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Saturday, November 7, 2009
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Verndale turns up heat in second half Section 4, nine-man football final Sports Writer FARGO, N.D. - If the dry, warm air of the Fargodome wasn't getting to the top-seeded Verndale Pirates, it was the Bertha-Hewitt Bears' option attack.
The third-ranked Pirates found a way to win, however, like they have 11 straight times this season. This time it was for a trip to their third-straight state tournament as the Pirates knocked off second-seeded B-H 26-24 Friday in the Section 4 championship.
Verndale 26,
B-H 24
Key: Verndale forced a third-quarter fumble and converted into a touchdown to build a lead it wouldn't relinquish.
Overall: V 11-0, B-H 9-2
Next: Verndale vs. Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley in Nine-Man state quarterfinal 7 p.m. Friday at Big Cat Stadium in Morris.
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Sweat soaked and exhausted, Verndale mustered enough energy to turn a 16-14 halftime deficit into a 26-16 lead after three quarters. Then it was a matter of holding off the Bears' offense, which outgained Verndale 359-271. The Pirates did just that, not without some late game dramatics.
"It was a lot of execution, we just had to stick together as a team," said senior captain Clay Cottrell. "We needed everybody to do their job at the same time. In order to get that it takes motivation and it takes skill. We were just getting in everybody's head and telling them that we can do it.
"We condition a lot. Guys were getting tired, but we just pushed through it. We just needed to remind each other that we can keep going."
Verndale benefited from a B-H fumble on the Bears' fifth play of the second half. Four plays later Amos Schmidt was running into the end zone from 30 yards out for a 20-16 Pirate advantage.
"That was huge," said Cottrell. "We got that and then we got another for a two-score lead. Motivation-wise it was big, too."
After a Bear four and out, Verndale ran five straight plays by Amos Schmidt, with the last a 14-yard score for a 26-16 edge. Schmidt carried the ball 29 times for 203 yards. He scored Verndale's opening touchdown, which Bertha-Hewitt answered on a 4-yard run by junior quarterback Jared Hoemberg.
Colby Schmidt gave Verndale a 14-8 lead on a 4-yard run of his own.
B-H claimed a 16-14 halftime lead on Matthew Frethem's 39-yard run. Frethem rushed for 91.
Hoemberg rushed for 106 yards and threw for 111, including a 26-yard strike to Josh Farber for the game's final score with 8:05 remaining in the fourth quarter.
"We knew they were going to run the option, but you can't simulate it in practice," said Verndale head coach Mike Mahlen. "Your B team can not run it or even give you a half-way decent look. Their ends were getting to our linebackers. Our ends were getting to the quarterback, which is what we wanted because we didn't want Jared to run the ball. Then he would just pitch it and our linebackers needed to be there and they couldn't. The second half we had our ends crack on their ends and then go after the quarterback to stop them from getting to our linebackers."
The Pirate defense turned up the heat on Hoemberg late in the fourth. On the Bears' second to last possession, the junior was injured and did not return. That forced halfback Jake Braaten behind center facing a fourth and 18. His desperation pass was picked off by Zack Meidinger.
Meidinger picked off Braaten again to end the game. "We sucked it up pretty good in the second half," said Mahlen. "We had some kids that were pretty tired. They sucked it up and made some big plays. We had two interceptions at the end."
A proud, but deflated Rick Harig, head coach of the Bears, couldn't imagine his team playing any better.
"Short of one fumble we couldn't have played any better," said Bears head coach Rick Harig. "We did everything we wanted to do today. We studded up on defense and we gave ourselves every opportunity to win that game. When guys start falling you just start running out of bullets."
Bertha-Hewitt 8 8 0 8 - 24
Verndale 14 0 12 0 - 26
First quarter
V-Amos Schmidt 39 run (Colby Schmidt run) 10:46
BH-Jared Hoemberg 4 run (Hoemberg run) 6:59
V-Colby Schmidt run (run failed) 1;04
Second quarter
BH-Matthew Frethem 39 run (Hoemberg run) 3:29
Third quarter
V-Amos Schmidt 30 run (run failed) 7:58
V-Amos Schmidt 14 run (run failed) 3:50
Fourth quarter
BH-Josh Farber 26 pass from Hoemberg (Farber pass from Hoemberg) 8:05
Team statistics
First downs: V 15, BH 20
Rushes-yards: V 51-268, BH 40-255
Pass comp-att-int-yds: V 1-3-1-17, BH 10-17-2-111
Total offense: V 54-271, BH 55-359
Fumbles-lost: V 2-1, BH 2-1
Penalties-yds lost: V 4-32, BH 3-20
Individual statistics
Rushing: V-Amos Schmidt 29-203, Colby Schmidt 9-44, Matt Willis 5-12, Zack Meidinger 3-6 , BH-Jared Hoemberg 19-106, Matthew Frethem 13-91, Jake Braaten 7-58, team rush 1-(-7)
Passing: V-Colby Schmidt 1-3-17 , BH-Hoemberg 10-15-111, Braaten 0-2-0
Receiving: V-Kyle Booth 1-17, BH-Jeremy Frethem 5-59, Josh Farber 2-35, Jeramine Byland 1-12, Austin Selvey 1-5
JEREMY MILLSOP may be reached at jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5856.
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