Detroit Lakes Football Advances To Section Championship With 21-20 Win Over ROCORI

COLD SPRING, MN (KDLM) – The Detroit Lakes Lakers advanced to their third section championship in the last four years with a thrilling 21-20 win over the ROCORI Spartans in Cold Spring in the Section 8AAAA semifinals.

The Spartans, the defending state champions from 2019, jumped out to an early lead over Detroit Lakes 14-0. After both teams went three-and-out on their first drives, ROCORI running back Mason Dahl finished off the second Spartan drive with a 25-yard rushing touchdown. Will Blattner ran in the two-point conversion and ROCORI led 8-0.

ROCORI would add to their lead early in the second quarter on a Blattner two-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion failed, but ROCORI led 14-0.

Then the Lakers offense took off, rattling off 14 unanswered points of their own: a 58-yard passing touchdown from Bradly Swiers to Christian Solberg less than a minute after the Blattner score, then Ethan Carrier scored from 16 yards out with 2:11 left in the quarter. Evan Thomas, who would make all three of his extra point attempts, tied the game at 14-14.

It looked like a ROCORI drive would stall out late in the quarter, with the Lakers stuffing a Spartan run on fourth down, but a facemask penalty on the play kept the drive alive. ROCORI quarterback Jack Spanier took advantage, scoring a two-yard touchdown with 37 seconds left in the half to give ROCORI a 20-14 lead at the half.

The Lakers would score the only touchdown the rest of the game: a one-yard quarterback keeper with Mason Carrier taking the snap in the wildcat formation. Carrier’s seventh touchdown of the season would give the Lakers a one-point lead with 2:47 left in the quarter. Carrier would finish with 90 yards on 19 touches and a touchdown.

The Lakers front seven were in the face of Spanier all night, forcing him out of the pocket to make rushed, off-balance throws.

“(Spanier) is really good if you give him time,” coach Vern Schnathorst said after the game. “He struggles a little bit when you get in his face. We were able to make him uncomfortable, and when you’re uncomfortable your accuracy goes way down. He made some plays, but we limited him. He’s still a very good player. A team like ROCORI is going to make plays. All you can do is a defense it try and limit the big plays.”

The Laker defense kept Spanier and the Spartan offense in check in the second half, shutting out the Spartans. But Detroit Lakes gave the Spartans one final chance to walk off after the Lakers had to punt the ball back to ROCORI with just over 2:00 left in the game.

Starting the drive from their own 11-yard line, the Spartans got to their own 28-yard line before facing a fourth-and-ten. Spanier’s pass fell incomplete, and the Lakers took over on downs.

But the game wasn’t over yet: ROCORI still had two timeouts, and the Laker offense needed to force coach James Herberg to use them. Mason Carrier gained three yards on first down, which forced ROCORI to burn a timeout and stop the clock. The Lakers went to the wildcat to Solberg on second down, but a Laker holding penalty forced them back to the 34 yard-line to bring up second-and-15. Mason Carrier would gain a yard back on second down, which forced ROCORI would use their third and final timeout on the play.

On third-and-14, Solberg picked up nine yards up the middle to make it fourth-and five. With the ball on the Spartan 24-yard line, Solberg took the snap in the wildcat formation and followed his blockers to the right side, extending his arms as he was being tackled around the 18-yard line to try and gain as much yardage as he could. After a measurement, the officials decided Solberg had reached the first down marker. Two kneel-downs later, and the Lakers completed the upset.

FINAL FROM COLD SPRING! THE LAKERS ADVANCE TO THE SECTION 8AAAA CHAMPIONSHIP NEXT FRIDAY NIGHT! pic.twitter.com/9ZAeQjTsYn

— KDLM Detroit Lakes (@KdlmSports) October 31, 2021

“Our team isn’t really big inside, and Mason, Ethan (Carrier), and Christian did a good job working the edge with the toss play and some of the other things that we run to the outside,” said Schnathorst. “We were able to sustain the run a little bit and keep the ball out of ROCORI’s hands.”

Solberg finished the game with 97 yards on 13 carries, plus added two receptions for 68 yards and a score. Quarterback Bradly Swiers completed 62% of his passes for 109 yards and a touchdown.

The win improves the Lakers to 6-3 overall (1-0 in the section). They will play top-seeded Becker (9-0, ranked #2 in Class 4A) in Alexandria at 7:00 in the Section 8AAAA Championship game on Friday night.

The Spartans finish the 2021 campaign 5-4 (1-2 in the section) and will miss the state tournament for only the second time since 2013.

TEAM SCORING:

Detroit Lakes – 0 14 7 0 -21

ROCORI – 8 12 0 0 – 20

SCORING SUMMARY:

Q1:

ROCORI – 5:43 Mason Dahl 25 yd rush TD, 2PT good Blattner run, 8-0

Q2:

ROCORI – 10:41 Will Blattner 2yd rush TD, 2PT no good, 14-0

DL – 9:51 58-yd TD Swiers to Solberg, XP Thomas good, 7-14

DL – 2:11 16yd rush TD E. Carrier, XP Thomas good, 14-14

Q3: