Pelican Rapids stuffs Hawley in Section 8AA semifinal

No. 2 Pelican Rapids scored the first 34 points of a 40-14 blowout victory over Hawley at home to finish off the 2020 season on a four-game winning streak Friday night.

“This turned out to be a great way to finish our season,” Vikings head coach David Haugen said. “We played quite well and executed on both sides of the ball the way we needed to to be successful. It's obviously fun to finish with a win and especially for the seniors to be able to finish off good football careers with a win on their home field.”

Hawley had early chances to score getting into field goal position in the first and second quarters, but neither kick was successful from 29 or 37 yards.

“Hawley was able to put together a couple of good drives early in the game and twice got inside our 20 yard line,” said Haugen. “Our defense was able to come up with some big plays to eventually get the stops needed forcing them into field goal tries.”

Quarterback McHale Korf opened the scoring early in the second quarter scoring on a 17-yard run.

After Hawley’s second missed field goal attempt, a Korf 30-yard run set up a one-yard scoring plunge by Johnny Ziebell for a 13-0 lead.

Korf found Hunter Williams on a six-yard touchdown connection with only three seconds left in the first half for a late dagger and a 20-0 lead going to halftime after Alex Lynnes’ PAT kick.

Carson McNeal and Korf had second half touchdown runs of one and eight yards, respectively.

Justin VerDorn capped the scoring for Pelican Rapids on a three-yard run between two late Hawley scores by Layton Leister and Bradley Olson.

“Offensively, we were able to get some success running the ball and were able to get some key plays through the air to keep drives going,” Haugen said.

Pelican Rapids nearly put up 500 yards of total offense (481) getting 301 on the ground and 180 passing.

Korf was 9-13 passing for 180 yards and one TD; he ran 20 times for 178 yards and two TDs.

Ziebell was 14-85 rushing and a score.

Jayden Rutherford led the Pelican receivers with 71 yards, doing it all on one play.

Leister led Hawley gaining 100 yards on only seven carries with a touchdown.

Hawley ends the season with a mark of 3-3 and has lost two of the last three meetings with Pelican Rapids (5-1).

Without COVID restrictions, the Vikings would have advanced to face No. 1 Barnesville in a rematch of last year’s Section 8AA Championship game. The Trojans wrapped up an undefeated run (7-0) after defeating No. 4 Warroad 41-8 at home Friday night. Barenesville is 30-4 combined the past three seasons.

No. 2 Pelican Rapids 40, No. 3 Hawley 14

HAW 0 0 0 14 - 14

PEL 0 20 7 13 - 40

PEL - McHale Korf 17 run (Alex Lynnes kick)

PEL - Johnny Ziebell 1 run (kick failed)

PEL - Hunter Williams 6 pass from Korf (Lynnes kick)

PEL - Carson McNeal 1 run (Lynnes kick)

PEL - Korf 8 run (Lynnes kick)

HAW - Layton Leister 58 run (Leister run)

PEL - Justin VerDron 3 run (kick failed)

HAW - Bradley Olson 20 run (pass failed)