What began as a slugfest turned into the ninth consecutive victory for the No. 1-seeded Detroit Lakes football team in a 35-21 win over No. 4 Little Falls Saturday night at Mollberg Field in the semifinals of Section 8-4A. "That's a very good football team,” DL Head Coach Flint Motschenbacher said. “They put a lot of pressure on you; they spread you out. Defensively, they were very good, too. Our kids battled all night long. It wasn't always pretty, but I'm really pleased with the effort of everybody.” "It started with our line and Christian threw a lot of good balls and we played well everywhere," senior Ryan Cihak said. Laker quarterback Christian Hedstrom was 12-24 for 248 yards passing and DL rushed for 210 yards and five touchdowns, two from Ryan Cihak, a pair from Ben Nordmark and the opening score from Forrest Schleske. Schleske scored on a two-yard plunge after Hedstrom came out firing. Jacob Richter had the big play of the drive on a 32-yard pass reception to get into the red zone at the 14. DL led 7-0 at 7:58. The Flyers answered with a six-play, 58-yard drive capped by a 26-yard scoring run by Thomas Miller and the game was tied two minutes later.
Cihak had a diving grab on a 27-yard pass from Hedstrom to move the Lakers to the Flyer 18-yard line and two plays later Cihak rushed for a 12-yard touchdown and a 14-7 DL lead at 1:59 of the first quarter. Cihak took direct snaps, threw a pass, rushed for 74 yards on seven carries and caught two passes for 57 yards in an all-around superb effort all over the field. The second quarter remained scoreless until the final minute. Hedstrom whipped around six completions for 151 yards but the end zone eluded DL with two drives ending on downs at the 33 and 25 and a punt. The Flyers scored on their final drive of the half on a 13-yard pass from Austin Fenske to Kyle Kabanuk with 32 seconds remaining knotting the score at 14-all. A personal foul penalty against Little Falls on the kickoff gave the Lakers the ball at midfield with 25.8 seconds remaining. Hedstrom hit Sam Champa for 38 yards to the Flyer 12-yard line. Hedstrom was forced to scramble on the final play and was kept in bounds, with DL having no timeouts remaining, and the clock ticked away with seven missed points leaving the score tied at the break. A bad snap put the ball on the ground at midfield on the fifth play of Little Falls’ opening drive of the second half. DL’s Evan Maly recovered the ball. Cihak took a direct snap and sprinted up the middle 45 yards to the end zone to make the Flyers pay for the turnover and give the Lakers momentum and a 21-14 lead three minutes into the half. Cihak’s touchdown was the only score of the third quarter. “We kind of mixed it up with the spread and our power running game,” Motschenbacher said. “That's what we've got to be able to do. We made enough big plays and enough big stops." [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1252133","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"480","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"382"}}]] The Laker defense imposed their will holding Little Falls to three first downs in the third quarter. Little Falls got the ball at the Laker 35 when a high snap forced Laker punter Boyd Bradbury to run the ball on fourth down. Back-to-back sacks by Ty Heinecke and Matt Haire killed the drive. DL had two fourth-down conversions that led to their fourth score. A roughing the punter penalty on fourth-and-two at the 45 gave DL new life and a trick play on fourth-and-seven at the Flyer 37-yard line went for 22 yards on a sprint around the left end by Josh Bollig. Nordmark scored the first of his two touchdowns from three-yards out at 4:49 of the fourth quarter and the Lakers lead was 28-14. The Lakers ran eight minutes off the clock on a 17-play 75-yard scoring drive with six different rushers accumulating all but seven yards on the drive. A Flyer drive to answer the score stalled on downs at their own 30. Nordmark scored three plays later from 22-yards out and a 35-14 Laker lead. Little Falls added a late score in the final minute on a nine-yard hookup from Fenske to Kabanuk. Fenske was 21-31 for 180 yards and two touchdowns, both to Kabanuk, who had 10 catches for 113 yards. The Flyers could not establish the run. Brighton Goodrich led Little Falls with 47 yards on nine rushes. Nordmark led the Lakers 16-77 rushing and two scores. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1252132","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"480","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"385"}}]] Coach Motschenbacher has been hinting that he expected Jacob Richter to have a big game and Richter led DL with 77 yards on two catches, both big plays. Champa had five grabs for 65 yards. DL had 458 total yards on offense. Little Falls had 313 yards and the lone turnover in the game. First downs were 22-16 in favor of the Lakers. The Lakers (9-0) will face the Rocori Spartans (6-4) Friday, Oct. 31 at 7 p.m. in Alexandria for the Section 8-4A championship. "I think we have a good shot at going back,” Cihak said. “The guys are just hyped, we're physical and we get the job done. Coach knows how to win." The Lakers are the two-time defending section champions. DL defeated Thief River Falls 43-29 last year at Concordia College-Moorhead and beat Rocori 29-28 at Fargodome in 2012. Rocori defeated Albany 41-30 at Albany Saturday night in a game that had eight lead changes, 829 total yards (Rocori - 482) and 71 points. Spartan senior quarterback Alex Budde was 12-19 for 234 yards passing and two touchdowns and rushed for two scores gaining 89 yards on 17 carries. Sam Mackedanz had three catches for 131 yards. Laker results LF 7 7 0 7 - 21 DL 14 0 7 14 - 35 Scoring: DL - Schleske 2 run (Payne kick)LF - Miller 26 run (Bell kick)DL - Cihak 12 run (Payne kick)LF - Kabanuk 13 pass from Fenske (Bell kick)DL - Cihak 45 run (Payne kick)DL - Nordmark 3 run (Payne kick)DL - Nordmark 22 run (Payne kick)LF - Kabanuk 9 pass from Fenske (Bell kick) Tweets by @DLNewspapersWhat began as a slugfest turned into the ninth consecutive victory for the No. 1-seeded Detroit Lakes football team in a 35-21 win over No. 4 Little Falls Saturday night at Mollberg Field in the semifinals of Section 8-4A. "That's a very good football team,” DL Head Coach Flint Motschenbacher said. “They put a lot of pressure on you; they spread you out. Defensively, they were very good, too. Our kids battled all night long. It wasn't always pretty, but I'm really pleased with the effort of everybody.” "It started with our line and Christian threw a lot of good balls and we played well everywhere," senior Ryan Cihak said. Laker quarterback Christian Hedstrom was 12-24 for 248 yards passing and DL rushed for 210 yards and five touchdowns, two from Ryan Cihak, a pair from Ben Nordmark and the opening score from Forrest Schleske. Schleske scored on a two-yard plunge after Hedstrom came out firing. Jacob Richter had the big play of the drive on a 32-yard pass reception to get into the red zone at the 14. DL led 7-0 at 7:58. The Flyers answered with a six-play, 58-yard drive capped by a 26-yard scoring run by Thomas Miller and the game was tied two minutes later. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1252131","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"456","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"480"}}]] Cihak had a diving grab on a 27-yard pass from Hedstrom to move the Lakers to the Flyer 18-yard line and two plays later Cihak rushed for a 12-yard touchdown and a 14-7 DL lead at 1:59 of the first quarter. Cihak took direct snaps, threw a pass, rushed for 74 yards on seven carries and caught two passes for 57 yards in an all-around superb effort all over the field. The second quarter remained scoreless until the final minute. Hedstrom whipped around six completions for 151 yards but the end zone eluded DL with two drives ending on downs at the 33 and 25 and a punt. The Flyers scored on their final drive of the half on a 13-yard pass from Austin Fenske to Kyle Kabanuk with 32 seconds remaining knotting the score at 14-all. A personal foul penalty against Little Falls on the kickoff gave the Lakers the ball at midfield with 25.8 seconds remaining. Hedstrom hit Sam Champa for 38 yards to the Flyer 12-yard line. Hedstrom was forced to scramble on the final play and was kept in bounds, with DL having no timeouts remaining, and the clock ticked away with seven missed points leaving the score tied at the break. A bad snap put the ball on the ground at midfield on the fifth play of Little Falls’ opening drive of the second half. DL’s Evan Maly recovered the ball. Cihak took a direct snap and sprinted up the middle 45 yards to the end zone to make the Flyers pay for the turnover and give the Lakers momentum and a 21-14 lead three minutes into the half. Cihak’s touchdown was the only score of the third quarter. “We kind of mixed it up with the spread and our power running game,” Motschenbacher said. “That's what we've got to be able to do. We made enough big plays and enough big stops."
The Laker defense imposed their will holding Little Falls to three first downs in the third quarter. Little Falls got the ball at the Laker 35 when a high snap forced Laker punter Boyd Bradbury to run the ball on fourth down. Back-to-back sacks by Ty Heinecke and Matt Haire killed the drive. DL had two fourth-down conversions that led to their fourth score. A roughing the punter penalty on fourth-and-two at the 45 gave DL new life and a trick play on fourth-and-seven at the Flyer 37-yard line went for 22 yards on a sprint around the left end by Josh Bollig. Nordmark scored the first of his two touchdowns from three-yards out at 4:49 of the fourth quarter and the Lakers lead was 28-14. The Lakers ran eight minutes off the clock on a 17-play 75-yard scoring drive with six different rushers accumulating all but seven yards on the drive. A Flyer drive to answer the score stalled on downs at their own 30. Nordmark scored three plays later from 22-yards out and a 35-14 Laker lead. Little Falls added a late score in the final minute on a nine-yard hookup from Fenske to Kabanuk. Fenske was 21-31 for 180 yards and two touchdowns, both to Kabanuk, who had 10 catches for 113 yards. The Flyers could not establish the run. Brighton Goodrich led Little Falls with 47 yards on nine rushes. Nordmark led the Lakers 16-77 rushing and two scores. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1252132","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"480","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"385"}}]] Coach Motschenbacher has been hinting that he expected Jacob Richter to have a big game and Richter led DL with 77 yards on two catches, both big plays. Champa had five grabs for 65 yards. DL had 458 total yards on offense. Little Falls had 313 yards and the lone turnover in the game. First downs were 22-16 in favor of the Lakers. The Lakers (9-0) will face the Rocori Spartans (6-4) Friday, Oct. 31 at 7 p.m. in Alexandria for the Section 8-4A championship. "I think we have a good shot at going back,” Cihak said. “The guys are just hyped, we're physical and we get the job done. Coach knows how to win." The Lakers are the two-time defending section champions. DL defeated Thief River Falls 43-29 last year at Concordia College-Moorhead and beat Rocori 29-28 at Fargodome in 2012. Rocori defeated Albany 41-30 at Albany Saturday night in a game that had eight lead changes, 829 total yards (Rocori - 482) and 71 points. Spartan senior quarterback Alex Budde was 12-19 for 234 yards passing and two touchdowns and rushed for two scores gaining 89 yards on 17 carries. Sam Mackedanz had three catches for 131 yards. Laker results LF 7 7 0 7 - 21 DL 14 0 7 14 - 35 Scoring: DL - Schleske 2 run (Payne kick)LF - Miller 26 run (Bell kick)DL - Cihak 12 run (Payne kick)LF - Kabanuk 13 pass from Fenske (Bell kick)DL - Cihak 45 run (Payne kick)DL - Nordmark 3 run (Payne kick)DL - Nordmark 22 run (Payne kick)LF - Kabanuk 9 pass from Fenske (Bell kick) Tweets by @DLNewspapersWhat began as a slugfest turned into the ninth consecutive victory for the No. 1-seeded Detroit Lakes football team in a 35-21 win over No. 4 Little Falls Saturday night at Mollberg Field in the semifinals of Section 8-4A. "That's a very good football team,” DL Head Coach Flint Motschenbacher said. “They put a lot of pressure on you; they spread you out. Defensively, they were very good, too. Our kids battled all night long. It wasn't always pretty, but I'm really pleased with the effort of everybody.” "It started with our line and Christian threw a lot of good balls and we played well everywhere," senior Ryan Cihak said. Laker quarterback Christian Hedstrom was 12-24 for 248 yards passing and DL rushed for 210 yards and five touchdowns, two from Ryan Cihak, a pair from Ben Nordmark and the opening score from Forrest Schleske. Schleske scored on a two-yard plunge after Hedstrom came out firing. Jacob Richter had the big play of the drive on a 32-yard pass reception to get into the red zone at the 14. DL led 7-0 at 7:58. The Flyers answered with a six-play, 58-yard drive capped by a 26-yard scoring run by Thomas Miller and the game was tied two minutes later. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1252131","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"456","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"480"}}]] Cihak had a diving grab on a 27-yard pass from Hedstrom to move the Lakers to the Flyer 18-yard line and two plays later Cihak rushed for a 12-yard touchdown and a 14-7 DL lead at 1:59 of the first quarter. Cihak took direct snaps, threw a pass, rushed for 74 yards on seven carries and caught two passes for 57 yards in an all-around superb effort all over the field. The second quarter remained scoreless until the final minute. Hedstrom whipped around six completions for 151 yards but the end zone eluded DL with two drives ending on downs at the 33 and 25 and a punt. The Flyers scored on their final drive of the half on a 13-yard pass from Austin Fenske to Kyle Kabanuk with 32 seconds remaining knotting the score at 14-all. A personal foul penalty against Little Falls on the kickoff gave the Lakers the ball at midfield with 25.8 seconds remaining. Hedstrom hit Sam Champa for 38 yards to the Flyer 12-yard line. Hedstrom was forced to scramble on the final play and was kept in bounds, with DL having no timeouts remaining, and the clock ticked away with seven missed points leaving the score tied at the break. A bad snap put the ball on the ground at midfield on the fifth play of Little Falls’ opening drive of the second half. DL’s Evan Maly recovered the ball. Cihak took a direct snap and sprinted up the middle 45 yards to the end zone to make the Flyers pay for the turnover and give the Lakers momentum and a 21-14 lead three minutes into the half. Cihak’s touchdown was the only score of the third quarter. “We kind of mixed it up with the spread and our power running game,” Motschenbacher said. “That's what we've got to be able to do. We made enough big plays and enough big stops." [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1252133","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"480","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"382"}}]] The Laker defense imposed their will holding Little Falls to three first downs in the third quarter. Little Falls got the ball at the Laker 35 when a high snap forced Laker punter Boyd Bradbury to run the ball on fourth down. Back-to-back sacks by Ty Heinecke and Matt Haire killed the drive. DL had two fourth-down conversions that led to their fourth score. A roughing the punter penalty on fourth-and-two at the 45 gave DL new life and a trick play on fourth-and-seven at the Flyer 37-yard line went for 22 yards on a sprint around the left end by Josh Bollig. Nordmark scored the first of his two touchdowns from three-yards out at 4:49 of the fourth quarter and the Lakers lead was 28-14. The Lakers ran eight minutes off the clock on a 17-play 75-yard scoring drive with six different rushers accumulating all but seven yards on the drive. A Flyer drive to answer the score stalled on downs at their own 30. Nordmark scored three plays later from 22-yards out and a 35-14 Laker lead. Little Falls added a late score in the final minute on a nine-yard hookup from Fenske to Kabanuk. Fenske was 21-31 for 180 yards and two touchdowns, both to Kabanuk, who had 10 catches for 113 yards. The Flyers could not establish the run. Brighton Goodrich led Little Falls with 47 yards on nine rushes. Nordmark led the Lakers 16-77 rushing and two scores.
Coach Motschenbacher has been hinting that he expected Jacob Richter to have a big game and Richter led DL with 77 yards on two catches, both big plays. Champa had five grabs for 65 yards. DL had 458 total yards on offense. Little Falls had 313 yards and the lone turnover in the game. First downs were 22-16 in favor of the Lakers. The Lakers (9-0) will face the Rocori Spartans (6-4) Friday, Oct. 31 at 7 p.m. in Alexandria for the Section 8-4A championship. "I think we have a good shot at going back,” Cihak said. “The guys are just hyped, we're physical and we get the job done. Coach knows how to win." The Lakers are the two-time defending section champions. DL defeated Thief River Falls 43-29 last year at Concordia College-Moorhead and beat Rocori 29-28 at Fargodome in 2012. Rocori defeated Albany 41-30 at Albany Saturday night in a game that had eight lead changes, 829 total yards (Rocori - 482) and 71 points. Spartan senior quarterback Alex Budde was 12-19 for 234 yards passing and two touchdowns and rushed for two scores gaining 89 yards on 17 carries. Sam Mackedanz had three catches for 131 yards. Laker results LF 7 7 0 7 - 21 DL 14 0 7 14 - 35 Scoring: DL - Schleske 2 run (Payne kick)LF - Miller 26 run (Bell kick)DL - Cihak 12 run (Payne kick)LF - Kabanuk 13 pass from Fenske (Bell kick)DL - Cihak 45 run (Payne kick)DL - Nordmark 3 run (Payne kick)DL - Nordmark 22 run (Payne kick)LF - Kabanuk 9 pass from Fenske (Bell kick) Tweets by @DLNewspapersWhat began as a slugfest turned into the ninth consecutive victory for the No. 1-seeded Detroit Lakes football team in a 35-21 win over No. 4 Little Falls Saturday night at Mollberg Field in the semifinals of Section 8-4A."That's a very good football team,” DL Head Coach Flint Motschenbacher said. “They put a lot of pressure on you; they spread you out. Defensively, they were very good, too. Our kids battled all night long. It wasn't always pretty, but I'm really pleased with the effort of everybody.”"It started with our line and Christian threw a lot of good balls and we played well everywhere," senior Ryan Cihak said.Laker quarterback Christian Hedstrom was 12-24 for 248 yards passing and DL rushed for 210 yards and five touchdowns, two from Ryan Cihak, a pair from Ben Nordmark and the opening score from Forrest Schleske.Schleske scored on a two-yard plunge after Hedstrom came out firing. Jacob Richter had the big play of the drive on a 32-yard pass reception to get into the red zone at the 14. DL led 7-0 at 7:58.The Flyers answered with a six-play, 58-yard drive capped by a 26-yard scoring run by Thomas Miller and the game was tied two minutes later.
Cihak had a diving grab on a 27-yard pass from Hedstrom to move the Lakers to the Flyer 18-yard line and two plays later Cihak rushed for a 12-yard touchdown and a 14-7 DL lead at 1:59 of the first quarter.Cihak took direct snaps, threw a pass, rushed for 74 yards on seven carries and caught two passes for 57 yards in an all-around superb effort all over the field.The second quarter remained scoreless until the final minute.Hedstrom whipped around six completions for 151 yards but the end zone eluded DL with two drives ending on downs at the 33 and 25 and a punt.The Flyers scored on their final drive of the half on a 13-yard pass from Austin Fenske to Kyle Kabanuk with 32 seconds remaining knotting the score at 14-all.A personal foul penalty against Little Falls on the kickoff gave the Lakers the ball at midfield with 25.8 seconds remaining. Hedstrom hit Sam Champa for 38 yards to the Flyer 12-yard line. Hedstrom was forced to scramble on the final play and was kept in bounds, with DL having no timeouts remaining, and the clock ticked away with seven missed points leaving the score tied at the break.A bad snap put the ball on the ground at midfield on the fifth play of Little Falls’ opening drive of the second half. DL’s Evan Maly recovered the ball.Cihak took a direct snap and sprinted up the middle 45 yards to the end zone to make the Flyers pay for the turnover and give the Lakers momentum and a 21-14 lead three minutes into the half.Cihak’s touchdown was the only score of the third quarter.“We kind of mixed it up with the spread and our power running game,” Motschenbacher said. “That's what we've got to be able to do. We made enough big plays and enough big stops."[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1252133","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"480","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"382"}}]]The Laker defense imposed their will holding Little Falls to three first downs in the third quarter. Little Falls got the ball at the Laker 35 when a high snap forced Laker punter Boyd Bradbury to run the ball on fourth down.Back-to-back sacks by Ty Heinecke and Matt Haire killed the drive.DL had two fourth-down conversions that led to their fourth score. A roughing the punter penalty on fourth-and-two at the 45 gave DL new life and a trick play on fourth-and-seven at the Flyer 37-yard line went for 22 yards on a sprint around the left end by Josh Bollig.Nordmark scored the first of his two touchdowns from three-yards out at 4:49 of the fourth quarter and the Lakers lead was 28-14. The Lakers ran eight minutes off the clock on a 17-play 75-yard scoring drive with six different rushers accumulating all but seven yards on the drive.A Flyer drive to answer the score stalled on downs at their own 30.Nordmark scored three plays later from 22-yards out and a 35-14 Laker lead.Little Falls added a late score in the final minute on a nine-yard hookup from Fenske to Kabanuk.Fenske was 21-31 for 180 yards and two touchdowns, both to Kabanuk, who had 10 catches for 113 yards.The Flyers could not establish the run. Brighton Goodrich led Little Falls with 47 yards on nine rushes.Nordmark led the Lakers 16-77 rushing and two scores.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1252132","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"480","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"385"}}]]Coach Motschenbacher has been hinting that he expected Jacob Richter to have a big game and Richter led DL with 77 yards on two catches, both big plays.Champa had five grabs for 65 yards.DL had 458 total yards on offense. Little Falls had 313 yards and the lone turnover in the game.First downs were 22-16 in favor of the Lakers.The Lakers (9-0) will face the Rocori Spartans (6-4) Friday, Oct. 31 at 7 p.m. in Alexandria for the Section 8-4A championship."I think we have a good shot at going back,” Cihak said. “The guys are just hyped, we're physical and we get the job done. Coach knows how to win."The Lakers are the two-time defending section champions. DL defeated Thief River Falls 43-29 last year at Concordia College-Moorhead and beat Rocori 29-28 at Fargodome in 2012.Rocori defeated Albany 41-30 at Albany Saturday night in a game that had eight lead changes, 829 total yards (Rocori - 482) and 71 points.Spartan senior quarterback Alex Budde was 12-19 for 234 yards passing and two touchdowns and rushed for two scores gaining 89 yards on 17 carries.Sam Mackedanz had three catches for 131 yards.Laker resultsLF 7 7 0 7 - 21DL 14 0 7 14 - 35Scoring:DL - Schleske 2 run (Payne kick)LF - Miller 26 run (Bell kick)DL - Cihak 12 run (Payne kick)LF - Kabanuk 13 pass from Fenske (Bell kick)DL - Cihak 45 run (Payne kick)DL - Nordmark 3 run (Payne kick)DL - Nordmark 22 run (Payne kick)LF - Kabanuk 9 pass from Fenske (Bell kick)Tweets by @DLNewspapersWhat began as a slugfest turned into the ninth consecutive victory for the No. 1-seeded Detroit Lakes football team in a 35-21 win over No. 4 Little Falls Saturday night at Mollberg Field in the semifinals of Section 8-4A."That's a very good football team,” DL Head Coach Flint Motschenbacher said. “They put a lot of pressure on you; they spread you out. Defensively, they were very good, too. Our kids battled all night long. It wasn't always pretty, but I'm really pleased with the effort of everybody.”"It started with our line and Christian threw a lot of good balls and we played well everywhere," senior Ryan Cihak said.Laker quarterback Christian Hedstrom was 12-24 for 248 yards passing and DL rushed for 210 yards and five touchdowns, two from Ryan Cihak, a pair from Ben Nordmark and the opening score from Forrest Schleske.Schleske scored on a two-yard plunge after Hedstrom came out firing. Jacob Richter had the big play of the drive on a 32-yard pass reception to get into the red zone at the 14. DL led 7-0 at 7:58.The Flyers answered with a six-play, 58-yard drive capped by a 26-yard scoring run by Thomas Miller and the game was tied two minutes later.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1252131","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"456","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"480"}}]]Cihak had a diving grab on a 27-yard pass from Hedstrom to move the Lakers to the Flyer 18-yard line and two plays later Cihak rushed for a 12-yard touchdown and a 14-7 DL lead at 1:59 of the first quarter.Cihak took direct snaps, threw a pass, rushed for 74 yards on seven carries and caught two passes for 57 yards in an all-around superb effort all over the field.The second quarter remained scoreless until the final minute.Hedstrom whipped around six completions for 151 yards but the end zone eluded DL with two drives ending on downs at the 33 and 25 and a punt.The Flyers scored on their final drive of the half on a 13-yard pass from Austin Fenske to Kyle Kabanuk with 32 seconds remaining knotting the score at 14-all.A personal foul penalty against Little Falls on the kickoff gave the Lakers the ball at midfield with 25.8 seconds remaining. Hedstrom hit Sam Champa for 38 yards to the Flyer 12-yard line. Hedstrom was forced to scramble on the final play and was kept in bounds, with DL having no timeouts remaining, and the clock ticked away with seven missed points leaving the score tied at the break.A bad snap put the ball on the ground at midfield on the fifth play of Little Falls’ opening drive of the second half. DL’s Evan Maly recovered the ball.Cihak took a direct snap and sprinted up the middle 45 yards to the end zone to make the Flyers pay for the turnover and give the Lakers momentum and a 21-14 lead three minutes into the half.Cihak’s touchdown was the only score of the third quarter.“We kind of mixed it up with the spread and our power running game,” Motschenbacher said. “That's what we've got to be able to do. We made enough big plays and enough big stops."
The Laker defense imposed their will holding Little Falls to three first downs in the third quarter. Little Falls got the ball at the Laker 35 when a high snap forced Laker punter Boyd Bradbury to run the ball on fourth down.Back-to-back sacks by Ty Heinecke and Matt Haire killed the drive.DL had two fourth-down conversions that led to their fourth score. A roughing the punter penalty on fourth-and-two at the 45 gave DL new life and a trick play on fourth-and-seven at the Flyer 37-yard line went for 22 yards on a sprint around the left end by Josh Bollig.Nordmark scored the first of his two touchdowns from three-yards out at 4:49 of the fourth quarter and the Lakers lead was 28-14. The Lakers ran eight minutes off the clock on a 17-play 75-yard scoring drive with six different rushers accumulating all but seven yards on the drive.A Flyer drive to answer the score stalled on downs at their own 30.Nordmark scored three plays later from 22-yards out and a 35-14 Laker lead.Little Falls added a late score in the final minute on a nine-yard hookup from Fenske to Kabanuk.Fenske was 21-31 for 180 yards and two touchdowns, both to Kabanuk, who had 10 catches for 113 yards.The Flyers could not establish the run. Brighton Goodrich led Little Falls with 47 yards on nine rushes.Nordmark led the Lakers 16-77 rushing and two scores.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1252132","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"480","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"385"}}]]Coach Motschenbacher has been hinting that he expected Jacob Richter to have a big game and Richter led DL with 77 yards on two catches, both big plays.Champa had five grabs for 65 yards.DL had 458 total yards on offense. Little Falls had 313 yards and the lone turnover in the game.First downs were 22-16 in favor of the Lakers.The Lakers (9-0) will face the Rocori Spartans (6-4) Friday, Oct. 31 at 7 p.m. in Alexandria for the Section 8-4A championship."I think we have a good shot at going back,” Cihak said. “The guys are just hyped, we're physical and we get the job done. Coach knows how to win."The Lakers are the two-time defending section champions. DL defeated Thief River Falls 43-29 last year at Concordia College-Moorhead and beat Rocori 29-28 at Fargodome in 2012.Rocori defeated Albany 41-30 at Albany Saturday night in a game that had eight lead changes, 829 total yards (Rocori - 482) and 71 points.Spartan senior quarterback Alex Budde was 12-19 for 234 yards passing and two touchdowns and rushed for two scores gaining 89 yards on 17 carries.Sam Mackedanz had three catches for 131 yards.Laker resultsLF 7 7 0 7 - 21DL 14 0 7 14 - 35Scoring:DL - Schleske 2 run (Payne kick)LF - Miller 26 run (Bell kick)DL - Cihak 12 run (Payne kick)LF - Kabanuk 13 pass from Fenske (Bell kick)DL - Cihak 45 run (Payne kick)DL - Nordmark 3 run (Payne kick)DL - Nordmark 22 run (Payne kick)LF - Kabanuk 9 pass from Fenske (Bell kick)Tweets by @DLNewspapersWhat began as a slugfest turned into the ninth consecutive victory for the No. 1-seeded Detroit Lakes football team in a 35-21 win over No. 4 Little Falls Saturday night at Mollberg Field in the semifinals of Section 8-4A."That's a very good football team,” DL Head Coach Flint Motschenbacher said. “They put a lot of pressure on you; they spread you out. Defensively, they were very good, too. Our kids battled all night long. It wasn't always pretty, but I'm really pleased with the effort of everybody.”"It started with our line and Christian threw a lot of good balls and we played well everywhere," senior Ryan Cihak said.Laker quarterback Christian Hedstrom was 12-24 for 248 yards passing and DL rushed for 210 yards and five touchdowns, two from Ryan Cihak, a pair from Ben Nordmark and the opening score from Forrest Schleske.Schleske scored on a two-yard plunge after Hedstrom came out firing. Jacob Richter had the big play of the drive on a 32-yard pass reception to get into the red zone at the 14. DL led 7-0 at 7:58.The Flyers answered with a six-play, 58-yard drive capped by a 26-yard scoring run by Thomas Miller and the game was tied two minutes later.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1252131","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"456","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"480"}}]]Cihak had a diving grab on a 27-yard pass from Hedstrom to move the Lakers to the Flyer 18-yard line and two plays later Cihak rushed for a 12-yard touchdown and a 14-7 DL lead at 1:59 of the first quarter.Cihak took direct snaps, threw a pass, rushed for 74 yards on seven carries and caught two passes for 57 yards in an all-around superb effort all over the field.The second quarter remained scoreless until the final minute.Hedstrom whipped around six completions for 151 yards but the end zone eluded DL with two drives ending on downs at the 33 and 25 and a punt.The Flyers scored on their final drive of the half on a 13-yard pass from Austin Fenske to Kyle Kabanuk with 32 seconds remaining knotting the score at 14-all.A personal foul penalty against Little Falls on the kickoff gave the Lakers the ball at midfield with 25.8 seconds remaining. Hedstrom hit Sam Champa for 38 yards to the Flyer 12-yard line. Hedstrom was forced to scramble on the final play and was kept in bounds, with DL having no timeouts remaining, and the clock ticked away with seven missed points leaving the score tied at the break.A bad snap put the ball on the ground at midfield on the fifth play of Little Falls’ opening drive of the second half. DL’s Evan Maly recovered the ball.Cihak took a direct snap and sprinted up the middle 45 yards to the end zone to make the Flyers pay for the turnover and give the Lakers momentum and a 21-14 lead three minutes into the half.Cihak’s touchdown was the only score of the third quarter.“We kind of mixed it up with the spread and our power running game,” Motschenbacher said. “That's what we've got to be able to do. We made enough big plays and enough big stops."[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1252133","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"480","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"382"}}]]The Laker defense imposed their will holding Little Falls to three first downs in the third quarter. Little Falls got the ball at the Laker 35 when a high snap forced Laker punter Boyd Bradbury to run the ball on fourth down.Back-to-back sacks by Ty Heinecke and Matt Haire killed the drive.DL had two fourth-down conversions that led to their fourth score. A roughing the punter penalty on fourth-and-two at the 45 gave DL new life and a trick play on fourth-and-seven at the Flyer 37-yard line went for 22 yards on a sprint around the left end by Josh Bollig.Nordmark scored the first of his two touchdowns from three-yards out at 4:49 of the fourth quarter and the Lakers lead was 28-14. The Lakers ran eight minutes off the clock on a 17-play 75-yard scoring drive with six different rushers accumulating all but seven yards on the drive.A Flyer drive to answer the score stalled on downs at their own 30.Nordmark scored three plays later from 22-yards out and a 35-14 Laker lead.Little Falls added a late score in the final minute on a nine-yard hookup from Fenske to Kabanuk.Fenske was 21-31 for 180 yards and two touchdowns, both to Kabanuk, who had 10 catches for 113 yards.The Flyers could not establish the run. Brighton Goodrich led Little Falls with 47 yards on nine rushes.Nordmark led the Lakers 16-77 rushing and two scores.
Coach Motschenbacher has been hinting that he expected Jacob Richter to have a big game and Richter led DL with 77 yards on two catches, both big plays.Champa had five grabs for 65 yards.DL had 458 total yards on offense. Little Falls had 313 yards and the lone turnover in the game.First downs were 22-16 in favor of the Lakers.The Lakers (9-0) will face the Rocori Spartans (6-4) Friday, Oct. 31 at 7 p.m. in Alexandria for the Section 8-4A championship."I think we have a good shot at going back,” Cihak said. “The guys are just hyped, we're physical and we get the job done. Coach knows how to win."The Lakers are the two-time defending section champions. DL defeated Thief River Falls 43-29 last year at Concordia College-Moorhead and beat Rocori 29-28 at Fargodome in 2012.Rocori defeated Albany 41-30 at Albany Saturday night in a game that had eight lead changes, 829 total yards (Rocori - 482) and 71 points.Spartan senior quarterback Alex Budde was 12-19 for 234 yards passing and two touchdowns and rushed for two scores gaining 89 yards on 17 carries.Sam Mackedanz had three catches for 131 yards.Laker resultsLF 7 7 0 7 - 21DL 14 0 7 14 - 35Scoring:DL - Schleske 2 run (Payne kick)LF - Miller 26 run (Bell kick)DL - Cihak 12 run (Payne kick)LF - Kabanuk 13 pass from Fenske (Bell kick)DL - Cihak 45 run (Payne kick)DL - Nordmark 3 run (Payne kick)DL - Nordmark 22 run (Payne kick)LF - Kabanuk 9 pass from Fenske (Bell kick)Tweets by @DLNewspapers
