Frazee to travel to Park Rapids on Friday

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The Frazee Hornets improved to 3-3 on the season with a big 26-24 win over Roseau on Friday night to wrap up a festive homecoming week. The win is the third straight for the Hornets who are now in the driver’s seat to potentially get a home field game in the opening round of the Section 8AA tournament.

The Hornets opened the game with a pair of touchdowns runs in the first quarter, the first on a 33-yard run and the second on a 1-yard run to take a 12-0 lead.

In the second quarter the Hornets took an 18-0 lead when they scored on a 2-yard run, before the Roseau defense and special teams put the Rams on the scoreboard. Following Frazee’s third touchdown of the game, Roseau returned the ensuing kickoff 77-yards for a touchdown, before the defense stripped Frazee of the ball and returned the fumble 27-yards for a touchdown to make the score 18-12 at halftime. 

Right after the halftime break the Hornets took the ball right down the field and scored on a 6-yard run to make the score 26-12 in favor of Frazee. 

Head coach Russ Hackel said Roseau changed defenses a bit to start the second half and he was pleased to see the Hornets be able to take advantage of that change in defensive philosophy. 

“There were times when we looked really good and at times we just kept letting them back into the game,” he said. “We were able to move the ball and do the things that we wanted to. We had a good mix of things that we were doing.”

Roseau made the score 26-18 later in the third quarter on an 80-yard touchdown run, before making the score 26-24 late in the fourth quarter on a 4-yard touchdown run. With a chance to tie the game at 26-26 with the two-point conversion the Rams went back to the same play they had just scored on, but this time the Hornets were up to the challenge and stopped the two-point conversion to preserve the win. 

“It came down to the wire and they ran the exact same play and we stopped them on it and that’s how we won,” he said.

As a team the Hornets did well offensively as they picked up 400 yards of total offense, including 294 yards on the ground. They also held a 20-8 advantage in first downs and were 5-9 on third downs. 

One of the things Hackel said the Hornets will need to clean up will be the penalties and negative plays. The Hornets had nine penalties on the day for 50 yards, oftentimes coming at the most inopportune times that killed drives and put the team in a tough spot offensively. The Hornets also turned the ball over four times, including a pair of fumbles and interceptions. 

Heading into this week the Hornets and Park Rapids Panthers are neck-and-neck for the fourth and fifth seed in the section. The winner of Friday’s game will be in the driver’s seat for the fourth seed, which will ensure a home game to open the Section 8AA playoffs on October 22.

Park Rapids comes into the game with the same 3-3 record as the Hornets after falling to Barnesville 32-12 last week. They also have wins against Crookston 43-6, Warroad 38-28 and Roseau 34-28, while falling to Hawley by a score of 34-28 and Fergus Falls 39-0. 

Hackel said the Panthers started the year as a more run heavy team, but over the past few weeks have really opened up the passing game.

“They had been more of a run heavy team, but the past two weeks they have been throwing it all over the country,” he said. 

The game will be played at Park Rapids beginning at 7 p.m. on Friday night.