FARGO - In the final football game of the regular season at the Fargodome for Frazee, the Hornets said they wanted another shot at Hawley on that same turf. They got it Friday in the Minnesota Class 2A, Section 8 title game.
And Hawley rolled them 34-13.
No. 10 Frazee showed the rest of the state of Minnesota what not to do when dealing with Class 2A’s top-ranked football team.
Don’t poke the beast that is Hawley.
“That’s fine,” Hawley quarterback Jordan Harms said. “It’s football. People are going to talk. We didn’t talk. We kept our heads level. We came out and played a good game. We don’t need to talk. We hit with our pads and we talk with our pads.”
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Frazee (9-2) went up 7-0 thanks to a 43-yard touchdown pass from Hesston Bachmann to Riley Utke on the first drive of the game. On Hawley’s first play from scrimmage, running back Dillon Omberg went 26 yards and fumbled, but Harms was there to scoop it up and go 45 yards for the touchdown to tie it.
Omberg wouldn’t say whether or not he fumbled on purpose.
“You can say I did that,” Omberg said.
Hawley coach Peder Naatz on the other hand, was more open on the play.
“I’d be lying if I said we drew it up like that,” Naatz said.
Frazee fumbled the ball on its second play on the ensuing drive and Harms was there again to scoop it up and go 28 yards for the touchdown to make it 13-7.
“Right place at the right time,” Harms said.
Naatz gave more credit to Harms.
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“Harms got rid of the ball and he’s getting down field to block on the first fumble and by his sheer, pure hustle he ends up with the ball in his hands,” Naatz said. “It was just an athlete making plays. We knew the ball was going to go on the ground a couple times tonight because every single game (Frazee) is in they put the ball on the ground. We just had to be hustling and be on top of it.”
Harms was on top of the ball and also threw the ball over everyone else. Harms found Dawson Tusow for a 71-yard touchdown pass with 8 minutes, 57 seconds to go in the first half to make it 21-7 Hawley. And to add another stat, Harms get on interception on the ensuing Frazee drive.
“Our kids are working and very focused,” Naatz said. “They’re driven. This was step one. We’re only talking about step two right now. The next step is BOLD Friday night.”
Before step two, Omberg picked up 26 of his 146 yards on a touchdown run to make it 27-7 with 1 minute, 20 seconds left in the half. Just to complete his day, Harms found Ben Ellefson for a 27-yard touchdown pass with 17 seconds to go in the third to make it 34 straight Hawley (10-0) points.
“They wanted us pretty bad,” Omberg said. “They’re pretty physical, but we matched their physicality tonight and we took it to them.”
After Frazee went up 7-0 less than four minutes into the game, the Hornets would not find the end zone again until there was 4:20 left in the game. The Hornets have not found the state tournament either since 1990.
Friday was Hawley’s third straight section title and the Nuggets’ eighth since 2005.
“It’s never easy and it certainly never gets old,” Naatz said. “We get older, but this winning and section championships never gets old.”
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Hawley will take on No. 7-ranked BOLD at 7 p.m. next Friday at Alexandria in the Class 2A quarterfinals.
F 7 0 0 6–13
H 13 14 7 0–34
F-Utke 43 pass from H. Bachmann (H. Bachmann kick)
H-Harms 45 run (Regnier kick)
H-Harms 28 fumble return (kick blocked)
H-Tusow 71 pass from Harms (Omberg run)
H-Omberg 26 run (kick missed)
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H-Ellefson 27 pass from Harms (Regnier kick)
F-H. Bachmann 1 run (run failed)
RUSHING: F, H. Bachmman 17-47, T. Bachmann 12-29, Torma 5-24, Utke 4-24, Marshall 3-11, Jutz 1-5, Hoffman 1-(-4). H, Omberg 14-146, Loegering 6-30, Harms 3-50, Koenig 3-5, Hanson 1-(-3).
PASSING: F, H. Bachmann 11-17-1 145 yards, Torma 0-1-0 0 yards. H, Harms 2-5-0 98 yards.
RECEIVING: F, Utke 7-106, Tappe 1-12, T. Bachmann 1-11, Daggett 2-16. H, Ellefson 1-27, Tusow 1-71.
