PILLAGER-Paul Peterson's first game as the first-year head coach of the Pillager Huskies was a memorable one.
Ridge Hunstad ran for two touchdowns and 112 yards on 14 carries to lead the Huskies to a 24-6 win over the perennial powerhouse Mahnomen Indians Friday night.
Mahnomen has played in six consecutive Class 1A state tournaments, winning the championship in 2012 and 2013 and were runners-up in 2011. The loss stopped Mahnomen's regular-season winning streak of 50 games, with its last regular-season loss Oct. 9, 2009.
"They have a great program so we're feeling pretty good," said Peterson. "In the first quarter, we had only three offensive plays. We gave up some yards, but didn't break. It was a great all-around team effort."
Hunstad ran 3 yards for the first score of the game in the second quarter and tacked on the two-point conversion.
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Quarterback Josh Doss threw a five-yard strike to Ryan Foehrenbacher in the third and Doss ran for the conversion.
Mahnomen closed to within 16-6 on an eight-yard pass from John Starkey to Brian Schoenborn before Hunstad put the game away with a 30-yard, fourth quarter romp. Eli Horn ran for the conversion.
"Once we got our defense settled down and people sticking to their assignments, things started turning our way," said Peterson. "We only lost three seniors from last year so we have a pretty experienced team."
Mahnomen 0 0 6 0-6
Pillager 0 8 8 8 -24
Second quarter
Pill-Ridge Hunstad 3 run (Hunstad run)
Third quarter
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Pill-Ryan Foehrenbacher 5 pass from Joshua Doss (Doss run)
M-Brian Schoenborn 8 pass from Jon Starkey (run failed)
Fourth quarter
Pill-Hunstad 30 run (Eli Horn run)
Individual leaders
Rushing: Pill-Hunstad 14-112, Damian Fink 5-30
Passing: Pill-Doss 7-13-0-69, Hunstad 1-1-0-27
Receiving: Pill-Levi Nagel 3-46
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Overall: Pill 1-0. Next: Pillager at Bagley 7 p.m. Friday.
