“I was real pleased with our effort tonight,” said Pelican Rapids Head Coach David Haugen. “We did a great job of battling back and played with good intensity. Despite the loss we did some real positive things that we can build on going into the playoffs.” 

Mason Klevgaard got the Nuggets on the board with a 32 yard field goal at 9:54 of the first quarter. They increased their lead to 10-0 when Noah Glad recovered a blocked Damien Britten punt for a touchdown and Klevgaard added the extra point kick. Hawley pushed the lead to 17-0 on a 38 yard TD pass from Jacob Vetter to Glad and another PAT kick by Klevgaard. Pelican Rapids scored on the ensuing kickoff when Jayden Rutherford went 78 yards. McHale Korf hit Hayden Christenson with the two point conversion pass to make the score 17-8. Hawley ended the first quarter with a 10 yard TD run by Vetter and a Klevgaard extra point kick with 30 seconds left, taking a 24-8 lead. 

Gunnar Lawson’s 37 yard TD run and Klevgaard’s kick gave the Nuggets a 31-8 lead at 6:36 of the second quarter. Korf delivered a 4 yard touchdown pass to Christenson and Marcos Franco added the extra point kick with just three second left in the half as Hawley took a 31-15 lead into the locker room at the half.

With 9:12 left in the third quarter Vetter hit Chase Libak with a 30 yard touchdown pass and Klevgaard remained perfect on extra-point kicks. With 5:53 left in the third, Korf once again connected with Christenson on a 37 yard touchdown pass, leaving the score at 38-21, Nuggets. With 3:33 left in the third Derian Gerdes scored on a one yard run and Klevgaard made it 45-21. 

Korf scored on a 3 yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter and Trayton Cossette scored on a one yard run for Hawley, followed by another PAT kick by Klevgaard to round out the scoring. 

Hawley amassed 499 yards of offense, with 344 rushing yards and 155 passing yards. Vetter was 5-for-9 throwing the football for 155 yards and two touchdowns. Glad caught four passes for 125 yards. The leading rusher was Cossette with 22 carries for 190 yards. 

Pelican Rapids compiled 300 yards of offense with 186 coming on the ground and 114 through the air. Korf was 7-for-23 throwing the ball for 114 yards and a pair of scores. He also led the Vikings with 54 rushing yards on 13 carries. Johnny Ziebell added 54 yards rushing on six carries. Christensen hauled in four Korf completions for 67 yards and two scores. Defensively, Reggie Funk picked off a pass and Matt Ziebell had a team high 8 tackles.