“Well as most Hawley games it was a battle,” commented Barnesville Head Coach Bryan Strand.  “I felt both teams played extremely hard and left nothing on the field.  Defensively, we played 3 solid quarters and gave up a few yards in the fourth but we had changed our defense a bit and brought in an extra safety to help with coverage as we knew they would have to go to the air if they wanted to get back into the game.  It was a great game and to say I am proud of the team and coaches would be an understatement.”

Connor Klemin’s 5 yard TD run gave Barnesville a 6-0 lead after the first quarter.  Jacob Strand carried the ball in form 13 yards and Cameron Halverson added a 69 yard touchdown run in the second quarter to build the 18-0 halftime advantage. 

Hawley scored on a 1 yard run by Linkoln Midthun in the third quarter and Strand answered with another 13 yard TD run, followed by a successful two-point try by Connor Klemin as the Trojans upped the lead to 26-6 at the end of three.

Hudson Midthun launched a 70-yard TD pass to Wyatt Jegtvig in the fourth quarter, but that

“Offensively Jake Strand and Cameron were fantastic last night, picking up big plays when we needed them, that all starts up front with our amazing offensive line,” added Coach Strand.  “The boys got it done.  On defense, Tate Pauna had a big game for us, he sat a big part of the season with a foot injury but he was all over the place last night as was Major Ness.  Major got a huge interception right before halftime, honestly was one of the greatest pics I have seen.  Played it perfectly.   In the second half it was just a battle by both teams.  After Hawley scored in the 4th they tried an onside kick which bounced off one of our guys and right into the hands of Major Ness who took it about 50 yards for the score - but there was an inadvertent whistle that happened when the ball bounced off a player... there is nothing we could do about it, unfortunately it was a costly mistake by the official but mistakes happen.  Like I said before it was a hard fought game by both teams, the kids on both sides played their hearts out.”

Strand ran for 133 yards on 20 carries and Halverson had 111 yards on 12 rushing attempts.  Klemin added 50 rushing yards on 10 carries as Barnesville ran for a total of 316 yards.  The Trojans held the Nuggets to 272 yards of offense (38 rushing, 234 passing).

“Each year presents new challenges and this year was tough,” concluded Strand. “We battled through a very hard schedule, dealt with injuries from almost day one and constant changes in our starting lineup by who was healthy that week.  We are just happy to be playing one more game in the state tournament.”

Barnesville received the fourth seed in the North half of Class AA and will take on number one Holdingford at 7:00pm Friday night in Brainerd