The Section 8A Football Runner-up Polk County West Thunder Football team with their second place trophy
The Mahnomen-Waubun Thunderbirds scored 20 first-half points and held off a great Polk County West Thunder (PCW) second half effort for a 35-20 victory in the Section 8A Championship Football game played at the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota.
The start of the game was good for either team with Mahnomen-Waubun fumbling on their second play of the game and PCW’s
Sam Gapp jumped on the ball and the Thunder had the ball at their own 41-yard line. Two plays later Polk County West fumbled the ball and Mahnomen-Waubun recovered the ball at their own 30-yard line. Seven plays later, Mahnomen-Waubun turned the ball over on downs, but PCW couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity and had to punt. Mahnomen-Waubun answered with an impressive drive that was sparked by a John Starkey 16-yard run and several plays later, Parker Syverson broke a tackle and gained 11 yards for another first down to set up a John Starkey one-yard touchdown run to give Mahnomen-Waubun a 6-0 lead after the two-point conversion failed. The touchdown capped an 11-play drive that spanned 65 yards and took almost five minutes off the clock. Polk County West followed with a nice eight-play drive and on a fourth down and 10 play, they threw an interception. Mahnomen-Waubun took advantage of the forced turnover with a 10-play drive that was highlighted by John Starkey runs of 16 and 17 yards and on the 10th play of the drive, Syverson scored on a one-yard run and Syverson added a two-point conversion for a 14-0 lead with 4:49 left in the first half. Polk County West had to punt and Mahnomen-Waubun had a seven play drive that was jump-started by a 36 yard Starkey run to the one-yard line and Syverson scored on the next play with 45 seconds left in the half and Mahnomen-Waubun took a 20-0 lead into halftime. “We need to tackle,” said Polk County West Coach Darrin Byklum. “We had too many chances to make plays in the backfield or for minimal gain and they broke tackles and turned it into big gains.”
The second half was better for Polk County West and William White started the half with a 31 yard carry to spark the Thunder. Four plays later, Sam Modeen found Trea Byklum for an 11 yard completion for another first down and after a chop block penalty that moved the ball back to the 20 yard line, Modeen completed his second pass of the game when he found Evan Sczepanski for a 20 yard touchdown pass and after a Brady Klein kick the Thunder trailed 20-7 with 9:43 left in the third quarter. Mahnomen-Waubun answered with a 12 play drive that took over six minutes off the clock and on a fourth down and four-yard play, Starkey broke a tackle in the backfield and scampered 15 yards for a touchdown and after a two-point conversion, they led 28-7. On the ensuing kickoff, Polk County West’s Sczepanski returned the kick 85 yards for a touchdown and after the extra point kick, the Thunder trailed 28-14 with 2:29 left in the third quarter. Neither team scored again until Polk County West put a drive together and eight plays into the drive they marched the ball down to the five-yard line and had a fourth down and one play and John Fontaine broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and went into the end zone for a touchdown and after the extra point kick failed, the Thunder trailed 28-20 with 3:03 left in the game. It looked like Polk County West was going to the get the ball back when Mahnomen-Waubun had the ball fourth and five from their own 49 yard line and instead of punting the Thunderbirds decided to go for it and Syverson broke two tackles to get the first down and he kept going for a 51 yard touchdown to give Mahnomen-Waubun a 35-20 lead with 1:55 left in the game and they held on for the victory by the same score. “I am so proud of the guys because they never gave up and they played a great second half,” said Thunder Coach Byklum. “We played very well, unfortunately, they played better and they are a very good team. We lose some very good seniors, but I am glad we will be getting most of the guys back next year.”
Polk County West’s season comes to an end with a 7-3 record and Mahnomen-Waubun improves to 10-0 on the year and will play Deer River in the first round of the Minnesota State Class A tournament in Brainerd on Saturday, November 10.
Myles Smith runs for 11 yards after a fumble William White breaks a big run
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | FINAL | |
| Polk County West | 0 | 0 | 14 | 6 | 20 |
| Mahnomen-Waubun | 6 | 14 | 8 | 7 | 35 |
Evan Sczepanski breaks loose on a return Grant Sullivan and James Fontaine
1st Quarter
0:41 – MW – Jon Starkey 1 yard run (Run failed)
2nd Quarter
4:49 – MW – Parker Syverson 1 yard run (Parker Syverson run)
0:45 – MW – Parker Syverson 1 yard run (Pass failed)
3rd Quarter
9:24 – PCW – Evan Sczepanski 20 yard pass from Sam Modeen (Brady Klein kick)
2:43 – MW – Jon Starkey 15 yard run (Jayden Heisler run)
2:29 – PCW – Evan Sczepanski 85 yard kickoff return (Brady Klein kick)
4th Quarter
3:03 – PCW – John Fontaine 5 yard run (Kick failed)
1:55 – MW – Parker Syverson 51 yard run (Roy Bjorge kick)
Paul Gapp recovers a fumble on the second play of the game as Myles Smith dives for it
