Area High School Sports: Bagley hopes to ride momentum of homecoming victory Friday at Blackduck

BAGLEY — Homecoming is always an exciting event for high school students and winning the Friday football game can put an exclamation point to the week’s festivities.

Last Friday at Bagley the Flyers added a second punctuation mark to their homecoming as they rallied for two touchdowns in the final five minutes to edge Pillager 26-20. Bagley trailed from the outset and didn’t take a lead until Nate Rolfson scored his fourth touchdown of the evening with 13.1 seconds to play. Christian Larson added the 2-point conversion to cap a memorable evening in Bagley.

“It was a great team effort and truly a game these guys will never forget,” said Bagley coach Brandon Schwegel.

The win kept the Flyers on top of the Northstar East Conference at 4-1. Blackduck, which defeated Pine River 28-20 last week, improved to 3-2 and shares that record with Pine River.

Pillager dipped to 2-2 while Walker-Hackensack-Akeley enters Friday’s action 1-4 and Red Lake owns a 0-5 mark.

Pillager scored on the game’s initial possession last week at Bagley but Rolfson answered with a 2-yard run to bring the home team within 7-6 with 8:45 to play in the second quarter.

The Huskies struck again late in the half and owned a 14-6 lead at the break.

Rolfson’s 7-yard TD run closed Bagley’s gap to 14-12 in the third stanza but, once again, Pillager answered with a long touchdown to open a 20-12 advantage.

Bagley, however, saved the best for last and sparking the late charge was Rolfson who found the end zone with 4:19 to play. The 2-point conversion attempt failed and the Flyers trailed 20-18.

The defense forced a punt and Bagley’s offense went to work from its 30-yard line. Rolfson sparked the drive with a 20-yard run and Walker Cage followed with a 27-yard scamper. Those plays set the stage for Rolfson’s game-winning 3-yard run with 13 seconds to play.

Christian Larson scored on the 2-point PAT for the final points.

Rolfson ran 26 times for 115 yards and four touchdowns. Tyler Godin gained 68 yards on seven carries and Cage rushed for 66 yards on eight runs.

Rolfson also caught two passes for 46 yards while Larson and Mark Lundsten each snared one pass for 20 yards.

Jordan Loiland completed seven of his 16 passes for 92 yards.

On Friday the Flyers will head east to take on Blackduck. Friday’s other league games see Red Lake visiting Pine River and WHA traveling to Pillager.

In the Northstar West Conference, Mahnomen rules the roost at 5-0, Fosston and Lake Park-Audubon are 4-1, Fertile-Beltrami owns a 2-3 record and Badger-Greenbush-Middle River and Red Lake County share 1-4 records.

This week’s schedule has Mahnomen hosting Fertile-Beltrami, BGMR visiting Fosston and Lake Park-Audubon entertaining RLC.

Cass Lake-Bena continues to find the going tough in the North Tri-County League. Last week the Panthers (0-5 overall, 0-4 conference) lost 61-0 to Norman County West. CL-B will hope for a better result Friday when it heads to Win-E-Mac.

Kelliher-Northome will try to rebound from last week’s 24-20 loss to Onamia when it entertains Hill City on Friday. The Mustangs are 3-2 in the Great Northern Conference while Hill City is 1-4. Cromwell and Wrenshall are atop the standings at 5-0 while Nevis and Onamia are 4-1.

Clearbrook-Gonvick is coming off last week’s 22-16 victory over Goodridge-Grygla in Top of the State Conference action. The Bears (2-2, 2-1 conference) will be at Kittson County Central (3-1, 2-1) on Friday.

Volleyball

Bagley returned to its winning ways Tuesday with a 22-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-13 home victory over Park Christian. The win was Bagley’s fourth in 12 outings and upped its conference record to 2-5.

Sierrah Kaiser had 19 kills, two blocks and three aces while Sara Holm and Liz Anderson each tallied nine kills. Holm also had two blocks and Anderson one.

Cassie Keough delivered four kills and contributed a block, two aces and 18 set assists.

Riley Thomas smacked three kills, dished 13 assists and served two aces and Kylie Bergh provided eight digs and four aces.

In Northland Conference action Tuesday Red Lake dropped a 25-11, 25-15, 25-21 decision at Blackduck and Nevis blanked Laporte 3-0. In nonconference play, Clearbrook-Gonvick fell 3-0 at Red Lake County Central.

Tatiana McClain had five assists and Grace White six kills for Red Lake in the loss at Blackduck.

Nevis improved to 4-0 in league action with Tuesday’s win while Walker-Hackensack-Akeley is 3-0. Pine River sits at 3-1, Laporte is 3-3, Cass Lake-Bena and Blackduck 2-3, Northome-Kelliher 1-4 and Red Lake 0-4.

The leaders meet tonight in Walke. Friday’s schedule finds Blackduck hosting Pine River, Laporte visiting Remer, Cass Lake-Bena traveling to Clearbrook-Gonvick and Red Lake welcoming Fond du Lac.