run for a 42-16 lead with 11:16 left in the game.
Fertile-Beltrami answered on their next drive as they recorded first downs of the first two plays when they moved Caleb Sather from lineman to fullback. The move worked as he had carries of 13, 4, and 12 for a paif of first downs to keep the drive moving. A few plays later, Aakhus found Strem for a 23 yard pass for a touchdown and after a two-point conversion pass to Gullickson, the Falcons trailed 40-24 with 8:12 to go.
About six plays later and less than three minutes off the clock, the Storm struck again with a Setterholm pass to Woinarowicz for a 57-yard strike and after the two point conversion run by Johnson, the Storm led 50-24.
Fertile-Beltrami put a nice five minute drive together and continued to hand the ball off to Caleb Sather, including a 33-yard run down to the four yard line and Caleb punched it in on a four yard run to bring the Falcons within a 50-30 deficit with seven seconds left and that is how the game ended, with Stephen-Argyle coming away with an impresive 50-30 victory.
Stephen-Argyle improves to 1-0 on the year and they will play Border West in week two. Fertile-Beltrami drops to 0-1 on the year and they will have next week off before taking on Goodridge-Grgyla in their second game of the season.
Click above to listen to Storm Coacah Ethan Marquis’ post-game comments
Click above to listen to Fertile-Beltrami Coach Brian Nelson’s post-game comments
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| Stephen-Argyle | 14 | 14 | 8 | 14 | 50 |
| Fertile-Beltrami | 8 | 8 | 0 | 16 | 30 |
SCORING-
1st Quarter –
7:18 – SA – Kellen Johnson, 2-yard run. (Kellen Johnson run).
5:38 – SA – Raydon Woinarowicz, 80-yard run. (Run failed).
4:06 – FB – Gavin Aakhus, 71-yard pass to Bryer Strem. (Drew Gullickson pass).
2nd Quarter –
9:38 – SA – Shay Setterholm. 1-yard run. (Pass failed).
2:25 – SA – Anders Thompson, 100-yard pick-six. (Dylan Widner run).
0:25 – FB – Gavin Aakhus, 1-yard run. (Bryer Strem run).
3rd Quarter –
5:21 – SA – Shay Setterholm, 20-yard pass to Woinarowicz. (Kellen Johnson run).
4th Quarter –
11:16 – SA – Zaiven Martinez, 5-yard run. (Run failed).
8:12 – FB – Gavin Aakhus, 21-yard pass to Bryer Strem. (Drew Gullickson pass).
5:22 – SA – Raydon Woinarowicz, 57-yard run. (Kellen Johnson run).
0:07 – FB – Caleb Sather, 4-yard run. (Run failed)
| TEAM STATS | Fertile-Beltrami | Stephen-Argyle |
| Rushing Yards | 144 | 312 |
| Passing Yards | 220 | 68 |
| Total Yards | 364 | 380 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 1-0 | 1-0 |
| First Downs | 17 | 14 |
| Penalties-Yards | 4-30 | 1-6 |
| Punts | 1-37 | None |
INDIVIDUAL STATS
| Fertile-Beltrami | Stephen-Argyle |
| Rushing | Rushing |
| Caleb Sather – 9 – 83 yards | Kellen Johnson – 17 – 100 yds |
| Bryer Strem – 9 – 34 yards | Shay Setterholm – 9 – 28 yards |
| Creed Tollefson – 8 – 20 yards | Raydon Woinarowicz – 7 – 160 yards |
| Gavin Aakhus – 3 – 5 yards | Zaiven Martinez – 3 – 9 yds |
| Briley Ron – 2 – 2 yards | Dylan Widner 2 – 6yds |
| Anders Thompson 2 – 5 yds | |
| Passing | Ryan Swanson 1 – 4yds |
| Gavin Aakhus – 15-21 – 220 yards – 2 TD – 1 INT | Passing |
| Shay Setterholm – 4-5 – 68 yards – 1 TD – 1 INT | |
| Receiving | |
| Bryer Strem – 7-127 yds – 2 TD | Receiving |
| Drew Gullickson – 3-47 yds | Raydon Woinarowicz – 3/44 |
| Adam Kobetsky – 1-11 yds | Anders Thompson – 2/24 |
| Briley Raaen – 1-5 yds | Owen Widner – 2/16 |
