By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The Otter Tail Central Bulldogs fell to 5-3 on the season with a tough 42-6 loss in Frazee on Wednesday night.

On a cool and wet night, the Frazee Hornets scored on the opening drive of the game on a 68-yard touchdown pass, before adding a second touchdown in the quarter through the air, this time from 10-yards out, to take a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. 

The Hornets took to the ground in the second quarter with three touchdown runs coming from 34-yards, 46-yards and 12-yards out to take a commanding 34-0 lead at halftime.

After a scoreless third quarter, Frazee added its sixth and final touchdown, this time on a 67-yard run to take a 42-0 lead. 

The lone Bulldog touchdown came on a 64-yard score by quarterback Braxtyn Cameron to make the score 42-6, where it would finally end.

Cameron went 1-6 passing for 35 yards with the lone completion going to Colton Eckman.

The Bulldogs were led offensively by William Schwartz who rushed 12 times for 97 yards, while Cameron rushed twice for 68 yards. Tystan Loghry rushed four times for 15 yards, while Reece Christensen rushed twice for 13 yards, Tayden Soma rushed six times for 12 yards, Barbre rushed one time for four yards and Anthony Rousu rushed one time for one yard. 

Defensively, the Bulldogs forced three Frazee turnovers, but gave up 7-9 conversions on third down and surrendered a lone fourth down attempt by the Hornets. 

Frazee outgained the Bulldogs in total offense 459-245, while Frazee passed for 149 yards through the air and rushed for 310 yards. 

OTC passed for just 35 yards, while rushing for 210 yards in the loss.

The Bulldogs will now turn their attention to the Section 6A playoffs where they will host fifth seeded Pine River-Backus on Tuesday night in Battle Lake. The Bulldogs come into the game with a QRF ranking of 20 as they average 22 points per game on offense, while surrendering 23.8 points per game on defense.

Pine River-Backus comes into the game with a QRF of 24 after finishing the season with a record of 3-5. They average 24.6 points per game on offense, while surrendering 31.8 points per game on defense.

The Tigers and Bulldogs do not have any common opponents this season, but Pine River-Backus defeated Nevis 52-20, Red Lake 70-0 and Spectrum 25-20, while falling to Park Christian 48-8, Red Lake County 46-6, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 39-14, Bagley 29-22 and Mahnomen/Waubun 52-0. 

The winner of Tuesday’s game will take on the winner of eighth seeded New York Mills and top seeded and sixth ranked Breckenridge, who is also the top ranked team in the QRF, on Saturday at the high seed.