The Pequot Lakes Patriots assumed a 20-7 halftime lead before the visiting Fergus Falls Otters rallied for a 28-26 victory in Midwest Red Subdistrict high school football action on Friday, Sept. 9.
The Patriots, ranked ninth in Class 3A, were hoping to top the Class 4A Fergus Falls squad.
"The guys played hard and stayed right with them," said Pequot Lakes coach Chip Lohmiller. "We had trouble with our punts, and we have to limit our errors to win games like this."
Max Tangen ran in one score and threw for two more while Calvin Maske rushed for Pequot Lakes' other touchdown. Tangen passed for 133 yards, and connected with Nathan Traut and Maxx Schindel for his touchdown passes.
The Patriots opened the scoring on their initial drive as Tangen carried for a 1-yard score that capped a long drive, which featured Maske's 24-yard carry. The Otters scored later in the quarter after starting a drive Pequot Lakes' 30. Fergus Falls scored when Matthew Johnson hauled in a 20-yard pass from Harrison Christensen. In the final second of the opening quarter, the Patriots snapped the tie when Traut hauled in a short pass and raced 39 yards for the touchdown to make it 14-7.
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Pequot Lakes added another score midway through the second period when Tangen tallied on another short quarterback keeper. The drive featured 15- and 17-yard runs by Traut.
"It hurt to lose Nathan Traut (injured early in the second half) because he's not only a good running back, but also good on defense," Lohmiller said.
The Otters' second-half rally started with Peter Johnson's 11-yard scoring run to cut the deficit to 20-14. A bad snap on a Patriot punt gave Fergus Falls possession at the Pequot Lakes 10-yard line to start the fourth quarter. The Otters scored on the next play on Nathan Rund's carry, and the successful conversion kick gave the visitors their first lead at 21-20.
Fergus Falls later extended the lead to 28-20 with 7:15 remaining on Rylie Sheridan's 4-yard score. Pequot Lakes rallied with a score four minutes later when Tangen passed 10 yards to Schindel for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 28-26. The Patriots' attempt to tie it failed when their two-point conversion was fumbled short of the goal line.
Pequot Lakes, 1-1 overall, is scheduled to play at Roseau at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 16.
Fergus Falls- 7 0 7 14 - 28
Pequot Lakes- 14 6 0 6 - 26
First quarter
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PL-Calvin Maske 1 run (kick failed) 7:14
FF-Matthew Johnson 20 pass from Harrison Christensen (Noah Raitz kick) 1:22
PL-Nathan Traut 66 pass from Max Tangen (Konrad Nagy kick) :01
Second quarter
PL-Tangen 1 run (kick failed) 7:28
Third quarter
FF-Peter Johnson 11 run (89 kick) 8:34
Fourth quarter
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FF-Nathan Rund 10 run (89 kick) 11:54
FF-Rylie Sheridan 4 runs (89 kick) 7:15
PL-Maxx Schindel 10 pass from Tangen (conversion failed) 3:26
Team statistics
Rushes-yards: PL 42-176, FF 36-222
Pass comp-att-int-yds: PL 7-20-0-133, FF 5-10-0-66
Total offense: PL 309, FF 288
Individual leaders
Rushing: PL-Traut 14-79, PL-Maske 6-41
Passing: PL-Tangen 7-19-133
Receiving: PL-Traut 2-75, PL-Schindel 3-50
