VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – You have been practicing since August 10th. You have your first game canceled. The you hit the field in your home and season opener only to find the top ranked team in the state on the other sidelines. But for three quarters of football, the Valley City Hi-Liners held there own against the Bismarck St. Mary Saints.
The final was 34-0 Saints, but 27 of those point came in the first half where the Hi-Liners turned the ball over twice and gave the Saints short fields to work with.
On the second play from scrimmage, Kael Grebel had a nice 10 yard run, then fumbled the football. St. Mary’s recovered it. The Saints would take it in on Cullen Curl’s two yard run. Five minutes into the game, the Saints led 7-0.
Three plays into the second drive, Kael Grebel overthrew his intended receiver Drew Zaun. Isaac Vandal intercepted the pass at the 50. Five plays later, Curl would take the reverse pitch and score from 23 yards out. With 2:16 left in the first quarter, it was 14-0 Saints.
After a four and out in the second quarter. The Saints got another short field on a punt. Just a little over a minute into the second quarter, Curl would score his third touchdown of the half with a nine yard run. With 10:51 to go in the first half, St. Mary’s leads 20-0.
On the ensuing drive, the HiLiners would have to punt and Curl would return the punt 28 yards setting up the Saints at Valley City’s 15 yard line. Four plays later, Nick Schumacher would hit Jackson Roerick with a 2 yard touchdown pass. Schumacher’s extra point made with 27-0 Saints with seven minutes to go in the first half.
The Hi-Liner defense stiffened up after that. The offense struggled until late in the first half when they had a strip sack by Carter Johnson, Luke Wendel would recover the fumble with 12 seconds in the half. The Hi-Liners would get their first first down of the half as time expired on a 15 yard completion from Grebel to Drew Zaun. But that was it for the Hi-Liner first half offense.
The third quarter was scoreless and the fourth quarter was scoreless until Isaac Vandal would score on a two yard run with 46 seconds left. Caden Willer would add the extra point to make the final 34-0.
Cullen Curl led the Saints offense with 94 yards on 17 carries and three touchdown. Isaac Vandal had 48 yards on nine carries with a touchdown. St. Mary’s had 195 yards rushing and 86 yards passing for 281 total yards.
For Valley City, Max Fehr led the way with 103 yards rushing on 16 carries. His long came on the final play of the game when he ran for 27 yards. The Hi-Liners had 34 yards passing and 110 yards rushing for 144 total yards.
The Hi-Liners will host Stanley next Friday night at 7pm. That game can be heard on 1490AM/96.3 FM KOVC and video streamed live at newsdakota.com.