VIKINGS BACK IN STATE; CLIP BOLD, 35-22
When you've got a big horse, you climb on and ride it home.
Minneota rode senior back Isaac Hennen for three touchdowns, 210 yards on 35 carries defeated BOLD, 35-22 to earn a spot on the state tournament.
They spotted BOLD 14-0 lead, then came back to lead at half, 20-14 and rode the horse home the second half.
They will play Mahnomen, the Section 8A Champ at noon Saturday at Alexandria in the first round of the state tournament.
"We knew, when it came down to it, we'd need him to come through," said Offensive Coordinator Matt Myrvik about Isaac Hennen, the horse they rode in the second half.
"During the regular season we didn't use him like that because we wanted to keep him healthy," the assistant coach said.
Minneota forged a 20-14 halftime lead after contributing to BOLD's early 14-0 lead.
In the second half, they put the reigns on Hennen and let him run. With 2:31 to go in the third quarter, Myrvik unleased his stallion.
Hennen, who scored a touchdown on a two-yard run in the first half, ran the ball 10 times, chewed up 57 yards and finally scored on a one-yard run at 10:35 of the fourth quarter to give the Vikings a 26-14 lead. Then he ran in the two-point conversion to make it 28-14.
"I had a lot of confidence in our great line so I knew we could get it done," said Hennen.
In desperation the Warriors tried to pass their way back into the game, but quarterback Jordan Sagedahl's pass was intercepted, by you know who, Isaac Hennen and Minneota started again on their own 28 yard line.
After running for six plays and 15 yards, Isaac Hennen enough of the short gains. He ripped off a 58-yard run for his third and final touchdown, Alex Pohlen kicked the extra point and Minneota led, 35-14 with 4:56 left in the game.
"I almost fell down on that long run. My legs gave out on me," said the tired Hennen.
Between the two drives that both ended in touchdowns, Isaac Hennen ran for 115 yards on 16 carries and ate up about 11 minutes of precious time.
BOLD came back score their final touchdown on a drive that ended in a seven yard pass from Sagedahl to Gavin Vosika and a two-point pass conversion using the same combination.
But it was 35-22 and BOLD simply ran out of time.
Minneota 35, BOLD 22
Minneota 0 20 0 15 — 35
BOLD 6 8 0 8 — 22
First Quarter
BOLD-Austin Einerson 4 run. PAT-Kick failed.
Second Quarter
BOLD-Einerson 10 run. PAT-Einerson run.
Minneota-Isaac Hennen 2 run. PAT-Alex Pohlen kick failed.
Minneota-Thomas Hennen 27 pass from Pohlen. PAT-Run failed.
Minneota-Thomas Hennen 20 pass from Pohlen. PAT-Isaac Hennen run.
Third Quarter
No scoring
Fourth Quarter:
Minneota-Isaac Hennen 1 run. PAT-Isaac Hennen run.
Minneota-Isaac Hennen 58 run. PAT-Pohlen kick.
BOLD-Gavin Vosika 7 pass from Jordan Sagdahl. PAT-
Vosika pass from Sagedahl.
Team statistics
Minneota BOLD
20 First Downs 11
4-30 Penaltys/Yards 6-30
3-2 Fumbles/Lost 2-0
47-276 Rushes/Yards 25-54
135 Passing Yards 128
411 Total Yards 182
Individual Statistics
RUSHING (No., yds.) Minneota-Isaac Hennen 35-210; Cole Sanow 9-69; Landon Abraham 1-3; Alex Pohlen 2-minus 6. BOLD-Austin Einerson 14-54; Gavin Vosika 4-4; Hayden Tersteeg 1-0; Jordan Sagdahl 5-minus 2; other 1-minus 2.
PASSING: (No., comp., int., yds.) Minneota-Pohlen 18-8-1-135. BOLD-Sagdahl 32-14-1-128.
RECEIVING: (No., yds.) Minneota-Thomas Hennen 5-85; I. Hennen 1-29; Landon Abraham 1-13; Cole Sanow 1-8. BOLD-G. Vosika 7-50; W. Hanson 4-37; Einerson 2-34; H. Tersteeg 1-7.
KICKOFFS: (No., yds.) Minneota-Pohlen 6-252. BOLD-W. Hanson 3-150.
KICKOFF RETURNS: (No., yds.) Minneota-Skylar Gilbertson 2-21; I. Hennen 1-0; T. Hennen 1-0. BOLD-Sam Marks 4-17; Vosika 1-18; Hanson 1-12.
PUNTS: (No., yds., avg.) Minneota-Pohlen 4-136-34.0; BOLD-W. Hanson 7-259-37.0.
PUNT RETURNS: Minneota-Gilbertson 1-10; T. Hennen1-0. BOLD- Vosika 1-0; Marks 1-0; other 2-0.
TACKLES: Minneota-(Solo-assists) Brant Buysse 4-0; Landon Abraham 3-1; Shawn Buysse 3-2; Isaac Hennen 2-4; Cole Sanow 2-5; Ty Lipinski 2-2; Skylar Gilbertson 2-2; Mitchell Rost 2-1; Thomas Hennen, Ethan Krier, Logan Sussner and Jacob Hennen 1-1; Cole VanOverbeke 1-5; Tanner Sterzinger 1-2; TJ Esping, Blake Reiss 0-1 each. BOLD: Tersteeg 5-4; Hanson 5-3; Cade Morse 5-3; Lucas Ryan 4-1; Einerson 2-1; Gluesing 2-1; Sagedahl 1-8; Vosika 1-2; Riley Weis, Marks, Jack Hanson 1-0 each.
SACKS: None.
TACKLES FOR LOSS: Minneota-Lipinski, VanOverbeke; BOLD-Ryan, Guesing, Weis.
INTERCEPTIONS: Minneota-I. Hennen, Gilbertson. BOLD-Gluesing.
FUMBLE RECOVERIES: Minneota-one. BOLD-Ryan, Vosika.