After being one of the top teams & have many of the best players in MN for several years, Moorhead has begun a new era. Fittingly, they have a freshman starting at quarterback. Jett Feeney shares the name of the head coach but over the four quarters of homecoming action showed that he quite capable of helping usher-in the next group of state-tournament-contending teams.
To set the tone of the evening it was another ninth-grader that was given a volume of touches as running back Taye Reich drove the Spuds in for the first score of the evening.
St. Cloud Tech responded with a quick possession and punt but were able to force a turnover-on-downs near midfield. An ambush of Tigers followed the early trend of running plays, consuming the rest of the first quarter and tying the game at seven apiece.
What juice they may have been able to get from that was dried up in all of 12 seconds as junior Rufus Kermee busted loose for a 91-yard kick-return touchdown. Three runs & a punt later and Feeney was back under center. He connected with sophomore Jaimeson Dunlap to get the Taters to the door step and junior Owen Thielges to make it a two-score lead.
Tech again went to their committee running style to flip the field. In their bid to cut the deficit in half, fortunate favored the home team as Moorhead's Avann Salman covered a fumble at the 14.
Taye Reich got them back on the other side of the 50 and then DJ Smith made the play of the game, fully Mossing the defensive back to get Moorhead down to the six! One play later Kermee was in the end zone but a penalty wiped out the run and ultimately lead to a blocked field goal with seconds remaining.
What could have been a disheartening conclusion to the half didn't take as Tech was forced to punt their chance away in shortest order. After big plays by Thielges & Reich it was Cade Allmendinger's turn to skin the Tigers with three runs from the six yard line that made it 27 - 7!
Following another punt Feeney got a pass on the money to DJ Smith again and this time the defense wasn't able to keep him out of the zone! If it wasn't already, that official flipped the route to 'on!'
When they next got the ball back it was sophomores Madison Suah & Carson Heinsch who joined Kermee in getting them into position for six more points but DJ Smith would be the one to bounce the score to 40 - 7.
Over the nine minutes that remained each team added to it's total but the outcome was well in hand.
Moorhead 48, St. Cloud Tech 13.
Two touchdowns and one of the best catches anyone will see separated the senior receiver from the bushel of quality performances
DJ Smith
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