WAHPETON, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Things started off great for the Hi-Liners on the road. Broden Muske with a big 3rd down sack of Wahpeton Quarterback Blake Schafer on 3rd and 4 at the Valley City 19 yard line to take the Huskies out of field goal range. On the ensuing offensive drive for the Hi-Liners, Quarterback Gavin Gerhardt capped off the drive with a 1-yard TD run to give Valley City the 6-0 lead. The 2pt conversion was unsuccessful.
In the second quarter the hometown Wahpeton Huskies took control of the game. Just 8 seconds into the quarter, Schafer fired a 25-yard TD pass to wide receiver Beau Arenstein, and then the PAT from Freshman kicker Treyton Mauch gave the Huskies the 7-6 lead. After a Valley City fumble on 4th down, the Huskies quarterback found receiver Caden Kappes for a 46-yard pass and catch to set the Huskies up in good field position. Just a couple of plays later Schafer would scamper 17-yards to the end zone and with the PAT would extend the Wahpeton lead to 14-6 going into half time.
Hi-Liners received the kick off to start the second half. However, things would not go as planned for VC. Defensive back Riley Schmit would pick off a pass from Gerhardt to give Wahpeton the ball. A few moments later, Schafer would find Kappes for an 88-yard touchdown strike to extend the Huskies lead to 21 to 6.
In the 4th quarter, Schafer would pick up the low snap and run it in for a 31-yard TD to give the Huskies a 28 to 6 lead with 10:09 remaining. Still in the 4th quarter, Wahpeton bleeding out the clock, they get a 3-yard rushing touchdown from Senior running back Jacob Devries to blow the game open 35 to 6. With just 2:36 remaining in the game Valley City got a 47-yard TD rush from Ethan Miller to make the game 35 to 14.
After the game Hi-Liners Head Coach Scott Roehrich had this to say, “It was a tale of two halves. We had a great start to the game in all phases of the game. We ran the ball very effectively early in the game and really limited their big plays. When we failed to punch one in late in the first half and then they had an 88 yard TD pass, really seemed to take the wind out of our sails. Turnovers hurt us, just as much giving up some big plays.” He also went on to say, “We will get back to work and continue to strive to make improvements and focus on the things that we have control over. Sticking together through this little funk is vitally important for us as a team right now as we continue on this journey.”
Hi-Liners lose the game 35-14 and drop to 0-4 on the season. Next up for Valley City is a home game next Friday night as it is Homecoming night. Kickoff is at 7pm and you can hear the call of the game right here on KOVC.