VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – It was the final home game of the regular season at Hannah Field for the Valley City Hi-Liners, and they sent their Seniors off with a 36-14 victory over the Grand Forks Central Knights.
In the first quarter, the Hi-Liners received the opening kick off. Valley City continued to do what they did in last week’s win, and that was run the ball. Zach Sykora capped off the opening drive with a 2-yard touchdown rush to give the Hi-Liners to 6-0 lead.
In the early stages of the second quarter, the Hi-Liners were faced with a 4th and 9 situation on the Knights 17-yard line. Quarterback Gavin Gerhardt hit wide receiver Austin Shape on a slant route for the 17-yard touchdown pass. Valley City would go for, and get the 2pt conversation as their previous PAT was no good due to a bad snap, now Valley City had a 14-0 lead. Finally the Knights offense showed some life. They would respond with a rushing touchdown of their own from their quarterback Dylan Lamont from 3-yards out and cut the Valley City in half, 14-7. Now it was time for the Hi-Liners to respond in the eventful second quarter. Gavin Gerhardt would finish off the drive by rushing for a touchdown of his own from 15-yards out and putting the Hi-Liners back up by two possessions with a 21-7 lead. With just over 2 minutes remaining in the first half the Knights dug into their bag of tricks to try to get some points on the board. Looking to mix things up, Grand Forks Central pulled off what is known as the “Philly Special” and it got them to the Valley City 5-yard line. From their quarterback Dylan Lamont would run in from 5-yards out to make it a one score game again at the half 21-14 in favor of VC.
The Knights got the ball for the second half looking for the double score. With GF Central driving, Lamount threw an interception at midfield to Hi-Liners defender Zach Sykora. On the ensuing offensive possession, Sykora would cap off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run and double the Valley City lead to 28-14. Dylan Washington came in at the QB spot for the Knights after the interception thrown by Lamont. With 2:01 left in the third quarter, Washington would toss one in the air that would be picked off by Valley City cornerback Will Eggert. A couple of plays later Gerhardt would hit Austin Shape again, this time for a 76-yard touchdown and put the home town Hi-Liners ahead 34-14 after three quarters.
After all of the scoring that went on in the middle frames of the game, the fourth quarter seemed to be for the most part pretty quiet. Except for a safety against the knights when a high snap went through the hands of their quarterback (Washington) who was standing in his end zone to star the drive, and would go out of bounds.
Hi-Liners Head Coach Scott Roehrich had this to say after the game, “Our guys played a very complete game on both sides of the ball. Offensively, we were effective running and throwing the ball. We made some very big and timely plays through the passing game tonight. We will need to continue to put pressure on the defense with the running and passing game. Our pass rush and pass defense was outstanding tonight as well. We have put ourselves in a great spot heading into the last game against Red River.”
The Hi-Liners come away with the 36-14 win on Senior night, and the last home game of the regular season. Next up for the Hi-Liners is their regular season finale next Thursday night on the road as they take on Grand Forks Red River, and that game can be heard on KOVC. Valley City is at 3-5 with the win, and will need some help getting into the playoffs.