Mahnomen/Waubun turns over Red Lake County to win Section 8A Football Championship

The Red Lake County Rebels had too many turnovers in the game, and the Mahnomen/Waubun Thunderbirds took advantage in a 36-8 victory in the Section 8A Championship game at the Fargodome on Thursday night.

1st Quarter–
The Mahnomen/Waubun Thunderbirds won the toss and started the game with the ball. The Red Lake County defense was outstanding at the start, forcing the Thunderbirds into a three-and-out. After a 42-yard punt, the Rebels moved the ball down the field with three first downs, including a 15-yard pass from Owen Chervestad. The drive sputtered with two incomplete passes and a turn to Conner Dudenover on downs. 
Mahnomen/Waubun couldn’t solve the Rebel defense as they were forced into another three-and-out and a punt. Red Lake County started their second drive at their own 25-yard line. After a Chervestad five yard run, they lost three yards. Chervestad scrambled for 12 yards for a first down. The next rebel pass was intercepted by the Thunderbirds Tanner Stech and he brought the ball down to the Rebel 13-yard line. 
Mahnomen/Waubun lost two yards on the first play on a great defensive play by a red Lake County, but they responded with a 15-yard pass from Blake McMullen to Brody Lhotka for a touchdown. The extra point kick was good for a 7-0 lead with 2:37 left in the quarter. 
The end of the quarter was disastrous for Red Lake County. They fumbled the ball on their second play of the ensuing drive, and the Thunderbirds’ Gavin McArthur recovered the ball on the RLC 25-yard line. The Thunderbirds didn’t take advantage of the turnover, as they had two incomplete passes and turned the ball over on downs. 
The Rebels fumbled the first play of the ensuing drive, and Mahnomen/Waubun recovered the ball at the 20-yard line and led 6-0 at the end of the opening quarter.

2nd Quarter –
Mahnomen/Waubun started the drive with an Easton Bevins 11-yard run. Three plays later, Bevins scored on a two-yard run, and after a two-point conversion, the Thunderbirds led 14-0.
Red Lake County started their next drive at their own 25-yard line. The Rebels had three incomplete passes, and it looked like Mahnomen/Waubun would get the ball back, but they were called for too many players on the field and were penalized 15 yards for a Rebel first down to keep the drive going. They fumbled the ball four plays later, and Mahnomen/Waubun recovered it at their own 28-yard line. Both teams exchanged punts before Red Lake County started a drive at their own 13-yard line. After a three-yard gain, the next two plays moved the ball 15 yards before Chervestad had two big passing plays. The first was a 44-yard pass to Ethan Johnson, and the next play was a 23-yard pass to Connor Duden down to the two-yard line. Gunnar Halvorson ran the ball into the endzone, and after the two-point conversion, Red Lake County trailed 14-8 with 2:21 left in the half. Mahnomen/Waubun took a 14-8 lead into halftime.

3rd Quarter –
Red Lake County started the half with the ball. They gained five yards on the first two plays of the drive before an incomplete pass and were forced to punt from the 50-yard line. The punt only went 11 yards, and Mahnomen/Waubun started the drive at their own 39-yard line. Lhotka carried the ball for 4, 8, and 12 yards on the first three plays. Bevins got the handoff on the next play and ran 38 yards for a touchdown. The two-point conversion failed, and the Thunderbirds led 20-8.
Red Lake County started their next drive with an incomplete pass before Mahnomen/Waubun’s Lhotka intercepted a pass and the Thunderbirds had the ball at the Rebel 40-yard line. The Thunderbirds ran three plays for 21 yards before Bevins scampered 19 yards up the middle for another touchdown. After the two-point conversion, Mahnomen/Waubun led 28-8 halfway through the quarter.
Red Lake County couldn’t muster a sustained drive and gave the ball back to Mahnomen/Waubun, who started the drive with 3:02 left in the quarter.

4th Quarter –
Mahnomen/Waubun put together an outstanding drive while chewing a lot of time off the clock. The drive started at their own 22-yard line. They moved the ball 22 yards on the first three plays before a 15-yard pass to Lhotka for the third first down of the drive. The Thunderbirds kept getting big chunks of yardage with gains of 7, 6, 8, 3, 8, 11, and 3 yards down to the one-yard line. Thunderbird quarterback Blake McMullen scored on the quarterback sneak, and after the two-point conversion, they led 36-8 with 8:23 left in the game.
Red Lake County had a great start to their next drive with a Seeger 14-yard run and an 18-yard pass from Chervestad to Ethan Majeres. The next play was a pass, and Mahnomen/Waubun’s Tate Houdek intercepted the pass.
Neither team scored in the final minutes of the game and Mahnomen/Waubun won 36-8 for their fourth straight Section championship.

Red Lake County’s outstanding season comes to an end with a 9-2 record and they say goodbye to the following seniors – Ethan Majeres, Owen Chervestad, Luke Peterson, Brock Seeger, Jacob Harmoning, Brock Knott, Hunter Dudycha, and Guy Bergeson.
Mahnomen/Waubun is the four-time defending Section 8A champion and improved to 10-0 on the season and will play in the first round of the Minnesota State Class A Football tournament next week.

SCORING-
1st Quarter –
2:37 – MW – Blake McMullen 15-yard pass to Brody Lhotka (run failed)

2nd Quarter –
10:46 – MW – Easton Bevins 2-yard run (Tanner Stech pass to Zach Zima)
2:21 – RLC – Gunnar Halvorson 2 yard run (Brock Seeger run)

3rd Quarter –
8:40 – MW – Easton Bevins 38 yard run (pass failed)
6:20 – MW – Easton Bevins 19 yard run (Easton Bevins run)

4th Quarter –
8:23 – MW – Blake McMullen 1 yard run (Easton Bevins run)

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Brock Seeger

Connor Duden

Ethan Majeres

Owen Chervestad

Gunnar Halvorson

The RLC Rebel team