It could be argued that THEE game of the weekend was Minnesota/Indianapolis. 30-some hours after it went final and coming up with what to say about it continues to be a challenge.
But here's the best shot
The 1,000th game in the franchises history was one of the worst and finished as one of the best of the whole bunch. That comes with the territory when you do something that's never been done before. Over 10's of 1,000s of games never had a team come back from 33-points down at halftime to win. Buffalo now has the second best such feat when they overcome 32 points in 1992 against the Oilers so they can take that punch from the Purple as well.
It's the kind of stuff that is talked about for generations, that's the veneer that they were able to put on a putrid first half. It was a total team failure - punt block touchdown, pick six. The defense actually held it's own, with four field goals accounting for most of the rest of the points for Indy.
To add more context to how rare Saturday was, this was just the eighth time since 1970 that the team has been behind by at least 17 points. Not since 1998 had the team scored that many points in the second half of a game. Almost just as crazy is that Cousins' "you like that?!" game was the last time a team overcome a 24 point deficit in the regular season! In doing it this time he set a career-high with 460 yards and a tidy four touchdowns. 34% of the 460 went the way of KJ Osborn who in the process had his first 100 yard receiving game. Jefferson wasn't far behind with 123 yards, which moved him past Anthony Carter into third place on the team's all-time list for 100-yard games!
If you're like this writer & have no memories of a MN pro sports championship in a tip-top league then it was an infuriating & confounding way to spend Saturday afternoon. The good things are that they locked the division and stayed one win up on San Fran for the two-seed. Would like to think that with just three games remaining they would be less Jekyll & Hyde but that is provably not the case. Perhaps a Christmas miracle will happen and they will avoid another monstrosity Saturday, we shall see...
The first of NDSU's three events this week was once again prevented by the weather, with the potential trip to Mayville by women's 🏀 now being cancelled instead of just postponed. One of their male counterparts made some news prior to that announcement as Boden Skunberg was named Peak Performer of the Week! The accolades kept coming with the latest All-American list was released, five-deep from the Herd!
The snow couldn't prevent 🤼 from getting to Little Rock for their latest duel, a 33 - 6 pin.
Two days prior came the oh-so-memorable visit by Incarnate Word as 🏈 punched their ticket back to Title Town, where they will face the #1 rival for the first time in the last game!
Of all the teams to be impacted by the week-long blizzard Moorhead State is in the running for the shortest straw. With only two days of action on the slate it was wiped out and with it came changes to their NYE as men's & women's 🏀 will now head to St. Cloud instead of hosting Northern State. It's a disappointing change but that can come with the forces beyond our control.
Prior to the snow & all, Peyton Boom was named North Division Player of the Week for the second time this season.
Concordia's lone action of the week came in Ohio as 🤼 went 3 - 1 at the duels!
The week started poorly for the Howl on the West Coast but a career night by Austin Rivers Friday & stellar showing by Anthony Edwards Sunday helped them right the sled & get back to .500. It was about as close to a perfect ending to what was a magical weekend of sports as Minnesota fans ever get!
As expected, the Summer Team found out they would not have the services of Carlos Correa again as he agreed to join San Francisco. On the brink of sliding further down the must-see hierarchy they didn't make any major moves but did add 32 YO catcher Christian Vazquez after batting .274 with nine home runs & 52 RBIs between Boston & Houston last season. They also agreed on a deal Friday with 29 YO outfielder Joey Gallo who spent last season with the Pinstripes & the LA squad which used to be in New York. With 19 deep shots he will add a bit more pop to the lineup but not much else offensively.
The Bolts were also affected by the snow fall with their Friday night visit by Sioux Falls was pushed but they were able to get down to SF for that scheduled skate. It came down to a shootout but the Western Conference Leaders were able to get the win and maintain their slight lead on Lincoln!
That came after Matej Marinov was named Goalie of the Week! Marinov & the team got more good news away from the rink as he was one of three members selected to participate in the World Juniors! The event will begin the 26th & go until January 5th across Canada.
Reminder that scores and recruiting news are updated regularly so check back often!
Now for this week's highlights
One of the few that happened came Monday as Davies boys 🏀 beat Valley City by 31. Another came Friday night as West Fargo's girls took down Shanley by 34 behind a 33-point night from Miriley Simon. On the last day of competition it was Mustangs & Bruins in a doubleheader, with the horses showing their gallop in both - 82 - 62 (boys) & 94 - 38 (girls).
Across the river Ada/Borup's boys got a pair of games in, including a 33-point victory over Win/E/Mac. Fertile/Beltrami also got two, beginning with a 31-point win over Lake Park last Monday. Hawley's one for week went-off as a 35-point win over Crookston, as did Ulen/Hitterdal against Bagley, their first W of the year. The A/B girls took down W/E/M by 42 while F/B's won all three of their games, including two by 24+.
Back on Dakota Land, Hillsboro's boys pulled an upset over Kindred & May/Port/C/G beat Hatton/Northwood by 30 a day after M/P/C/G's girls beat Hillsboro's 70 - 11. That's one outcome that reclassifying would not have prevented. Thompson also hit the court against Four Winds, winning by 37.
On the ice Moorhead's girls were pushed to overtime by Holy Family but managed to prevail with their fourth score. Former boys skater Gavin Lindberg added another note to their lineage, becoming the fourth former member of the program to be on the World Junior's roster for the USA. He chipped in an assist in the gold medal match. Few, if any, of their players will reach that level but Fargo South posted a 5 - 0 win over Sheyenne Saturday.
Beyond the lines, Moorhead announced that Briann Martinson is being promoted to head girls lax coach.
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