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Wheaton/Herman-Norcross (11-1) suffered their first loss of the season on Thursday when they fell to unbeaten Mountain Iron-Buhl (11-0) in a 9-Man football semifinal contest at US Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis. A 34 yard field goal by Clint Determan with no time left on the clock gave the Warriors a 15-14 halftime lead, however, the Rangers scored all 22 second half points to take a 36-15 victory.
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross struck first when Marshall Tolifson connected with Andrew Walker-Hannemann on a 55 yard touchdown pass with 3:40 to play in the first quarter. Following a failed two-point conversion try, the Warriors led 6-0. Mountain Iron-Buhl responded with a 47 yard scoring toss of their own as Asher Zubich hit Brayden Keith. Zubich then scored on a two-point conversion run, handing the Rangers an 8-0 lead at the end of one quarter.
With 4:06 remaining in the first half, Zubich gave the Rangers a 14-6 lead on a one yard TD run. Walker-Hannemann then hauled in a 31 yard pass from Tolifson at 3:04, bringing the Warriors to within two points at 14-12. Determan’s successful field goal came as time ran out on the first half and sent the Warriors into the locker room with a slim 15-14 lead.
Damian Tapio’s 8 yard touchdown run with 2:44 left in the third quarter capped a 10-play, 84-yard drive and proved to be the game winner. A two-point conversion pass from Zubich to Evan Anderson pushed the lead to 22-15.
Zubich then delivered a 21 yard TD pass to Sam Lokken with 3:38 left in the game and a 3 yard connection with Mason Clines, followed by a two-point run by Tapio, put the final scored at 36-15.
Tolifson, who left the game with an injury at the end of the first half, completed 7-of-9 passes for 151 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also ran for 33 yards on 8 carries. Brayden Hofer carried the ball 15 times for 35 yards. Backup quarterback Holden Rinke was 11-for-14 for 68 yards in relief of Tolifson. Walker-Hannemann was the leading receiver with 6 catches for 123 yards and two scores. Dylan Bainbridge had 4 receptions for 34 yards. Wheaton/Herman-Norcross finished with 106 rushing yards and 219 passing yards for a total of 325 yards on the day.
Mountain Iron-Buhl compiled 192 rushing yards and 141 passing yards for a total offense figure of 333 yards. Zubich was 12-for-17 throwing the football for 141 yards and 3 TD’s. He also had 99 rushing yards on 18 attempts. Tapio accumulated 88 rushing yards on 21 carries. Keith caught 3 passes for 58 yards and a score to lead the receivers.