BEULAH, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The Beulah Miners are heading back to the Dakota Bowl for the first time in four years after defeating the Valley City Hi-Liners 15-7 in the semifinals of the Class AA football playoffs.
Exactly 1/3 of the Miners total yards came on two plays, both on fourth down and both resulted in or lead to, a touchdown.
The Miners were without their starting quarterback Trey Brandt who was sidelined with a wrist injury. That caused Beulah to change their offense. Instead of a quarterback handing the ball off, the running backs took a direct snap from the center and would head up field. For the most part, the Valley City defense stopped the run, except for one play.
With Beulah facing a 4th and 1 at the Hi-Liner 42, sophomore running back Trapper Skalsky took the direct snap and went up the middle. It looked like the Hi-Liners had the play stuffed at the line of scrimmage, but Skalsky broke free and raced 42 yards for the game’s first score. The Miners lined for two, but after a false start back them up, Elijah Barbot kicked the extra point making it 7-0 Miners with 3:32 to fo in the first half.
On the ensuing drive, Valley City marched down field to get inside the Miner five thanks to a 23 yard completion from Tate Sufficool to Avery Bennefeld. After a Max Fehr run to the two, the Hi-Liners were called for a false start, setting up a 2nd and goal from the 7 with 8 seconds left in the half. Sufficool then rolled out to his left after a perfect play action, and hit Benton Murray in the end zone for the the touchdown. Austyn Thornton added the extra point to tie the game at 7 with 4 seconds left in the half. That’s the way the half ended.
The score stayed that way until midway through the fourth quarter. On a fourth a three from the Hi-Liner 34, Beulah would do something that they only did twice on Saturday, throw the ball. Nathan Battest, the acting quarterback, took the snap an heaved a pass down field. Zayne Phelps made a great over the should catch with a defensive player draped all over him. The play covered 29 yards and took the ball down to the Hi-Liner five. Two plays later, Skalsky scored his second touchdown of the game. Tryston Miller scored the two point conversion to make it 15-7 with 7:09 remaining.
The Hi-Liners would get two more chances. On the next drive, they drove into Beulah territory but turned the ball over on an interception. Now the defense needed to come up as they have all season long, and they did. With 1:46 remaining, the Hi-Liners stopped Battest on a 4th and 1 from the Miner 26 to take over on downs.
But after four straight incompletions, Beulah would take over and knee down three times to end the game.
Max Fehr, one of the many players that came over from Barnes County North in the cooperative led the offense with 120 yards on 24 carries. For the season, Fehr finished with over 1100 yards. Sufficool was six for 15 for 77 yards and a touchdown. Bennefeld caught four of those passes for 56 yards.
The Hi-Liners outgained Beulah 249 to 215, but the big plays were the difference in this one.
Valley City ends the season 7-4, the most wins since they went 7-3 in 2015. Beulah improves to 10-1 and will face Hillsboro/Central Valley in the Dakota Bowl on Friday afternoon in the Fargodome. The Burros defeated Bismarck St. Mary’s 35-0. Beulah’s only loss on the season came to HCV on September 20th. Since then, the Miners have won seven in a row.