Big plays lift Vikings to sectional title
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MARSHALL -- Ian Myhre and Landon Esping each grabbed interceptions, while quarterback Tristen Sussner rushed for two touchdowns to lead the Minneota Vikings to a 21-12 victory over the Dawson-Boyd BlackJacks to capture the Section 4A football championship at the Schwan Regional Event Center Friday afternoon.
The big plays, including a 30-yard touchdown run by Sussner, helped Minneota survive a couple of fumbles and an interception to wrap up another sectional title for the Vikings
"We did a lot of good things today," Vikings coach Chad Johnston said after game. "Again, we made some mistakes, but we did a lot of good things. We made some plans when we needed to. Defensively, we got stuck out there a little bit more than we wanted to in the second half just because we weren't taking care of the ball. And so we put ourselves in a bad situation. Those kids stepped up when they needed to."
Despite the missteps, Dawson-Boyd broke up a first quarter defensive struggle after Sussner scored the first touchdown of the game with 8 seconds on the clock on his 30-yard run into the endzone.
Minneota scored its second touchdown after a 37-yard pass from Sussner to Sam Myhre setup up the Vikings on the five yard line with little over seven minutes on the clock in the third quarter. Sussner rushed up the middle on a third and goal play from the 2 yard line to score and give Minneota a 21-6 lead.
"You got two teams that are really familiar with each other," Johnston said. "And obviously, Dawson is a well-coached team. And they do a nice job. We just kind of hurt ourselves at times. Foolishly had some issues with the snap in the second half. That's just uncharacteristic of us. We haven't had that throughout the season. And that didn't help the cause by any means."
He said Dawson-Boyd kept fighting.
"They kept coming after us and just made it more interesting than I thought we needed,” he said.
Dawson-Boyd scored its final touchdown of the game with 8:02 left in the game. Quarterback Carson Stratemoen threw the ball over 30 yards to wide receiver Cale Tufto in the end zone for the score. However, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was called on Tufto.
The 15-yard penalty backed up Dawson-Boyd on the extra-point kick attempt. The kick failed and left the Blackjacks down more than two scores.