Frazee scores touchdown with four seconds remaining to overtake OTC

Brady Crabtree shakes a tackle during the second half of Friday’s 29-26 win over Otter Tail Central in Henning. Crabtree caught 5 passes in the game as the Hornets scored a touchdown with just 4 seconds in the game to overtake the Bulldogs.

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

With just 4 seconds remaining, and needing a touchdown to secure a win, Jake Nagel scored his fourth touchdown of the game and helped the Frazee Hornets secure a season defining win over Otter Tail Central on Friday night. Nagel punched the ball in the end zone on a run up the middle as the Hornets improved to 4-3 with a 29-26 win over Otter Tail Central.

Jake Nagel rushed for over 170 yards and 4 touchdowns as the Hornets defeated the Otter Tail Central Bulldogs 29-26 on Friday night.

“The boys responded well. We completed passes when we needed to,” said head coach Russ Hackel. “We talked about that winning mind-set over the past week. That winning mind-set did pay off, we didn’t give up.”

In what was perhaps the most exciting 7 minutes of football for either team this season, quarterback Carter Sonnenberg was intercepted on a second and short pass play deep in OTC territory midway through the fourth quarter. The Hornets were leading by a score of 21-20 at the time following Nagel’s third touchdown of the game earlier in the fourth quarter. 

The Bulldogs worked the ball down the field, and had fourth and goal from the 1-yard line, when OTC running back Mason Hammer converted the fourth down play for a touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 26-21 lead with just 3:21 left in the game. The touchdown was Hammer’s second of the game as the senior rushed for a team-high 97 yards on 19 carries.

On the following possession, Frazee converted several long plays, including a long pass from Sonnenberg to the OTC 15-yard line with just over 1 minute remaining in the game and trailing by a score of 26-21. Sonnenberg completed another pass to give the Hornets a first and goal with just over 30 seconds left from the 4-yard line. 

That’s when Nagel scored his fourth touchdown of the game on a 4-yard run to put the Hornets up for good by a score of 27-26. Nagel converted the two-point conversion to give the Hornets a 29-26 lead. A long pass down the sideline for OTC fell incomplete on the following drive to give the Hornets a 29-26 upset win against a Class A top 15 ranked team in the QRF. 

Hammer scored the first touchdown of the night in the first quarter when he scored on a 2-yard run to give OTC a 6-0 lead. 

Nagel scored his first of four touchdowns in the game in the second quarter when he tied the game at 6-6 on a 31-yard run. He put the Hornets in front by a score of 14-6 later in the quarter when he scored on a 55-yard run and converted the two-point conversion.

Mason Dalluge made the score 14-12 in favor of Frazee when he caught a 42-yard touchdown pass from Jack Mekalson later in the quarter. The two-point conversion failed leaving the score at 14-12 heading into halftime.

OTC took the lead in the third quarter when Owen Buehler caught a 4-yard pass from Mekalson. Hammer converted the two-point conversion to make the score 20-14 heading into the fourth quarter.

That’s when Nagel scored his third touchdown of the game, this time on a 6-yard run. The point after kick was good to give Frazee a 21-20 lead, which set up the exciting final minutes of football on Friday night. 

Sonnenberg went 5-10 for 88 yards passing, while throwing just 1 interception. 

Nagel had a huge game for the Hornets as he scored 4 touchdowns and rushed 22 times for 188 yards. Tyler Moe rushed 14 times for 90 yards.

Brady Crabtree caught 5 passes from Sonnenberg for 88 yards. 

As a team the Hornets out gained the Bulldogs by a 385-268 yard margin. Most of the Hornets damage came on the ground as they out rushed OTC by a 277-150 margin. The Hornets were 4-9 on third down and turned the ball over just one time in the win.

With the win the Hornets improve to 4-3 on the season with just one more game on their schedule. 

This week the road warriors, who have played all of their games on the road this season due to construction taking place on the sports complex in Frazee, will travel to Roseau to take on the 1-6 Rams. Last week Roseau fell to Pelican Rapids by a score of 50-6. Their lone win this season came against Underwood in the second week of the season. In that game the Rams defeated the Rockets by a score of 14-6. 

Roseau comes into the game averaging just 10 points per game on offense, while surrounding 30.6 points per game on defense. 

The Hornets come into the game with a record of 4-3 and average 23.7 points per game on offense and are giving up 23.6 points per game on defense. 

The Hornets are currently in fourth place in the Section 8AA standings according to the QRF standings. Barnesville is currently in first place, Pelican Rapids is in second, Crookston is in third place, Frazee is in fourth place, Hawley is in fifth place and Warroad is in sixth place. 

Hackel said the Hornets control their own destiny when it comes to getting a home field game in the first round of the playoffs. Due to Crookston losing to Pillager by a score of 22-12 last week, the Hornets could theoretically get the third seed over Crookston, depending upon how Wednesday’s games shake out. 

“It puts us a little more in the drivers seat,” said Hackel of the win last week. “I told the boys last week we control our own destiny.”

Should the Hornets get a top four seed in the section, Hackel said the game will be played at a neutral site, which is yet-to-be-determined.