The Pelican Rapids Vikings scored on their last six drives of the first half and cruised to a dominating 51-14 victory to spoil the Crookston Pirate homecoming football game played at the UMC/CHS Football field in Crookston. “I thought we had our best three practices of the year coming into the game,” said Pirate Coach Scott Butt. “I don’t know if we went to the dance already or what, but you give Pelican Rapids credit because they came out and played well, but we made too many mistakes tonight.”
Crookston won the coin toss and elected to receive and on the first play of the game, the Pirate snap went over the head of the quarterback for a loss of 18 yards and they were forced to punt after three plays. “That really set the tone for the rest of the game,” said Coach Butt. “We go all week long in practice without a bad snap in practice and we might have to go under center next week, we will see.” Crookston had a 39-yard punt, but Pelican Rapids’ McHale Korf returned the ball to the Crookston 10-yard line to set up a first and goal. On the first play of the drive, Damien Britton scored on a handoff up the middle for a 6-0 lead. The Vikings missed the extra point kick. “You put your defense with a short field and expect them to stop them,” said Coach Butt. “It took the wind out of our sails a little bit.” On the ensuing kickoff, Crookston’s Jaden Lubarski scooped the kick off the grass and ran 80 yards to the Pelican Rapids two-yard line. “Jaden came out and did a nice job of reading his blocks,” said Coach Butt. “I was a little shocked he was caught, but the spark was huge.” Crookston’s Brady Butt scored on the next play with a two-yard run to tie the game at 6-6. Crookston tried to go for two and the run failed. “I thought, hey we have something going now,” said Coach Butt. Crookston seemed to have momentum and after a Nick Garmen quarterback sack, the Pirates seemed to have Pelican Rapids where they wanted them until Korf threw a beautiful pass to Hayden Christenson for a 71-yard touchdown and after the extra point kick, a 13-6 lead with 5:12 left in the first quarter.
Crookston threw interceptions on their next two possessions and Pelican Rapids took advantage by scoring both times for a 25-6 lead with 6:41 left in the first half. “The turnovers hurt us, we have to take care of the ball,” said Coach Butt. “It is hard when you are getting hit while you are throwing it and you have to give Pelican Rapids credit, they were bringing the heat.” Crookston was forced into a three-and-out and punted the ball. Pelican Rapids dropped back to pass on the first play of the drive and Korf found Christenson for a 52-yard touchdown and after the extra point, the Vikings led 32-6. Crookston was forced to punt on the next drive and this time they tried a rugby-style kick (similar to the fake punt that got them 35 yards against Barnesville), but Pelican Rapids was ready with pressure and when Blake Fee went to punt the ball it went off the side of his foot and went out of bounds for a loss of one on the punt and the Vikings had the ball at the Crookston 16 yard line. Pelican Rapids scored three plays later on a 16-yard run for a 39-6 lead, a lead they took into halftime. “You can’t dig yourself that big of a hole,” said Coach Butt. “I was at a loss for words and didn’t know what to say at halftime. We didn’t see this coming.”
There was no scoring in the third quarter, but Pelican Rapids added some insurance points early in the fourth quarter when Britton scored his third touchdown of the game. Crookston started to move the ball in the fourth quarter with Easton Tangquist at quarterback and they went with a steady dose of handoffs to Lucas Meier and the senior took advantage of the opportunity. After not getting a handoff in the first half, Meier had seven carries for 91 yards, including a six-yard touchdown run and after a Tangquist run for a two-point conversion, Crookston trailed 45-14. “Lukas did a great job tonight and played lights out on offense and defense,” said Coach Butt. “He gives you everything he has until the last whistle.” Pelican Rapids put their second string in and saw good things from Arturo Villagomez. He had three carries for 13 yards and on his fourth carry, he busted a 55-yard run for a touchdown to give Pelican Rapids a 51-14 lead. Neither team scored in the final two minutes and Pelican Rapids won the game 51-14. “Hopefully we made all our mistakes in this game,” said Coach Butt. “We got dinged up pretty good tonight and now we have a short week to get ready for another big game at Roseau. We need to win if we want a chance at a home playoff game.”
Crookston drops to 2-5 on the year and will wrap up the regular season on Wednesday with a game at Roseau. Pelican Rapids improves to 4-3 on the year.
Jaden Lubarski tries to catch a pass (Picture by Dave Emanuel of Wildfire Photography)
|
1st |
2nd | 3rd | 4th |
FINAL |
|
| Pelican Rapids | 13 | 26 | 0 | 12 | 51 |
| CROOKSTON | 6 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 14 |
Jacob Hesby and Joe Doda tackle the Pelican Rapids running back
1st Quarter
6:56- PR – Damien Britten 1 yard run (Marcos Franco kick failed)
6:36 – Crox – Brady Butt 2 yard run (Run failed)
5:12 – PR – McHale Korf 71 yard pass to Hayden Christenson (Franco kick)
2nd Quarter
11:57 – PR – Matt Ziebell 4 yard run (Kick failed)
6:41 – PR- Johnny Ziebell 5 yard run (Pass failed)
5:26 – PR – McHale Korf 52 yard pass to Hayden Christenson (Franco kick)
3:45 – PR – Damien Britten 16 yard run (Franco kick)
3rd Quarter
No Scoring
4th Quarter
8:38 – PR – Damien Britten 4 yard run (Kick blocked)
4:22- Crox – Lukas Meier 6 yard run (Easton Tangquist run)
1:59 – PR – Arturo Villagomez 55 yard run (Run failed)
Brady Butt runs for a big gain
| CROOKSTON | Pelican Rapids | |
| First Downs | 11 | 13 |
| Rushing-Yards | 46-127 | 38-169 |
| Passing | 14-5-2 | 5-6-0 |
| Passing Yards | 35 | 184 |
| Total Yards | 162 | 353 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 1-1 | 1-0 |
| Penalties-Yards | 3-20 | 1-5 |
| Punts-Yards Ave. | 4-25.5 | 2-26 |
Easton Tangquist throws a pass in the second
Rushing
| Crookston | Pelican Rapids |
| Brady Butt 15-22 yards | Damien Britten 12-41 yards |
| Joe Doda 11-25 | McHale Korf 9-(-9) |
| Lukas Meier 7-91 | Matt Ziebell 5-29 |
| Jacob Miller 3-12 | Arturo Villagomez 4-68 |
| Blake Fee 1- (-2) | Johnny Ziebell 4-24 |
| Jacob Hesby 1-(-3) | Jayden Rutherford 3-12 |
| Easton Tangquist 1-(-6) | Carson McNeal 1-4 |
Passing
| Brady Butt 3-12-2 27 yards |
McHale Korf 5-6-0 184 yards |
| Easton Tangquist 1-3-0 8 yards |
|
Receiving
| Jaden Lubarski 2-17 yards | Hayden Christenson 4-146 yards |
| Blake Fee 1-10 | Johnny Ziebell 2-38 |
| Walker Winjum 1-8 |
Homecoming Queen Gina Visness and her dad
Hailey Spivey and her dad, Thea Oman and her dad
Hannah Emanuel and her dad and Elise Erdman and her dad
The Crookston High School Marching band performs at halftime
