Stephen-Argyle Football Holds On To Beat Goodridge-Grygla

The Stephen-Argyle Storm football team continued their undefeated season in a rainy win over Goodridge-Grygla 22-16 in a Section 8 semifinal game played in Argyle.

After the Storm was forced to punt on their opening drive Ashten Safranski pinned Goodridge-Grygla at their own 11-yard line. Stephen-Argyle forced a three-and-out defensively before the Chargers punted it to their own 31-yard line.
Starting their next drive on a short field the Storm methodically drove down the field before Hunter Yutrzenka capped off the drive with a one-yard quarterback keeper giving Stephen-Argyle a 7-0 lead after the Collin Neuschwander extra-point with 3:53 left in the first quarter.
The Chargers responded quickly on their next drive as Jaden Kiesow broke free up the middle of the field and sprinted 60-yards into the end zone cutting the deficit to 7-6 before Kiesow ran it in from the left side of the field on the two-point conversion try giving Goodridge-Grygla an 8-7 lead.
Both sides struggle to move the football in the rain on the sloppy field the rest of the half with Yutrzenka throwing an interception in the second quarter that set Goodridge-Grygla up at their own 41-yard line. The Chargers weren’t able to capitalize on the good field position and add to their 8-7 lead giving the football back after a failed 4thdown conversion try that was stopped at the Stephen-Argyle 49-yard line. The Storm drove down the field to close out the first half with Yutrzenka hoisting up a lob pass for Nathan Kotts along the near sideline with Kotts making a one-handed catch on his leg to march Stephen-Argyle down to the three-yard line. Two plays later, Yutrzenka lunged across the goal line and regained the lead for Stephen-Argyle 13-8, before Yutrzenka also managed to sprint in for the two-point conversion pushing the Storm lead to 15-8 with 0:07 left in the first-half.
In the third quarter, the Storm added to their lead on their opening drive of the second half which began at the Goodridge-Grygla 37-yard line. After driving within one-yard of the end zone, Stephen-Argyle again turned to their quarterback for a score as Yutrzenka rumbled in from one-yard out for his third touchdown of the game giving the Storm a 22-8 lead with 10:40 still to play in the third quarter following the Neuschwander PAT.
Stephen-Argyle looked to put the game away for good in the fourth quarter when the Storm drove deep into Chargers’ territory but an interception in the end zone gave Goodridge-Grygla a chance to continue their upset bid. Following the interception, the Chargers needed just four plays to score their second touchdown of the game when quarterback Hudson McMillin delivered a strike to Riley Manderud for a 21-yard touchdown pass, followed by a two-point conversion pass between the two cutting the deficit to 22-16 with 4:27 left in the game.
The Storm recovered the subsequent onside kick but were forced to punt after just down to the Goodridge-Grygla 14-yard line giving the Chargers a chance to put together a game-winning drive with 1:15 remaining. “They pieced together some really nice drives,” said Storm head coach Ethan Marquis, “but they had a hard time running the ball and had to rely a little bit too heavily on the pass so that was very costly and thankfully our defense did just enough to keep them in check.” However, Stephen-Argyle’s defense made the big plays on the final drive and was able to prevent the Chargers’ offense from getting anything going with Yutrzenka picking off one last heave by Goodridge-Grygla’s Hudson McMillin in desperation time as the Storm hung on for the 22-16 win. “It was sloppy and wet football, but I’m thankful we came out on top,” summarized Ethan Marquis. “At the end here, it’s a win. You take away that there’s not going to be any easy days left and there’s no tomorrow if you come up short.”
The Storm improve to 10-0 and advance to the section championship on Thursday at the Fargo Dome in North Dakota where Stephen-Argyle takes on Kittson-County-Central at 12:30 p.m. with the Riverview Health Pregame show beginning at Noon on KROX.  Goodridge-Grygla wraps up their season with a 6-4 record.

Nathan Kotts makes a catch to set up a touchdown    Ashton Safranski looks for room on one of his carries in the game

Isaac Durand tackles a Goodridge-Grygla ball carrier in the 2nd half

1st Quarter
3:53 – Stephen-Argyle – Hunter Yutrzenka  1 yard run  (Collin Neuschwander kick)
3:01 –  Goodridge-Grygla –  Jaden Kiesow  60 yard run  (Jaden Kiesow run)

4th Quarter
4:27 – Goodridge-Grygla – Riley Manderud  21 yard pass from Hudson McMillin  (Riley Manderud pass from Hunter McMillin)

The Storm celebrate their win over Grygla -Goodridge