Isaiah Wright’s 4 TD, 292 yard day powers Fertile-Beltrami to state semifinals

The Fertile-Beltrami Falcons had everything working for them from the first play of the game, and Isaiah Wright put the offense on his back, rushing for 292 yards and four touchdowns on just ten carries as the Falcons defeated the Cromwell-Wright Cardinals 48-7 on Thursday night at Moorhead High School.

1st Quarter–
The first quarter could not have started any better for the Falcons, as on the first play of the game, after Cromwell-Wright won the toss and elected to defer, Isaiah Wright took off for a 62 yard touchdown run, one of four he would have on the game, all from more than 50 yards. The Cardinals did their best to respond, but a high snap on a 4th down play set up the Falcons in excellent field position, and Bryer Strem would cash in, receiving a beautiful teardrop pass from Easton Petry from 33 yards away to put the Falcons up two scores. The first quarter went by in the blink of an eye, with both teams sticking to the ground game and very few whistles blown. The Cardinals had the ball at the end of the quarter, but were stuffed on 4th down from the Falcon 21, and Fertile-Beltrami held control of the ball for the remainder of the quarter.

2nd Quarter –
Fertile-Beltrami started the second quarter with the ball, and in typical Falcon fashion, they milked some clock before Easton Petry snuck the ball in from a yard out, and even though the Falcons had some trouble converting on 2-point attempts, they scored more than enough touchdowns to make up for it. After Isaiah Wright picked off a pass from Brendan Gronner, the Falcons cashed in yet again, this time with Jonah Harsted from ten yards away. After the defense stood tall and forced a punt, Wright got the ball again, and this time he ran it in from 52 yards out, virtually untouched. The Falcons converted their second 2-point attempt in five tries, and after the Cardinals struck themselves with back-to-back penalties, they chose to run conservative playcalling to take the game into the half.

3rd Quarter –
As the third quarter began, Cromwell-Wright were determined to get something going offensively to work themselves back into the game. However, another interception, this time thrown by Dylan Nyberg, gave the ball back to the Falcons…more specifically, they gave the ball back to Isaiah Wright, who blitzed through the defense untouched yet again, this time from 73 yards away to break 200 on the day, with this score being his third of the night. That wasn’t enough for him, however, as after the defense yet again stuffed the Cardinals’ pass attack on 4th down, Wright did the exact same thing again, this time from 69 yards away. This rush put him over 2,000 yards for his season, ending his night at 2,036 yards in 11 games. He also eclipsed 5,500 yards in his high school career.
When we spoke to Wright after the game, he gave none of the credit to himself. “I give all the credit to my line” says Wright, “they’re phenomenal, and they bring it to practice every week.” When asked about the excitement level of next week, Wright kept it short and sweet. “Job’s not finished… we gotta keep bringing it.”

4th Quarter –
The fourth quarter saw both teams wind down on the sense of urgency, as the running time kicked in and the fourth quarter concluded just as fast as it started. Fertile-Beltrami brought in many reserves, including getting an interception from Steven Sather, but did not get anything done on offense throughout the quarter. Cromwell-Wright, however, refused to end the game with a zero on the scoreboard, as Brady Dahl pounded it in from 2 yards away, allowing Cromwell-Wright to end the game with points on the board. Fertile-Beltrami then was able to kneel out the clock, and move on to the state semifinals with a 48-7 victory. They now return to the state semifinals for the 4th year in a row, looking to redeem themselves after a 36-28 loss to Kingsland last year.

Coach Brian Nelson had lots of good things to say about his team after the game. “We had a great start to the game…offensively we clicked, and after we got a few things changed on defense I thought our defense played very very well the rest of the game.” When asked about whether he would use the loss last year in practice, he compared the game to the section championship against Fosston. “That was another case where we came out a little bit flat…we gotta come out sharp right away, especially at that level.”

Fertile-Beltrami improves to 11-0 on the year and will play next Thursday at 4:00 in the State Semi-finals at U.S. Bank Stadium. Their opponent will be decided tomorrow. Cromwell-Wright’s season comes to an end with a final record of 10-2.

SCORING-
1st Quarter –
11:38 – FB – Isaiah Wright 62 yard rush (Jonah Harsted run), 8-0
8:01 – FB – Easton Petry 33-yard pass to Bryer Strem (Run failed), 14-0

2nd Quarter –
9:50 – FB – Easton Petry 1 yard run (Run failed) 20-0
6:52 – FB – Jonah Harsted 10 yard run (Run failed), 26-0
3:45 – FB – Isaiah Wright 52 yard run (Easton Petry pass to Drew Gullickson), 34-0

3rd Quarter –
8:28 – FB – Isaiah Wright 73 yard run (Run failed), 40-0
3:38 – FB – Isaiah Wright 69 yard run (Jonah Harsted rush), 48-0

4th Quarter –
5:36 – CW – Brady Dahl 2 yard rush TD (Kick good), 48-7

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Jonah Harsted

Noah Swenby

Caleb Sather

Easton Petry

Bryer Strem

Team Embrace

Isaiah Wright

Steven Sather