Hi-Liner JV football first game
The first Hi-Liner football game is in the books as the Valley City Junior Varsity played host to Central Cass at Hanna Field in Valley City. The visiting Squirrels slipped by the Hi-Liners 32-28.
Central Cass jumped out to a 24-0 halftime lead. They scored their first touchdown in the second quarter when Jackson Deutsch dumped a screen off to Jaxson Haug for a four yard touchdown. Deutsch hit Blaise Cotton for the two-point conversion to make it 8-0 Central Cass with 8:09 to go in the first half.
On the ensuing drive for Valley City, Zaine Blixt pressured Hi-Liner quarterback Hudson Kriewald. As Blixt hit Kriewald, he was trying to dump the ball off. Carver Kasowski intercepted the ball and raced 35 yards for the pick six. Deutsch completed the two-point conversion on a pass to Haug to make it 16-0 Central Cass with 7:24 to go in the second quarter.
As the first half was coming to a close, the Squirrels punched in another score. A 28 yard completion from Deutsch to Keaton Link set up Central Cass at the Hi-Liner 21 yard line. An illegal procedure penalty on the Squirrels moved them back five yards. On the next play, Deutsch found Hunter Hagness for a 26 yard touchdown pass. Deutsch ran in the two-point conversion to make the halftime score 24-0 Central Cass.
Early in the third quarter, the HiLiners stopped the Central Cass after a fake punt attempt didn’t get the first down. Valley City took over at the Squirrels 40 yard line. On the fourth play of the drive, Corbyn Powell took the handoff and hit the left end and outran the Central Cass defense for the 25 yard touchdown run. The twopoint conversion failed, making it 24-6 Central Cass with 6:34 to go in the third quarter.
The Hi-Liner defense stopped Central Cass on downs on the next possession and took over at the Squirrel 47 yard line. Powell carried the ball twice and scored on a 34 yard run. He scored the two-point conversion to make it 24-14 Central Cass with 4:11 to go in the third quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, Haug received the ball for the Squirrels at the 29, he raced right up the middle and went 71 yards for the touchdown. Ryan Aasmundstad found Blaise Cotton for the two-conversion to make it 32-14 Central Cass with 3:56 to go in the third quarter.
On the next drive for Valley City, they marched 89 yards on plays to score. Powell had the big play of the drive, a 55 yard run that took the ball down to the Central Cass 22 yard line. On the next play, Kriewald found Leighton Hendrickson for a 20 yard completion, taking the ball down to the two yard line. From there, Tye Cordie took it in from two yards out, then added the two-point conversion to make it 32-22 with 9:49 to go in the fourth quarter.
Neither team would score until the Hi-Liners right before the end of the game. With 1:47 top go, Valley City took over, after stopping the Squirrels on downs, at their own eleven yard line. The Hi-Liners had their second 89 yard scoring drive to punch in one last touchdown. Parker Roelfsema had two catches on the drive, one for 22 yards and one for 23 yards. Powell had a 24 yard completion on a middle screen to get the ball down to the twelve yard line. After two incompletions, Kriewald handed the ball off to Powell who took it in from 12 yards out for his third touchdown of the game as time expired. They did not run the conversion, making the final score 32-28.
For the game, Powell carried the ball 19 times for 209 yards and three touchdowns. Hudson Kriewald was 12 for 23 for 163 yards with one interception. Leighton Hendrickson had three catches for 45 yards, Parker Roelfsema had two catches for 45 yards and Powell caught three passes for 42 yards.
This was the season opener for Valley City JV. Next up for Valley City, they will travel to Kindred to take on the Vikings on September 9th.