Oct 10, 2020

Battle of the Unbeaten

A suspected slug-fest between two of the best teams in the state never materialized. But in its place came something that may prove to be even more substantial. After getting the ball by way of a lost coin-toss, Sheyenne ran off over half of the first quarter en route to the first of their four scores.

After chipping away at time and yards, the Mustangs were at the five but instead of giving the ball to their all-state running back, the handoff went the way Matt Treib who didn't waste the chance.

On the heels of that, the teams traded punts into the second quarter. And so Davies had the ball with plenty of time to tie the game. At midfield they converted a 4 & 3 and a few plays later had a near-miss interception by Lance Oster. Then on fourth down at the 25 the coaches changed from a field goal attempt to an offensive play but the second go was unsuccessful. Hard to say that was a game-changing decision but who knows how getting 3 points versus nothing could have affected the flow of the game.

Sheyenne salted the wound a few plays later as Grant Warkenthien dropped a dime into the hands of Gage Anderson who took it the rest of the way for a 43 yard touchdown.

With 5.5 minutes left, the Eagles had more than enough time to cut into the deficit but all that either team managed over the remaining time were punts. The last one by Davies was dropped so they got the bonus chance but Abe Hestdalen & the defense saw to it that the score would remain the same.

The trouble persisted after the break with Davies being forced to punt away.

Not long after, Sheyenne was back at the five but this time they went with their D-1 recruit for the score. After a penalty moved the ball closer to the line the Mustangs chose to go for two and Treib followed the Barika Kpeenu touchdown up with another score.

Now down 22-0 with 7 minutes remaining, the Eagles faced a must-score possession. But on third down, Hestdalen stifled another drive.

Sheyenne came back with their own mid-field fourth-down conversion as Kpeenu broke loose for 25. Then, back in the familiar short-yardage space, they nearly got the dagger as JaH'heem Leake nearly hauled in the fourth score but after a brief discussion, the officials ruled that he didn't complete the catch. And so the fourth quarter came.

Davies found enough to turn that incompletion into a goal-line stand but 97 yards away, the defense could bring all the pressure they wanted and so #72 managed another quarterback take-down. The turnover-on-downs preceded a third short-yardage score by Treib to conclude the scoring and lead to backups coming in from both sidelines. Credit where it's due, the Davies coaches didn't risk their players just to make the final look better.