Frazee to face Parkers Prairie on Friday night

Photo by Chad Koenen
Mason Mickelson rushes through a hole during Friday’s game in Frazee. He finished with 111 yards and a touchdown in Frazee’s 26-12 win.

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The Frazee defense held a gritty New York Mills team to just 245 yards of total offense and 12 points on the scoreboard as the Hornets picked up their third win of the season with a 26-12 win over the Eagles on Friday night. The Hornets gained 391 yards of total offense, including 325 yards on the ground alone. 

Photos by Chad Koenen
Quarterback Adam Vigen looks for an open receiver during Friday’s pink out game against New York Mills.

After a scoreless first quarter, Dawson Lyman broke the scoreless tie with a 37-yard touchdown run to give the Hornets a 6-0 lead. The two-point conversion failed to leave the score at 6-0. 

NY Mills answered with just 2:12 remaining in the half when Everrett Ruther scored his first of two touchdowns for the Eagles on a 19-yard and after the kick failed the game was tied 6-6 with just two minutes remaining in the half. Just over one minute later, Mason Mickelson gave the Hornets some momentum heading into the halftime break when he scored on a 10-yard run to put Frazee in front by a score of 12-6. 

Ayden Grossman tries to shed a tackler during Friday’s game against the Eagles.

“Mills is a good team. We jumped out to a quick start,” said Hackel. “They were causing some problems for us on the edge defensively, but it got a little better in the second half as our kids figured it out a bit, which is good.”

After both defenses held the other team off the scoreboard in the third quarter the Hornets struck quickly in the final 12 minutes of action as Ben Reierson scored on a one-yard run. The two-point conversion failed to leave the score at 18-6. 

Mickelson put the Hornets in front for good with a 65-yard touchdown run with 4:55 to go in the game and the two-point conversion was successful as Frazee took a commanding 26-6 lead with less-than five minutes remaining in the game.

Ruther found the end zone for NY Mills for the second time in the game with just 1:45 remaining in regulation to make the score 26-12 and improved the Hornets to 3-1 on the season.

The Hornets were led offensively by Lyman who rushed 13 times for 112 yards and a touchdown, while Mickelson rushed 10 times for 111 yards and a touchdown of his own. Reierson chipped in with eight rushes for 68 yards and quarterback Adam Vigen rushed four times for 32 yards. Hunter Malone added one rush for two yards.

Vigen went 4-7 for 66 yards passing with Ayden Grossman catching two passes for 61 yards, Lyman caught one pass for two yards and Noah Mekalson caught one pass for three yards. 

Defensively the Hornets were led by Vigen with 11 tackles, Malone finished with nine and Jack Graham finished with seven tackles in the win.

With four games remaining on their schedule, including three games against teams who are 3-1 on the season, Hackel said the Hornets will need to clean up some things on the offensive and defensive end of the field if they want to find the win column again. One point of focus this week will be the two-point conversions as Frazee went just 1-4 this week and went 0-3 last week.

“We need to work on two-point conversions. We just have to find some plays to convert those,” he said.

Following this week’s game against the Panthers, who advanced to state last year, the Hornets play Class AA Wadena-Deer Creek who is 1-3, as well as Class A Lake Park-Audubon and Otter Tail Central who are both 3-1 on the season.

“There is no give me games left,” said Hackel. “Even though they are single A schools they are quality single A schools.”

The Panthers are currently 3-1 on the season and defeated Upsala/Swanville 34-22, NY Mills 14-6 and Menahga 54-12. Their lone loss was to Breckenridge by a score of 21-12. 

Parkers Prairie comes into the game averaging 28.5 points per game on offense, while giving up 15.2 points per game on defense. 

The Hornets currently average 27.5 points per game on offense while surrendering 15 points per game on defense. 

TEAM TOTALS: Total Yards: 391, Passing Yards: 66, Rushing Yards: 325, First Downs: 

INDIVIDUAL SCORES

RUSHING: Benjamin Reierson 8-68-1, Adam Vigen 4-32-0, Hunter Malone 1-2-0, Mason Mickelson 10-111-2, Dawson Lyman 13-112-1

PASSING: Adam Vigen 4-7-66-0-1)

RECEIVING: Ayden Grossman 2-61-0, Dawson Lyman 1-2-0, Noah Mekalson 1-3-0

DEFENSE: Benjamin Reierson 3-2, Ean Kilde 2-0, Adam Vigen 5-6, Hunter Malone 3-6, Blake Sonnenberg 1-2, Mason Mickelson 1-1, Ayden Grossman 1-2, Gabe Schermerhorn 0-1, Conner Erickson 0-5, John George 0-2, Jack Graham 2-5, Chase Labbe 1-3, Tanner Moe 0-2, Noah Mekalson 7-6