The Warroad Warrior Football team used their speed in the first half to score three touchdowns, and it turned out to be enough in an 18-8 victory over the Crookston Pirates in the first round of the Section 8AA Football playoffs in a game played on a cold, rainy and windy night in Warroad.
FIRST QUARTER –
Crookston won the coin toss and elected to receive to start the game. Warroad tried an onside kick, and the ball went off a Pirate, and the Warriors recovered the ball in a play that seemed to set the tone for the first half. “They caught us a little off guard,” said Pirate Coach Scott Butt. “Give credit to Warroad, they executed it perfectly, and we didn’t make the play. I think it set the tone for the half.”
Crookston’s defense came up big and stopped Warroad on a four and out for a turnover on downs, and Crookston escaped with the ball back. “That was huge for our defense to come up with a stop to get a little momentum back,” said Coach Butt.
The Pirate’s offense didn’t fare much better and had a four and out for a turnover on downs.
Warroad started their second offensive series at the Crookston 41 yard line and lost one yard on the first three plays for a fourth down and 11-yard play at the Pirate 42 yard line. The Warriors quarterback dumped a pass in the backfield to runningback Jeremy Cole who ran untouched for 42 yards down the sideline for a touchdown and a 6-0 lead halfway through the quarter. “We missed some tackles on that play, tackles we should have made,” said Coach Butt. “We did a great job defensively for most of the half, but we struggled on that play.”
Crookston threw an interception on the third play of their next drive, but Warroad didn’t take advantage of the opportunity and turned the ball over on downs after a holding penalty stalled the drive and they were forced to punt to end the drive that spanned the end of the first and the start of the second quarter.
SECOND QUARTER –
Crookston had the ball to start the second quarter, and Warroad’s offense continued to sputter, and after a loss of two yards, they elected to punt with the wind at their back. The snap was low, and Brooks Butt did a great job to break a tackle in the endzone and got a punt away about 25 yards behind the line of scrimmage and the punt rolled a few yards for a loss of 10 yards, which turned out to be a huge momentum shift in the game. “That hurt us. The snap was low, and there wasn’t much we could do after that,” said Coach Butt. “Brooks (Butt) did a great job to get the punt off, but that play was a huge change of momentum.”
Warroad started the drive with the ball at the Crookston 16 yard line and ran three plays and recorded a first down and got the ball to the seven-yard line. Crookston stopped the first three plays for minimal gain, and Warroad went for it on fourth down and goal from the seven-yard line. After being stopped on three running plays, Warroad switched things up, and Cooper Cole dumped a pass in the backfield to Blake Norris, who sprinted into the endzone to give the Warriors a 12-0 lead halfway through the quarter.
Crookston fumbled the ball on their third play of the series, and Warroad recovered to get the ball back with 3:01 remaining in the half. “We turned the ball over too many times in the half,” said Coach Butt. “You can’t turn over the ball twice in a game like this with conditions like this and expect to win.”
Warroad’s first play was a handoff to Gobbi Boucher (Henry Boucha’s grandson) for 31 yards. Two plays later, Jeremy Cole scored on a nine-yard touchdown, and Warroad took an 18-0 lead into halftime. “We struggled on the offensive end in the first half,” said Coach Butt. “I thought our defense played a solid half, but they were given a short field too many times because our offense struggled, and it came back to hurt us.”
THIRD QUARTER –
Crookston’s first offensive possession of the second half was a nine-play drive that started at their 45-yard line and ended inside the 20 after a turnover on downs. Crookston fumbled on their second offensive possession of the quarter, and Warroad recovered. On the ensuing drive, the Warrior drive was stalled by a false start, and Crookston started the drive at their 27-yard line.
FOURTH QUARTER –
The Pirate’s first play of the drive was a nine-yard run from Leyton Salentine, who was hit after he went out of bounds for an additional 15 yards. Crookston accumulated 38 yards on the next five plays to set up an Ethan Boll 16 yard touchdown run, and Crookston trailed 18-8. “That was exactly what we needed,” said Coach Butt. “We put a couple of nice plays together, and it was a nice run by Ethan and a big hole by the line, and it gave us a boost on the sidelines.”
Warroad turned the ball over on downs, and Crookston had the ball back with less than six minutes left in the game. The first three plays were incomplete passes, and after a run, for a loss of two yards, they turned the ball over on downs back to Warroad. Crookston got the ball back after the Warriors couldn’t score on three plays from the one-yard line. “The defense came up big on those plays. We stiffened up and made some great plays and tackles,” said Coach Butt. “I thought that would give us a big spark.”
Crookston seemed to have some extra fire as they completed their first pass nine attempts when Salentine found Ty Hamre for a 17-yard completion. Salentine ran the ball for 14 yards on the second play of the drive and then found Hamre again for a 19-yard passing play, and the drive was moving down the field in fine fashion. The next play, Salentine slipped while scrambling and lost seven yards, and two plays later, the Pirates turned the ball over on downs.
Warroad ran the clock out and held on for an 18-8 victory to end Crookston’s season.
Crookston ends the season with a 3-6 record and will say goodbye to 10 seniors – Quinn Westlake, Leyton Salentine, Joe Doda, Ty Hamre, Gavin Salem, Caden Osborn, Joseph Ramirez, Brady Butt, Quinn Winand, and Walker Winjum. “This group is a special group because I have watched them come up,” said Coach Butt. “Having my oldest son in the group makes it a little more special. I loved coaching this group, and I am struggling to hold back right now. This was a great group of seniors, and I loved every minute of coaching this group.”
Warroad improves to 5-4 on the year and will travel to #1 seed Barnesville on Saturday afternoon.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| CROOKSTON | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 8 |
| Warroad | 6 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
1st Quarter
5:53 – Warroad – Jeremy Cole 42 yard pass from Cooper Cole (pass failed)
2nd Quarter
5:09 – Warroad – Blake Norris 7 yard pass from Cooper Cole (pass failed)
1:45 – Warroad – Jeremy Cole 9 yard run (run failed)
3rd Quarter
No Scoring
4th Quarter
9:46 – Crookston – Ethan Boll 16 yard run (Leyton Salentine run)
| TEAM STATS | CROOKSTON | Warroad |
| Rushing Yards | 175 | 132 |
| Passing Yards | 81 | 60 |
| Total Yards | 256 | 192 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 2-2 | 2-0 |
| First Downs | 10 | 8 |
| Penalties-Yards | 2-10 | 6-45 |
| Punts | 1 – (-10) | 3-51 |
INDIVIDUAL STATS
| CROOKSTON | Warroad | |
| Rushing | Rushing | |
| Ethan Boll 20-79 | Jeremy Cole 25-52 | |
| Leyton Salentine 16-84 | Blake Norris 6-49 | |
| Jaxon Wang 3-8 | Gobbi Boucha 3-34 | |
| Brady Butt 1-4 | Cooper Cole 3-(-3) | |
| Passing | Passing | |
| Leyton Salentine 3-11-1 | Cooper Cole 4-6-0 | |
| Receiving | Receiving | |
| Ty Hamre 2-36 | Jeremy Cole 2-46 | |
| Quinn Westlake 1-45 | Blake Norris 2-14 |
