Frazee receives sixth seed, to play Hawley in section opener

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The Frazee Hornets will open their Section 8AA tournament on Tuesday night on the road as they will travel to Hawley to take on the third seeded Nuggets. The Hornets improved to 2-6 on the season last week as they defeated the Roseau Rams by a score of 26-14. They are ranked 45th in the QRF and come into the playoffs averaging 11.6 points per game on offense, while giving up 22.8 points per game on defense. 

The Nuggets, on the other hand, are currently ranked 26th in the QRF and come into the game averaging 25.5 points per game on offense, while giving up 19 points per game on defense. 

The winner of the game will take on second seeded Pelican Rapids on Saturday in Pelican Rapids at 2 p.m. 

On the other side of the bracket, top seeded Barnesville will host either fourth seeded Warroad or fifth seeded Crookston on Saturday in Barnesville. 

The Section 8AA finals will be held on November 5 at 8 p.m. in the FargoDome. 

Prior to starting the playoffs, the Hornets were able to defeat the Roseau Rams by a score of 26-14. The game was the final game that was played on the current Frazee football field.

“It’s always good when you get a win,” said head coach Russ Hackel. “We just really tried to get the kids fired up for this last game and they responded really well, especially considering we were down 12-0.”

Roseau jumped out to a 12-0 after Alex Winsloff capped a long first quarter drive with a 14-yard pass for a touchdown. 

Steele Walsh made the game 12-0 in the second quarter when he scored on a 10-yard run. From there on out it was all Frazee as Tyler Moe put the Hornets on the scoreboard with a 2-yard run and he converted the two-point conversion to make the game 12-8 in favor of the Rams.

Moe found the end zone for the second time of the quarter when he scored on an 8-yard run. The two-point conversion failed to leave the score at 14-12 at halftime.

Moe found the end zone in both the third quarter, on a 56-yard run, and a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter to put the Hornets in front for good by a score of 26-12. 

The sophomore had a huge game on the ground as he rushed 23 times for 155 yards and 4 touchdowns. Jake Nagel added 5 rushes for 67 yards and Max Rue rushed 11 times for 63 yards. 

In addition to another solid performance by the defense, the Hornets were able to run the ball throughout the game. They had a person rush for over 100 yards for the second time this year, which helped to lead to their second win. 

“We ran the ball well. We are 2-0 when one of our running backs goes over 100 yards,” he said.

Freshman Asher Blaine earned the start for the Hornets as quarterback and completed 1-3 passing for 20 yards. Nagel was on the receiving end of the pass.

Hackel credited the drive of the Hornets to not give up, even though they were down early in the game. He said the team is a group of fighters and the come-from-behind win will really help the team not only this year, but for years to come. 

“It’s a building block for what we have been working on all for our kids. Just that mentality of never giving up,” said Hackel.

  The Hornets dominated the Rams on the ground as the team out gained Roseau 303 yards to 107 yards. They had 283 yards on the ground, compared to just 95 for Roseau. Frazee was also 8-10 on third downs and converted their only fourth down attempt. 

As the team prepares for their playoff game on Tuesday night, Hackel said the Nuggets are a solid team that runs the ball well. Just like the Hornets he said the team had a difficult schedule and have a few wrinkles up their sleeves as well.