Hi-Liner Football fall to Aggies in New Turf Opener

Velva-Drake-Anamoose-Garrison spoil the Hi-Liners home opener

Valley City, N.D. – There was a lot of pomp and circumstance at the beginning of the Valley City Hi-Liner’s football season. A ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the new artificial turf at Hanna Field.

Once the game started, it was all about football and the second ranked Velva-Drake-Anamoose-Garrison Aggies scored four first half touchdowns and never looked back on the way to a 44-6 win over the Hi-Liners.

The Aggies would take the opening kickoff and go 48 yards on five plays to get on the board first. Raider Barstad scored on a ten-yard run to cap the drive that took 2:52 off the clock. The conversion failed and the Aggies led 6-0 with 9:08 to go in the first quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Aggies executed an on-side kick. Kicker Logan Vincent recovered the on-side at the Hi-Liner 49-yard line.

On the very first play of the drive, Payton Weidler threw into double coverage and Leighton Hendrickson went up high to come up with an interception at the Hi-Liner 21-yard line.

Valley City would go three-and-out on its first drive of the game and punted the ball away. Tye Cordie’s 33-yard punt would give the Aggies the ball at their own 40.

With a mixture of runs and passes, V-D-A-G would go 60 yards in 4:15 to score its second touchdown of the game. Logan capped the ten-play drive with a three-yard touchdown run. The conversion failed, making the score 12-0 Aggies with 1:27 to go in the first quarter.

The Hi-Liners would again go three-and-out on its next possession. Cordie’s punt went 17 yards, setting the Aggies up at their own 45.

Another touchdown drive for the Aggies would culminate with a one-yard touchdown run by Logan. The score was set up by a 28-yard completion from Weidler to Brady Hauff to the Hi-Liner one-yard line. Logan’s second

touchdown of the game made the score 20-0, after he took in the two-point conversion, with 10:00 to go in the first half.

The Hi-Liner offense showed some signs of life on the next drive. They would get the ball into Aggie territory on 13-play drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock. But a bad snap would be recovered by the Aggies Aiden Ferguson at the V-D-A-G 49-yard line with 3:02 to go in the half.

The Aggies would need only five plays and 1:44 to cover 51 yards and punch in one more score. Weidler found Jordan Mack in the back of the end zone. Mack made a great one-handed catch for the touchdown. The conversion was run in by Vincent to make it 28-0 with 1:18 left in the half. That would be the score at halftime.

The Hi-Liners got the ball to start the second half and took full advantage of it. Valley City went 75 yards on six plays to get on the scoreboard. The drive was capped off by Hudson Kriewald with a two-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Sykora in the front part of the end zone. The score was set up by a beautiful 47-yard pass from Kriewald to Tye Cordie to the two-yard line. Kriewald’s throw was dropped in beautifully over two defenders, right into Cordie’s hands. Kriewald would find Sykora in the alone in the front of the endzone for the score. The extra-Point was blocked keeping the score 28-6 with 8:37 to go in the third quarter.

On the ensuing drive, Hauff would return the kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown, but it was called back due to an illegal block on the return. The Aggies would take over at the Hi-Liner 25-yard line. On the first play of the Aggie drive, Alexander Russell blew through the offensive line and wrapped up Weidler for a three-yard loss. However, three plays later, Weidler would complete a 23-yard touchdown pass to Hauff to make it 34-6. Weidler ran in the conversion to make it 36-6 Aggies with 6:39 to go in the third quarter.

On Valley City’s next drive, Hunter Undem would rumble 25 yards on the first play to get the ball into Aggie territory at the 40-yard line. Two plays later, Kriewald completed a nine-yard pass to Brady Broten to the 32 yard line.

Kriewald had to get rid of the ball in a hurry, two Aggies were closing in on him and he was hit as he let the ball go. On the next play, more pressure came and Kriewald tried to dump it off to Undem, but he was hit and fumbled the ball. Lexton Smith, who hit Kriewald, recovered the fumble at the Velva 40-yard line.

Velva-Drake-Anamoose-Garrison would go on a nine-play, 60-yard scoring drive that took 6:02 off the clock. Barstad scored on a six-yard run, his second touchdown of the game, to make it 42-6. Weidler hit Ferguson with the two-point conversion to make it 44-6 with 10:15 to go in the quarter.

The young Hi-Liners came in during the fourth quarter. Garet Goven hit Orion Malcolm with back-to-back- passes that covered a total of 45 yards to gert down to the Aggie 33-yard line. But the drive would stahl and the Aggies took over.

The Hi-Liner defense stopped the Aggies thanks to Bradley Smith who had a sack and two tackles for a loss on the drive. Vincent punted for the first time in the game and boomed a 47-yard punt to the Hi-Liner 26.

Layne Jorisson would start the drive with a 20-yard run, then he added an eight-yard scamper to get into V-D-A-G territory at the 46-yard line. But the fourth quarter clock would run out before the Hi-Liners could score again.

Valley City had 224 yards of total offense. Kriewald was 11 for 15 passing for 99 yards and a touchdown. Garet Goven was 2 for 5 for 45 yards and Lincoln Berg was 1 for 1 for four yards. Hunter Undem carried the ball ten times for 38 yards to lead the ground game. Tye Cordie and Orion Malcolm each had 47 yards receiving. Cordie did it with one catch and Malcolm did it in two. Andrew Sykora had six catches for 26 yards and a touchdown.

The Hi-Liners are on the road next week when they face number one Langdon Area-Munich.