Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton quarterback Owen Leach completed a 13-yard pass to Brody O’Keefe with 49 seconds left and Hayden Hauf added the extra point to give the Rebels a 14-10 lead over the Thief River Falls Prowlers in a Section 8AAA semifinal game in Glyndon.
The Prowlers drove into Rebel territory on the ensuing drive but ultimately failed to score when a pass by Caleb Rosendahl was picked off near the goaline.
The Rebels took a knee to end the game and end the Prowlers’ season.
“I was proud of the boys,” said Thief River Falls Head Coach Kurt Reynolds. “To go from where we were when we played DGF on Sept 2 and got hammered to going toe-to-toe with them for the entire game last week … well that’s an amazing turnaround.”
Defending section champion DGF is the most consistent team in Section 8AAA. The Anthony Soderberg-coached Rebels haven’t lost to a section opponent since the 2019 section championship game.
“Last year at a coaching conference, Anthony [Soderberg] pulled me aside and said, ‘I’m glad that you turned the program around. But now you have to bring it and be competitive with us,’” Reynolds said. “Then, when I saw him after the game, those were the first words out of his mouth: ‘You brought it today. Remember when I asked you that last year? Well, you guys brought it all game long today.’
“We just made a few key mistakes – not punting the ball out of bounds, messing up some kicks, penalties on the offensive line – that really cost us.”
The Prowlers have made steady progress in head-to-head meetings against the Rebels going back to the start of last season. DGF defeated Thief River Falls 16-0 in the 2021 season opener and 28-7 in the 2021 Section 8AAA semifinals. This year, the score was 32-7 when the teams met in the season-opener.
The Prowlers played with the lead for most of the first half. An early turnover by the Rebels gave the Prowlers great field position and they turned it into points with Brayden Spears connecting on a 22-yard field goal.
The Prowlers also picked off DGF quarterback Owen Leach in the first quarter, but they were unable to score after turning the ball over on downs.
The Prowlers’ front seven shutdown the Rebel rushing attack for much of the afternoon.
“Coach Farnlof had our defensive linemen follow their pulling guards to take them right to the play,” Reynolds said. “Then, we had our other outside linebacker, Ethan Lane, who has been just playing his best the last few games, play one of his very best games of the entire year. Coach Jensen also went in with the idea that their running back (Jordan Summers) averages 29 carries for 220 yards a game. So we just decided that we weren’t going to let him beat us.”
Summers still got 29 carries, but he was held to 130 yards. The Prowlers kept the DGF senior running back out of the end zone for most of the first half. Summers scored his lone touchdown on a three-yard run with 34 seconds left in the first half.
The Rebels played with a 7-3 lead for most of the second half. The Prowlers moved the ball well between the 20s, but the Rebel defense stiffened each time they threatened. When the Prowlers finally broke through, it was senior Jake Friedrich who found the end zone on a 27-yard run with 2:43 left to play.
“I thought Jake Friedrich ran the ball very well,” Reynolds said. “Our offensive line held up very well – despite a few penalties at key moments. Jackson Ingram held up well inside against their great tackles.”
The Rebels’ game-winning drive was kept alive by several impressive ad-lib plays by Leach. The senior signal caller ran five times for 29 yards and completed five of 10 passes for 73 yards to lead the rally.
Scores in the final minute of each half were the only blemishes on an otherwise great game for the Prowlers’ defensive unit.
“On defense, the entire unit flew around and hammered them,” Reynolds said. “The defensive line of Jack Manning, Carter Engebretson and Jake Friedrich did a great job. And Kale Geiser and Griff Lundeen cleaned things up in the middle at line backer, and Kadin Grindeland and Ethan Lane played well on the edges.”
The Prowlers are two years into a rebuild that has seen the team post back-to-back 5-5 seasons.
“It is funny to think that after our home loss to Detroit Lakes, we didn’t know that the Power T was really for us,” Reynolds said. “We had gone to Elk River and thought we made a ton of progress, but we were sitting at 0-3 and barely scoring 10 points a game. Then we came out against Fergus and only scored in the first half due to a blocked punt. But then Coach Mumm challenged the offense at the half and after that we went on a roll the rest of the year where we averaged 33 points per game.
“After our loss in the semifinals, I told the team that when we were in that same endzone after our first game where DGF hammered us 7-32 that if I told them we’d end up taking that same team down to the wire and lose 14-10, they would probably take it. They should be incredibly proud at how they turned things around and the foundation that was laid.”
Scoring
1 2 3 4 T
TRF 3 0 0 7 10
DGF 0 7 0 7 14
First Quarter
TRF – Brayden Spears 22-yard field goal.
Second Quarter
DGF – Jordan Summers 3-yard run (Hayden Hauf kick)
Fourth Quarter
TRF – Jake Friedrich 27-yard run (Spears kick)
DGF – Brody O’Keefe 13-yard pass from Owen Leach (Hayden Hauf kick)
Team Statistics
• First downs – TRF 10; DGF 17.
• Fumbles (total-lost) – TRF 0-0; DGF 1-1.
• Penalties (number-yards) – TRF 7-50; DGF 4-30.
• Punts (number-averge) – TRF 4-39; DGF 2-8.
• Rushing (attempts-yards) – TRF 43-232; DGF 48-203.
• Passing – TRF 1-for-11, 38 yards, interception; DGF 5-for-10, 73 yards, touchdown, interception.
• Total yards – TRF 270; DGF 276.
Individuals
• Rushing – (TRF) Kadin Grindeland 7-53; Jake Friedrich 9-50, touchdown; Griffin Lundeen 12-49; Braedon Potucek 8-44; Caleb Rosendahl 6-38; (DGF) Jordan Summers 29-130, touchdown; Owen Leach 5-29; Brody Friend 3-21; Casey Macziewski 3-20; Nicholas Waale 6-19.
• Passing – (TRF) Caleb Rosendahl 1-for-11, 38 yards, interception; (DGF) Owen Leach 5-for-10, 73 yards, touchdown, interception.
• Receiving – (TRF) Jack Manning 1-38; (DGF) Jordan Summers 3-50; Brody O’Keefe 1-13, touchdown; Nicholas Waale 1-10.
Section 8AAA playoffs
• Tuesday, Oct. 25 (Quarterfinals) 1. DGF receives bye; Thief River Falls 33, Fergus Falls 14; Perham 34, Park Rapids Area 7; East Grand Forks 34, Roseau 0.
• Saturday, Oct. 29 – (Semifinals) – Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton 14, Thief River Falls 10; East Grand Forks 24, Perham 21.
• Thursday, Nov. 3, Championship game at Fargo Dome, 8 p.m. – East Grand Forks vs. Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton.
Section 8AAAA playoffs
• Tuesday, Oct. 25 (Quarterfinals) – Little Falls 13, St. Cloud Apollo 12.
• Saturday, Oct. 29 – (Semifinals) – Rocori 65, Little Falls 12; Becker 31, Detroit Lakes 14.
• Friday, Nov. 4, Championship 7 p.m. at Monticello – Rocori vs. Becker.
Section 8AAAAA playoffs
• Tuesday, Oct. 25 (Quarterfinals) – Sartell 33, Bemidji 21; Alexandria 35, St. Cloud Tech 6.
• Saturday, Oct. 29 – (Semifinals) – Sartell 15, Sauk Rapids-Rice 14; Moorhead 35, Alexandria 28.
• Friday, Nov. 4, Championship 7 p.m. – Sartell at Moorhead.