“We were able to get to an early lead and after that it became a real back and forth game,” said Pelican Rapids Head Coach David Haugen.  “Overall I was very pleased with our offensive performance as we put a lot of points on the board and a big number of total yards for the game.   McHale Korf (9-11, 143 yards passing, 2 TD passes, 19 carries, 122 yards, 2 TD’s) had a strong game picking up some tough yards on the ground and had lots of help from Matty Ziebell (10 carries, 37 yards), Johnny Ziebell (12 carries, 68 yards) and Jayden Rutherford (6 carries, 61 yards), so they really couldn't key on any one back.  New York Mills made some changes offensively that we didn't adjust to real well, but we were still able to make enough plays to pick up a hard earned win.”

Korf got the Vikings on the board at 7:30 of the first quarter on a 3 yard run.  He then hit Jayden Rutherford with a 39 yard TD pass at 2:48 and the Vikings led 12-0.  A 23 yard TD pass from Bren Salo to Logan Small with just 42 seconds left in the first half cut the Pelican Rapids lead to 12-8 after Salo’s two-point conversion pass to Jonah Johnson.

The Vikings extended their lead with a pair of third quarter touchdowns.  The first one came on a 26 yard run by Rutherford at 9:10 and the second on a 26 yard run by Korf at 6:01, giving the Vikings a 24-8 lead.  New York Mills trimmed the lead to 24-14 on a one yard run by Small at 2:20.

The Eagles made it interesting with an 11 yard TD run by Small with 8:56 left in the fourth quarter, putting the score at 24-20, however, Korf hooked up with Rutherford on a 16 yard touchdown pass and Rutherford ran for the two-point conversion, kicking the lead up to 32-20 with just 4:50 remaining in the game.  The Eagles added a final TD with 2:40 left when Daunte Leiran ran the ball into the end zone from 9 yards out, putting the final score at 32-26.

On defense, Matt Ziebell and Jayden Rutherford each had 8 tackles, Johnny Ziebell had 7 tackles and Logan Fahje finished with 6 tackles.

New York Mills was led by Bren Salo (4-4 passing, 86 yards, 1 TD) and Logan Small (2-3 passing, 26 yards, 18 carries, 125 yards, 2 TD’s, 2 receptions, 50 yards, TD).

“A great game on Friday night against Pelican Rapids,” said New York Mills Head Coach Matt Radniecki.  “We played well and they played a little bit better.  The boys at first were flat and Pelican came out and jumped ahead 12-0 and we were down 12-8 at halftime.  In the second half Pelican continued to use their inside running game complimented by their quarterback Korf outside and did a nice job of running the ball and maintaining drives.  We scored to make it 32-26 with about five minutes left but Pelican ran the clock out with their running game.  We played hard and we didn't give up.  Coach Haugen has a nice team in Pelican this year and what they do they do very well.  Their skill people are very good and Rutherford was tough to guard in the passing game.  I am proud we didn't quit and came back and did some really nice things.  We had over 300 yards again on offense and if we can continue that good things will happen.  Congrats to our JV team on their 26-0 win over Long Prairie-Grey Eagle on Monday night.  This group did a nice job to start their season off and some hard running by Ethan Ruther, Jacob Guck, and Dane Niemi helped to seal the win.”

The Eagles will host Frazee on Friday night.