Football: Barnesville plays spoiler on homecoming; Lakers eager to learn from losses

DETROIT LAKES – In two weeks, a regular-season football record will be as useless as a screen door on a submarine, which is why the Lakers welcomed adversity on homecoming night.

Detroit Lakes (4-2) dropped its second game in consecutive weeks. This time, undefeated Barnesville (6-0) spoiled the party with a 28-13 win.

“We knew Barnesville was going to come in hard. I mean, they’ve only let up (14) points the entire season,” junior Mason Carrier said. “We wanted to play the best we could. Whatever happens, happens. Everyone played hard. I didn’t see anyone on this team give anything less than 100%. The scoreboard is the scoreboard, but this is way better than getting blown out because we can learn something from this. Losing like this makes you better because you know what it feels like to lose a close game, and you know what it takes to power through it.”

The Trojans scored on their first possession. After a horse collar tackle extended the drive on third-and-long from midfield, John Roller broke off a 40-yard run to the five-yard line. Braedon Bredman punched in the touchdown on the next play.

“Their fakes are insane,” Mason Carrier said of Barnesville’s rushing attack. “You have to know your read. If you don’t know your read, the ball is already by you. It doesn’t matter how strong and fast you are. If you don’t make the right read, you’re just useless out there.”

With Caden Strand out for the season, sophomore Nick Buboltz got the start at quarterback. The Lakers gave Barnesville different looks, with Ethan and Mason Carrier under center throughout the game.

“Nick’s played quarterback since middle school, and he did a great job tonight,” Mason Carrier said. “He came out here on homecoming with thousands of people here and wasn’t nervous. He did what he needed to do. He kept his head up and stayed positive.”

Jared Rubado / Detroit Lakes Tribune

“You want to get the ball into the hands of your explosive athletes,” Detroit Lakes head coach Reed Hefta said. “We took some lumps today. We have to be able to run the ball, and I’m excited to see how coach (Vern) Schnathorst and coach (Kelly) Kalina keep growing our offensive team. We have two more games in the regular season with some games in the playoffs, and it’s nothing but tough teams from here on out.”

The Lakers didn’t cross midfield on offense until it was 14-0 midway through the second quarter. Tate Inniger completed a fourth-and-goal pass to Isaac Maneval to double the lead. Maneval was perfect in his four extra-point attempts.

Detroit Lakes strung together a series of first downs late in the first half. Barnesville forced a turnover on downs at its 19-yard line with 1:45 to pitch a shutout in the first half.

“Their linebackers are split out, and it’s like they know who’s getting the ball,” Mason Carrier said of Barnesville’s defense. “It’s tough to get around them.”

The Lakers put together another long drive to start the second half before stalling out at the 27-yard line. Buboltz’s pass to Charlie Kalina on fourth-and-seven fell incomplete.

Jared Rubado / Detroit Lakes Tribune

Miscommunications plagued the Lakers throughout the night, but none was bigger than the fake punt attempt early in the fourth quarter at the 27-yard line. Needing a yard to move the sticks, Detroit Lakes took a delay of game penalty on fourth down with the punt unit on the field. Now needing six yards, Kalina’s pass on the trick play fell incomplete, giving the ball back to the Trojans just outside the red zone.

Barnesville took a 21-0 lead early in the fourth quarter on a two-yard touchdown run from Andrew Pederson.

“Football is like a lesson plan,” Hefta said. “We’re all teachers out here, and we want our whole class to do well on tests. I couldn’t be more proud of how they took on those challenges. As a teacher, you try to implement a plan for these tests on Friday night. People can say what they want, but I’m proud of our guys.”

Ethan Carrier got the Lakers’ big-play offense on the board. With 5:59 left, he broke off a 55-yard run to the house, cutting the deficit to 14. However, Barnesville nipped any hope of a comeback with Pederson’s second touchdown of the quarter. He broke free for a 21-yard score to take a 28-7 lead with 1:27 left.

After a series of plays to get in plus territory, Mason Carrier connected with Breck Winter as time expired for a 30-yard touchdown pass.

The Trojans scored at least 43 points in their last three games, including a 51-8 win over Osakis and a 62-0 win over Pillager.

Jared Rubado / Detroit Lakes Tribune

“We kept that team under 30. I couldn’t be more proud of this defense,” Hefta said. “They played the best they could. (Barnesville) is very good. They’ve run that system for a long time. The goal was to go out there and compete. You don’t want little things to be the reason why you lose, but I couldn’t be more proud of the way they rallied through adversity. If you know football, then you know that’s a good team that we just played.”

Defensively, the Lakers got tougher as the game went on.

“When you have to go through those long drives on defense, you’re going to get better. I’m 100% sure of it,” Mason Carrier said. “They ruined our homecoming because they’re a great program with great players and great coaches. But we got better after this game, and I’m happy with what our team did.”

The Lakers’ hopes of getting a top-two seed and a home playoff game are unlikely. But they still feel like they control their destiny the rest of the way, starting with the final home game of the regular season on Friday against Park Rapids (0-6).

“It’s my last home game with my brother,” Mason Carrier said. “I want to get everybody in the game and get everybody reps. I want to have a fun time playing Laker football next week.”

Jared Rubado / Detroit Lakes Tribune

“We’re kidding ourselves if we think Park Rapids is going to lay down for us,” Hefta said. “We’re going to come out and go to battle with a well-coached team that works their tails off. They do a lot of things the right way, so we’re excited to be able to test ourselves against them.”