FERTILE-BELTRAMI FOOTBALL IMPRESSIVE IN WIN OVER BORDER WEST

The Fertile-Beltrami Falcon Football team had a marquee match-up to start the season as they hosted Border West, a co-op of Wheaton-Herman-Norcross (who made it to the State 9-man semi-finals last year) and Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley and the Falcons dominated by scoring on their first six drives and cruised to a 42-12 victory in Fertile.

1st Quarter –
Border West received the kickoff and did not start how you would want. A fumbled snap, an incomplete pass, and a penalty brought up third and 28, where Border West would gain no yards and need to punt.
Fertile-Beltrami started their offensive attack with an impressive rushing attack. Isaiah Wright got the first carry and gained 27 yards, then Jonah Harstad got a carry and gained 13 yards. After a couple more run plays that each gained three yards, Harstad got three consecutive carries, the first for 5 yards, the second for 3 yards, and the third resulted in a three-yard touchdown. Fertile-Beltrami decided to go for two and Wright ran it right up the middle for a successful try.
Border West started their next drive with a 12-yard run from Brody Nachbor. After another run, Marshall Tolfison completed a pass to Holden Rinke for 12 yards to get near the Fertile-Beltrami red zone. Border West had a fumbled snap and a run that got stuffed to bring up 3 & 10. After an incompletion, the Buccaneers went for it on 4th down, but the pass was incomplete, and the Falcons took over.
Fertile-Beltrami got their passing game going, with Caiden Swenby completing a deep pass to Bryer Strem for 23 yards. The Falcons immediately went back to the ground game and continued to find success. Wright and Strem both had eight-yard gains, Swenby had a carry go for six yards, and Harstad would get the rock and get 10 yards. It would be two plays later where Swenby found Strem for a 25-yard touchdown pass. The Falcons would go for two again. Harstad would power it in to put Fertile-Beltrami up 16-0.

2nd Quarter –
Border West started the 2nd quarter with a second and five and would get a nice chunk of yardage on a Kevin Casper reception for 10 yards. Tolfison would complete another pass to Tucker Blume for six yards before Nachbor gained 10 yards on a rush attempt. After a sack, Tolifson would complete three straight passes, the first to Rinke for 12 yards, the second to Tyler Groebner for 5 yards, and the third to Rinke for a 17-yard touchdown. The Buccaneers would also go for two, but the conversion attempt failed, and they kicked it off back to the red-hot Falcon offense.
Fertile-Beltrami wasted no time continuing their impressive rushing attack with Wright getting two carries for nine yards and then Harstad getting a carry for 7 yards. After another run, Swenby completed two straight passes to Sorenson and Strem for 6 yards and 19 yards. Two plays later, Wright scored from 10 yards out to put the Falcons up 24-6 after a successful Harstad two-point conversion.
Border West got the ball back, and Tolfison immediately completed a pass to Blume for 10 yards. Tolfison would be sacked on the next play, and after a six-yard gain from Nachbor, a 3rd down incompletion forced a punt. The Buccaneers tried a fake punt but Fertile-Beltrami sniffed it out immediately and got the ball back with excellent field position.
The Falcons started the drive with a Swenby pass complete to Harstad for 12 yards. After a run, Swenby completed another pass, this time to Wright for 25 yards. Three plays later, Swenby would keep it and score from one yard out and further the Falcon’s lead to 30-6.
Border West got the ball back, trying to get some momentum before the half, but on a third down 14-yard rush, there was offensive holding that immediately gave them a 3rd and 19, which they were unable to convert, and they had to punt. Fertile-Beltrami only had a minute left at their own 26, so they just ran the ball a couple of times to bring to halftime with a 30-6 lead.

3rd Quarter –
Fertile-Beltrami received the second-half kickoff and again came out firing on all cylinders. Wright got a carry for 15 yards, and two plays later, Strem got a carry for 14 yards. After a defensive late hit, the Falcons had a run of 6 yards called back for holding. For the first time in the game, Fertile-Beltrami was behind the chains, but after an incompletion, Wright would get the handoff and break away for a 34-yard touchdown, making the score 36-6.
Border West had to score quickly, and their next drive would get off to a good start with a 10-yard run from Nachbor. Tolfison would complete a pass to Blume before Nachbor would break another one for 32 yards. The drive came to stand still as two runs went nowhere, a pass only gained three yards, and 4th down pass fell incomplete, and the Buccaneers turned it over on downs.
Fertile-Beltrami got the ball back and went on a long, methodical drive. It started with three rush attempts, one from Harstad for seven yards, one from Wright for 15 yards, and a Swenby keeper for three yards. Swenby would then complete a pass to Wright for 43 yards to put the Falcons deep in Buccaneers territory. After a one yard run, Harstad would get two carries and gain nine yards for the first down. Swenby completed a pass to Harstad, and after two plays of minimal gain, it brought up the Falcons 1st fourth down of the game. The Falcons would not be phased as they handed the ball to Strem, and he would find the endzone on a 10-yard run to put Fertile-Beltrami up 42-6.
Border West got the ball back and immediately committed a holding penalty to bring up 1st and 20. Two straight Tolfison completions to Hunter Rinke for 21 yards got the first down for the Buccaneers. Groebner would get a carry for 11 yards, and the half ended with a Tolfison completion to Casper for 9 yards.

4th Quarter –
Border West began the quarter with a run that picked up first down. Nachbor got the ball two times, the first for a 14-yard gain and the next for a four-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 42-12.
Fertile-Beltrami got the ball back and began to milk the clock. Harstad got a carry for 14 yards, and Tollefson got a carry for 9 yards. After a one-yard carry, Petry ran for 6 yards. Tollefson got five of the next six carries and ran for 31 yards. Fertile-Beltrami would ultimately turn the ball over on downs, and Border West would get the ball one more time and would run out the clock, and end the game with a Falcons 42-12 victory.

Fertile-Beltrami improves to 1-0 on the season and will travel to Moorhead on Friday to play Park Christian. Border West drops to 0-1 on the year and will play Hancock on Friday.

TO HEAR COACH BRIAN NELSON’S COMMENTS, CLICK BELOW

SCORING
1st Quarter –
6:42-FB-Jonah Harstad 3-yard run (Isaiah Wright run)
0:12-FB- Caiden Swenby 25-yard pass to Bryer Strem (Jonah Harstad run)

2nd Quarter –
9:27-BW-Mashall Tolfison 17-yard pass to Holden Rinke (run failed)
5:41-FB-Isaiah Wright 10-yard run (Jonah Harstad run)
2:06-FB-Caiden Swenby 1-yard run (run failed)

3rd Quarter –
10:09-FB-Isaiah Wright 34-yard run (run failed)
1:51-FB- Caiden Swenby 10-yard pass to Bryer Strem (kick failed)

4th Quarter –
11:00-BW- Brody Nachbor 5-yard run (kick blocked)

INDIVIDUAL STATS