Down 14-13 at halftime, coach Fred Fridley's team responded to his challenge in scoring 27 unanswered points while shutting down a potent Valley City running attack to claim the Class AA state football title with a 40-20 victory here Saturday.
Asked what he said to his team at halftime, Fridley said as he pounded on his heart, "in the second half we better have this in our body if we want to win this game, especially on our offensive and defensive line."
The game statistics revealed the tale of two games within one. The Hi-Liners tallied 188 rushing yards in the opening half, only to see the Wolves clamp down to allow just 32 yards on the ground in the second half.
"We came with a different secondary person to stop the sweep, and came with different defensive people to stop the sweep," Fridley said of the halftime adjustment to slow Valley City's rushing attack that's designed to go outside.
As the Wolves' defense got on track, so did their offense. Held to a negative 2 yards rushing in the first half, Watford City rumbled for 152 yards on the ground in the second half.
Wolves' running back Kirby Knudtson tallied three touchdowns while collecting 99 yards on 24 carries. At the same time, Watford City's consistent passing attack opened the running game in the second half as quarterback Kevin Sanford threw for 92 yards in the first half and then 96 yards in the second half.
Sandford said establishing a balanced offensive attack "was huge" in getting the win.
"Our offensive line did a huge job on pass blocking and run blocking," Sanford said.
He said during halftime they made some minor adjustments and drew up some plays.
"Coach Fridley is a genius," Sanford said. "Just give our quarterback and receivers a lot of credit," Fridley said, as he added they were pressured and well covered throughout the game.
Fortunately for Wolves fans, their receivers were one step ahead of the Hi-Liners' defense when it counted.
Valley City literally hit the ground running as it took the opening kickoff 63 yards in 10 plays for an early 6-0 lead when Derek Elliot busted up the middle from 10 yards out into the endzone with 7:27 left in the first quarter.
The Wolves' offense then faced a third-and-14 on their own 41 on their first possession when Sanford scrambled to his left and tossed a desperation pass.
Knudtson ran under the ball at the Hi Liners' 20 to tie it with 5:26 left in the quarter. Justin Flatland's kick gave the Wolves their first lead at 7-7.
The Wolves added to their edge when Hi Liners' running back Derek Kohler fumbled and Watford City 's Max Johnson scooped up the ball and scampered 65 yards with 2:45 remaining for a13-6 lead.
Valley City regained the lead when it started on the Watford City 48 with 7:05 remaining. The Hi Liners produced their first mistake-free offensive drive when Elliot went left from a yard out to score with 3:13 left in the first half. Jade Olstad was successful on the two-point run and Valley City led 14-13.
Needing to respond after taking the second half kickoff, the Wolves started on their own 34 and marched downfield in 10 plays with Sanford's dive from inches away regaining a lead that wouldn't be relinquished.
Watford City then forced the Hi Liners to punt on their next two possessions before a little razzle dazzle was inserted into the Wolves' offense. Trey Jacobson tossed an option pass off a reverse that tight end Flatland backpeddled under at the 5 and then turned around and ran into the endzone for a 25-14 lead with 1:51 left in the third quarter.
"That was undescribable," Jacobson said of the touchdown toss. "We had that play set up. Coach Fridley set up an individual route we knew would be open."
The Wolves' defense then forced another Valley City punt to set up an eight-play, 68-yard scoring drive that finished with Knudtson running through the right side from 3 yards out. Sanford's pass to Knudtson for the two-point conversion gave the Wolves a 33-14 advantage with 8:54 left in regulation.
Valley City gave up the ball on downs and Watford
City's offense was back on the field for a 30-yard
drive in nine plays with Knudtson again busting into
the endzone with 2:40 left. Flatland's kick made it
40-14.
Fridley then pulled with starters off the field before
the Hi Liners ran their next play to face a rousing cheer from the Wolves faithful. Valley City's reserves then added a late touchdown to provide the final scoring of the game.
"You can't put this into words," Sanford said after the game about seeing the Wolves win another state football title.
Knudtson also couldn't describe the feeling other than to say, "It's awesome."
"At the beginning of the year we didn't know how good a team we would have," he added. "We worked real hard for it."
Comments
Jim A wrote on Nov 17, 2008 6:32 PM: