The Polk County West Thunder football team took on the #1 seeded Mahnomen-Waubun Football team in the semi-finals of the Section 8A tournament. It was a defensive slugfest, and it had to go to overtime, but the Thunderbirds kicked a game-winning field goal to win 11-8.
1st Quarter –
Mahnomen-Waubun received the opening kickoff and went three and out. Polk County West started their drive with a pass from Mike Gapp to Kaven Rohrich for 18 yards. Two plays later, the Thunder went to the air again with a pass to Will Zavoral for 11 yards. Two plays later, Tanner Stech intercepted a pass to give the ball back to the Thunderbirds.
Mahnomen-Waubun took over and went three and out. Polk County West got the ball back, and Gapp kept it for six yards before Mahnomen-Waubun’s Tate Ose got a sack on the next play. On third down, Stech got another interception to give the ball back to the Thunderbirds.
Mahnomen-Waubun took over and went to the ground game. After a one-yard carry, Joe Slette got two carries for six yards to bring up fourth down. On fourth down, Slette got another carry for four yards and gave the Thunderbirds a first down. On first down, Blake McMullen got a carry for three yards, and two plays later, Easton Bevins got a carry for four yards to bring up another fourth down. Mahnomen-Waubun went for it again, and McMullen got the carry for seven yards and a first down. The half ended after that, with the score still tied at 0-0.
2nd Quarter –
Mahnomen-Waubun started the quarter with a fumbled snap that they recovered, then a holding and a false start penalty to put them behind the chains. McMullen completed a pass to Brody Lhotka for five yards before Sawyer Horken intercepted a pass to give the ball back to the Thunder.
Polk County West took over and gave a carry to Rohrich for 13 yards. A short run, a false start, and an incompletion quickly brought up a third and long for the Thunderbirds. Gapp made a spectacular play on third down, escaping three defenders and hitting Horken down the field for 38 yards. Mahnoman-Waubun’s Ose stopped the momentum immediately with a big tackle for loss to put the Thunder behind the chains. After an incompletion, Gapp kept it for 14 yards, bringing up fourth down. The fourth-down pass fell incomplete, and Mahnomen-Wauben took over on down.
The Thunderbirds took over and gave a carry to Stech for four yards, then a carry to Bevins for six before Slette got the first down with a two-yard carry. Slette got another carry for three yards before Polk County West’s Kaven Rohrich intercepted a pass to give the ball back to the Thunder.
Polk County West took over, and Gapp got three carries for eight yards. The Thunder went for it on fourth down and could not convert, with the Thunderbird’s Lhotka making the tackle.
Mahnomen-Waubun took over, and after a false start penalty, Slette got a carry for three yards, and McMullen got a carry for three yards. On third down, Slette got a carry for 10 yards and a first down. Two plays later, Slette got another carry for 10 yards, and Mahnomen-Waubun spiked the ball to stop the clock with 21 seconds left. After an incompletion and a six-yard run from McMullen, the Thunderbirds went for it on fourth down, but the pass fell incomplete. A Polk County West incompletion ended the half on the next play, and both teams went into halftime tied at 0-0.
3rd Quarter –
Polk County West received the second-half kickoff, and Mahnomen-Waubun got two straight sacks. On third and long, the Thunderbird’s Dominick Neisen intercepted a pass to give the ball to the offense. Mahnomen-Waubun got the ball and went three and out, but on the ensuing punt, Zach Zima recovered a muffed punt to return it to the Thunderbirds. Mahnomen-Waubun stayed on the ground for three carries, which gained four yards. On fourth down, Stech looked like he was going to run with it, but instead, he threw it down the field to a wide-open Joe Slette for a 24-yard touchdown. Bevins ran in the two-point conversion, and the Thunderbirds took an 8-0 lead.
Polk County West got the ball, and after two incompletions, Gapp threw a pass to John Speicher for 17 yards. Gapp ran it for three yards before he found Speicher again for another 15 yards. Three plays later, Gapp threw a pass to Speciher again for an eight-yard touchdown. Speicher also caught the two-point conversion, and the Thunder tied the game at 8-8.
Mahnomen-Waubun got the ball back, went three and out, and was forced to punt. Polk County West got the ball, went three and out, and was forced to punt. Mahonmen-Waubun took over, and the quarter ended after a rush for no gain.
4th Quarter –
Mahnomen-Waubun went three and out to start the quarter, and they had to put. Polk County West took over and gave three straight carries to Gapp for 13 yards. Rohrich got a carry for two yards, and Gapp got a carry for four yards, bringing up fourth down. On fourth down, the Thunder were called for an offensive chop block penalty, and on fourth and 16, the pass fell incomplete, and Polk County West turned it over on downs.
Mahnomen-Waubun started their drive with two straight McMullen carries for 11 yards each. On the next play, Polk County West’s Greg Downs recovered a fumble to give it back to the Thunder.
Polk County West started their drive with three straight runs from Gapp for 11 yards and a first down. After two incompletions and a short run, the Thunder had another fourth down. Gapp threw the ball to Rohrich, but he was tackled short of the sticks, and Mahnomen-Waubun took over on downs.
The Thunderbirds started their drive on the ground with a McMullen carry for four yards and a Bevins carry for two yards. McMullen got another carry for three yards, which brought up fourth and one. Bevins took the fourth down carry and gained two yards to give the Thunderbirds a first down. Mahnomen-Waubun went to the air on the next play, and it fell incomplete, but Polk County West was called for defensive holding, so the Thunderbirds gained ten more yards. After a loss, Mahnomen-Waubun gave three straight carries to Bevins, who gained 22 yards and put the Thunderbirds in the red zone with less than a minute to go. McMullen got a carry and gained another 10 yards to put the Thunderbirds at the 10-yard line. A false start, a run for no gain on first down, two incompletions, and a delay of game brought up fourth and 20 for Mahnomen-Waubun, and with 18 seconds to go, the Thunderbirds tried to kick the go-ahead 38-yard field goal, but it went wide right, and the Thunder kneeled it to send the game to overtime tied at 8-8.
Overtime-
Polk County West started the overtime period with the ball. The Thunder got the ball at the 10-yard line, and Gapp got a carry for seven yards. The following two runs were unsuccessful, which brought up fourth down. Polk County West elected to go for it, and on fourth down, Mahnomen-Waubun’s Mike Weaver intercepted a pass to end the Thunder’s possession.
Mahnomen-Waubun also started at the 10-yard line, and it looked like they scored on the first play, but they were called for holding. On first and 20, McMullen got a carry for two yards, Bevins got a carry for two yards, and Stech got a carry for nine yards, setting up a 24-yard field goal. Stech set up for the kick, the snap was good, the hold was good, and Stech made the kick to give the Thunderbirds the 11-8 victory.
Mahnomen-Waubun improves to 9-0 and takes on Ada-Borup West in the Section 8A championship game. Polk County West finishes their season at 5-5.
TO LISTEN TO COACH DARRIN BYKLUM’S POST-GAME COMMENTS, CLICK BELOW:
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | OT | Final | |
| Mahnomen-Waubun | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Polk County West | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
SCORING
1st Quarter –
No Scoring
2nd Quarter –
No Scoring
3rd Quarter –
6:45-MW- Tanner Stech pass to Joe Slette for 24 yards (Easton Bevins run)
3:32-PCW- Mike Gapp pass to John Speicher for 8 yards (Gapp pass to Speicher)
4th Quarter –
No Scoring
Overtime
0:00-MW- Tanner Stech 24-yard field goal
| TEAM STATS | M-W | PCW |
| Rushing Yards | 175 | 66 |
| Passing Yards | 29 | 112 |
| Total Yards | 204 | 178 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 3-1 | 1-1 |
| First Downs | 13 | 9 |
| Penalties-Yards | 8-64 | 4-35 |
| Punts | 4-93 | 1-53 |
INDIVIDUAL STATS
| MAHNOMEN-WAUBUN | Polk County West | |
| Rushing | Rushing | |
| Mike Gapp 29-59 | Blake McMullen 20-78 | |
| Kaven Rohrich 3-7 | Easton Bevins 15-51 | |
| Joe Slette 12-24 | ||
| Tanner Stech 6-22 | ||
| Passing |
Passing |
|
| Mike Gapp 8-22-4 112 yards | Blake McMullen 1-10-1 5 yards | |
| Tanner Stech 1-1-0 24 yards | ||
| Receiving | Receiving | |
| John Speicher 3-40 | Joe Slette 1-24 | |
| Kaven Rohrich 3-23 | Brody Lhotka 1-5 | |
| Sawyer Horken 1-38 | ||
| Will Zavoral 1-11 |
