WAHPETON, N.D. (NewsDakota.com/kbmwnews.com) – After failing to come away with a win in overtime in their first home game of the season, Wahpeton was looking to redeem themselves when they got back to Frank Vertin Field on Friday against Valley City.
The Huskies not only forced overtime again, but took the Hi-Liners into four OTs by a 34-32 score.
A massive stop by the WHS defense on a two-point conversion ended the game in the fourth extra period, snapping the Huskies’ 13-game losing streak dating back to 2018.
The final score didn’t paint the picture of a defensive slugfest, but that’s what the four quarters of regulation were. Both teams scored one touchdown in each half to make it a 14-14 game at the end of regulation.
Kael Grebel connected with Peyton Zaun for the first score of the night near the end of the first quarter. The extra-point kick was off the mark and Wahpeton took the lead into halftime with the lone eight points of the second quarter.
Blake Schafer found Collin Samuels in the endzone for a 15-yard strike, which was set up by a 40-yard catch by Caden Kappes. Dez Munezero gave his team the lead from his kicker position, but not by botting the extra point. He scooped a low snap, took it out to the left side and spun off a defender to go in for two points.
The Huskies were locked in on shutting down the Hi-Liners’ run game and pitched a shutout in the third quarter. But workhorse tailback Max Fehr finally broke loose for a long score to swing the momentum back to the Hi-Liners. Fehr then made it a six-point game with the two-point conversion run.
Wahpeton responded with a masterful drive by the offense, running down nearly the rest of the fourth quarter in the process. Schafer capped it off by running it in for a six-yard score, but his two-point conversion rush was stopped short to force OT.
Both teams get cracks at scoring from 10 yards away from the endzone in overtime and Fehr pounded in the first TD of OT on a short run. The hosts responded on their first play with a 10-yard scoring plunge from Beau Arenstein. Both teams failed to score on the conversions, making it a 20-20 game.
Both defenses came up with fourth-down stops in the second overtime and Fehr went in for his third score of the game from a couple yards out in the third extra period. A one-yard scoring hookup from Schafer to Samuels forced the fourth and final OT, which featured the third scoring connection between Schafer and Samuels on the night.
With the defense keying on red-zone threat Samuels, Schafer tossed a fade to the back of the end zone for Kappes, giving Wahpeton an eight-point advantage.
A pair of massive plays by defensive lineman Logan Gjerdevig set up fourth-and-11 for Valley City, but the visitors weren’t going away yet. Grebel tossed a jump ball to tight end Joseph Cummings for a touchdown and it looked like a fifth overtime was on the horizon, until Wahpeton stuffed the run to end the game.
It was the first win for Wahpeton under head coach Wade Gilbertson, who was doused with the water cooler following the game.
The Huskies (1-4) head to Kindred for a 7 p.m. kickoff next Friday.
Valley City (1-3) stays on the road to take on Devils Lake at 7 p.m. Friday. You can hear that game on 1490AM/96.3FM KOVC and newsdakota.com beginning with the pregame at 6:45pm