William Schwartz rushed for 120 yards and a touchdown during Friday’s district football game against New York Mills.

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Otter Tail Central ran nearly twice as many plays as New York Mills, gained nearly twice as many yards and had twice as many first downs as the Eagles on Friday night, and yet the Bulldogs needed to intercept a pass near the end zone late in the fourth quarter to secure a 22-14 win over the Eagles.

Todd Bjerke catches a Braxtyn Cameron pass and races down the field during Friday’s road game against the Eagles.

The Bulldogs fell victim to three costly turnovers, as well as a 60-yard kick off return for a touchdown by the Eagles that kept them in the game until the end.

The Bulldogs opened the scoring in the first quarter when Braxtyn Cameron found Ryan Despard on a 24-yard touchdown pass to make the score 6-0. The two-point conversion failed to leave the score at 6-0.

The score remained 6-0 until Tayden Soma found the end zone on a 13-yard run in the third quarter. The two-point conversion was successful to leave OTC in front 14-0. 

Braxtyn Cameron, Tayden Soma and Steven Mills break up a pass late in the first half of Friday’s game against New York Mills.

On the subsequent drive, NY Mills’ Finn Roder scored on a 63-yard scamper down the sidelines to cut the lead to 14-6 after the point after attempt failed.

William Schwartz gave OTC a bit of breathing room in the fourth quarter when he scored on a one-yard run and the two-point conversion was successful to put OTC in front 22-6.

On the subsequent kickoff, Roder found the end zone for the second time as he scored on a 60-yard kickoff return. The two-point conversion was successful to set up a wild finish with the score 22-14. 

Late in the game, NY Mills found itself knocking on the doorstep of the end zone when the Bulldogs picked off a pass late in the fourth quarter to preserve the 22-14 win and improve OTC to 2-0 on the season. 

Ryan Despard caught two long passes on Friday night, including a touchdown grab to help give the Bulldogs a 22-14 win over the Eagles.

Schwartz led the way offensively as he rushed 21 times for 120 yards and a touchdown, while Soma rushed 12 times for 56 yards and a touchdown. Reece Christensen rushed six times for 52 yards, Cameron rushed six times of 32 yards and Anthony Rousu rushed one time for four yards.

Cameron went 5-6 for 95 yards, a touchdown and an interception through the air. 

Despard caught two passes for 68 yards and a touchdown, while Todd Bjerke caught two passes for 21 yards and Schwartz caught one pass for six yards.

As a team, OTC finished with 359 yards of total offense including 95 yards through the air and 264 yards on the ground. They also finished with 17 first downs and were 7-10 on third down.

NY Mills on the other hand, finished with 182 yards of total offense including 25 yards through the air and 157 yards rushing. They also finished with eight first downs and went 1-6 on third down.

This week the 2-0 Bulldogs will hit the road as they will travel to Wadena-Deer Creek in district action. 

WDC comes into the game averaging just eight points per game on offense, while surrendering 27.5 points per game on defense. The Wolverines are 1-1 on the season after defeating Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 8-0 in the opening game of the season, before falling to Lake Park-Audubon by a score of 55-8 last week. 

OTC is averaging 22 points per game on offense, while surrendering 16 points per game on defense.