Stephen-Argyle Comes Back to Beat KCC

The Stephen-Argyle Storm with their 4th straight Section 8 9-Man Championship

Kittson County Central started the game with the lead after Trent Peterson took the opening kickoff 88 yards into the end zone giving the Bearcats a 7-0 lead following the Maurice Sele extra-point.
Stephen-Argyle responded on their opening possession which started at their own 45-yard line. The Storm used 11 plays to move 45 yards capped off by an 8-yard touchdown run by Nathan Kotts through the right side of the line sprinting untouched past the goal line tying the game at 7-7 after the Collin Neuschwander extra-point with 6:03 left in the first quarter. “Our lined just opened up a big hole and that was it, that was the end of that,” said Kotts. The Storm forced a punt on Kittson County Central’s first offensive possession with a 44-yard punt return by Hunter Yutrzenka setting Stephen-Argyle up at the KCC 24-yard line. The Storm managed 6 yards in their first two plays before going to the air on third down. Yutrzenka dropped back to throw and found tight end Isaac Durand wide open for an 18-yard touchdown pass giving the Storm a 13-7 lead at the end of the first quarter after the extra point was missed wide to the left. “They started adjusting to our run plays to the middle and to the outside and the pass was just open,” said Durand. “When we’re running the ball like we were it opened up the pass.”
Kittson County Central’s offense struggled to move the football against the aggressive Storm defense throughout most of the first half while the Storm appeared destined to continue adding to their lead. With goal-to-go, the Storm fumbled at the Bearcats’ 5-yard line and Kittson County Central was able to recover the turnover at their own 2-yard line. KCC’s quarterback Josh Rynning navigated the offense past the shadow of their own goal line before making a deep throw down the Bearcats’ sideline looking for Trent Peterson, but the throw was too deep and intercepted by Storm safety Hunter Yutrzenka who stepped out of bounds near midfield after making the interception with 1:49 left in the first half. Three plays after Yutrzenka mad thee interception, he hooked up with Durand for a second time on a 13-yard completion for the Stephen-Argyle touchdown giving the Storm a 19-7 lead at halftime.
In the third quarter, the Storm started with the football at their own 36-yard line and gained nine yards before going for it on fourth down and one. The fourth down run was stopped short of the first down giving the Bearcats possession at the Stephen-Argyle 46-yard line. After failing to convert on third down and long, a personal foul was called against a Storm player giving KCC 15-yards and a first down. The Bears’ took advantage on their next play as Josh Rynning hit Trent Peterson on a slant route and Peterson split two defenders extending beyond the goal line for the touchdown giving cutting the Bearcats deficit to 19-13 after the extra-point was deflected with 8:16 left in the third quarter. On the touchdown completion, Stephen-Argyle safety and quarterback Hunter Yutrzenka suffered an injury that would keep the Storm’s quarterback out for the rest of the game.
With backup quarterback Brody Pietruszewski now in at quarterback, Stephen-Argyle was forced to punt for the first time in the game after going three-and-out. The punt pinned Kittson County Central back at their own 24-yard line to start their next drive. The Bearcats tied the game on the very next play as Josh Rynning hit a wide-open Trent Peterson in stride in front of the Stephen-Argyle sideline with the KCC receiver running the rest of the way for a 76-yard touchdown connection tying the game at 19-19 before Sele made the extra-point giving the Bearcats a 20-19 lead with 5:29 left in the third quarter.
While the Storm struggled to move the football on their next possession, Kittson County Central was also unable to add to their lead giving the Storm possession back at Kittson County Central’s 35-yard line following a short punt. Stephen-Argyle was unable to capitalize on the good field position after a fourth-down pass from Pietruszewski to Ashten Safranski came up one yard short of a first down at the KCC 5-yard line. The Bearcats managed to move out of their own end zone, but the Storm’s defense was again able to force a punt getting Stephen-Argyle the football back at their own 43-yard line.
After struggling to move the football on his first three possessions Pietruszewki delivered when it mattered most for Stephen-Argyle. The junior quarterback marched the Storm across midfield before the drive stalled to a fourth down and 14. On fourth down, Pietruszewksi rolled to his right before throwing it back to the left side of the field to Nathan Kotts who was left uncovered and sprinted down the sideline for 18-yards and a Stephen-Argyle first down to the KCC 21-yard line. “We struggled to run the ball most of the day,” said Stephen-Argyle head coach Ethan Marquis. “The big break was the pass on the sideline to Kotts and then Ashten Safranski stepped up there.” On the Storm’s next play James Pederson found some running room to his left and gained the edge picking up 10 yards to the Bearcats’ 11-yard line. Ashten Safranski ran it to the 1-yard line on the next play before Pietruszewki kept himself, lunging to his right and into the end zone giving Stephen-Argyle a 25-20 lead. “Coach told me to sneak the ball in,” said Pietruszewski, “I told my center I’m going to the right side and punching it in, I told them I’m doing this for you seniors. I was so emotional. I was just so happy.” Ashten Safranski ran in the two-point conversion growing the Storm lead to 27-20 with 4:00 remaining. Kittson County Central drove the ball into Stephen-Argyle territory following a 38-yard completion from Rynning to Peters. Rynning gained another first down with his legs to the Stephen-Argyle 24-yard line with under two minutes to go. Following a false start the Bearcats were unable to gain another first down before facing fourth down without any timeouts needing 12-yards for a first down and 25-yards to score the tying touchdown. Rynning rolled to his right and threw a strike to Trent Peterson, but Stephen-Argyle defensive backs Isaac Durand and Jason Lindgren were able to knock the pass away for the incompletion turning Kittson County Central over on downs and securing the 27-20 win with the late defensive stand.
“A lot of the young guys stepped up today and got the job done,” said Marquis. “It didn’t look good there for a while, but Brody Pietruszewski stepped in at quarterback and a handful of sophomores contributed so it helped to have our depth. It feels good to get a win today. It’s awesome, we’ve got to do the best we can to prepare every week so we can be in more control and continue to try and control our game.”
The Storm improve to 11-0 and advance to the State Tournament next Saturday at Chet Anderson Field in Bemidji where they’ll take on the Section 7 champion (Mountain Iron-Buhl or Cook County) at 6 p.m. with the Riverview Health Pregame Show beginning at 5:30 p.m. on KROX. Kittson County Central wraps up their season with a 6-5 record.

For video highlights, click on the video above

Nathan Kotts stiff arms a KCC player on one of his runs  Mason Mock and Jesse Clark with a tackle

1st Quarter
11:46 – KCC – Trent Peterson 88 yard kickoff return  (Maurice Sele kick)
6:03 – SA –  Nathan Kotts  8 yard run  (Collin Neuschwander kick)
0:05 – SA –  Isaac Durand 18 yard pass from Hunter Yutrzenka  (Kick failed)

4th Quarter
4:00 –  SA  –  Brody Pietruszewski  1 yard run  (Ashten Safranski run)

James Pederson tries to break a tackle   Joshua Pietruszewski & Collin Neuschwander team up for a tackle