Despite piling up nearly 400 yards of offense, the Frazee football team lost in Warroad 47-18 in the Section 8-2A quarterfinals Tuesday.
The No. 6 Hornets were beset by the injury bug in the second half, after losing starting quarterback Baxter Bachmann and starting tailback Cody Piper, who rushed for a game-high 148 yards on 23 carries.
"By midway through the third quarter, we lost our quarterback, another defensive back and near the end of the game, we lost Piper," said Frazee head coach Jim Rader. "We also played without one of our top two-way starters on the line, with Garrett Malstrom unable to play after nursing an injury for a few weeks.
"It may sound like excuses, but these are just facts of our situation. Given all of this, I thought our kids did pretty well."
Frazee had a chance to tie the game before halftime, but missed the opportunity.
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Instead, the Warriors scored a touchdown with seconds left on the clock to take a 27-12 advantage, but not without some controversy.
"The clock keeper stopped the clock on the running play before their final score, and Warroad had no timeouts left," Rader said. "The officials apologized for the clock keeper, but it did not change the fact that Warroad was still given an opportunity for a score by the stop, and they got it."
Frazee had another touchdown called back early in the second half to add to their woes, as the Warriors added three more touchdowns to seal the win.
Bachmann had two touchdown passes in the game, one going to Jacob Galbrecht from 50 yards out and the other to Rij Koehnen on a 33-yard pass play.
Senior Dan Janu took over for Bachmann after his injury and he slung a 15-yard TD strike to Eric Moltzan in the third quarter.
Bachmann finished with 119 yards passing, going 7-16 with three interceptions, while Janu had 43 yards through the air and two interceptions.
"Regardless of the outcome, this team worked hard to represent our school and community," Rader added. "They achieved more than many people thought possible and dealt with more adversity than any team I have seen."
The Hornets finished the season 4-5 and will have their banquet Thursday, Nov. 17 at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Frazee.
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Warroad advanced to the semifinals, where they will travel to No. 2 Barnesville Saturday for a 2 p.m. start.
In the other bracket, No. 1 Hawley downed No. 8 United North Central 49-0 and No. 4 Bagley beat No. 5 Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton 26-14.
The two teams will meet in Hawley Saturday at 2 p.m. and the finals will be Friday, Nov. 4, in the Fargodome at 8 p.m.
Hornet results
Section 8-2A playoffs: (6) Frazee at (3) Warroad, Tuesday, Oct. 25.
Hornets 6 6 6 0 - 18
Warriors 20 7 13 7 - 47
Frazee rushing (att-yds-tds) -- Cody Piper 23-148-0; Dan Janu 2-1-0; Rij Koehnen 2-0-0; Jacob Galbrecht 2-27-0; Bruce Lemon 8-26-0; Austin Torma 1-2-0; Tyler Wacker 1-7-0; Baxter Bachmann 4-15-0.
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Frazee passing (att-comp-yds-td-int) -- Janu 15-3-43-1-2; B. Bachmann 16-7-119-2-3.
Frazee receiving (rec-yds-tds) -- Glabrecht 2-58-1; Koehnen 1-27-1; Eric Moltzan 1-15-1; Janu 2-16-0; Lemon 4-46-0.
