Mason Hammer rushes through a big hole during last week’s game against Frazee. Hammer finished the game with a pair of touchdown runs and led the team with 97 yards rushing. 

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The last 7 minutes of Friday night’s game between Otter Tail Central and Frazee featured some of the highest highs and lowest lows on the field. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs came up just short in their quest to down the Frazee Hornets on homecoming night as Frazee defeated OTC by a score of 29-26. 

Trailing by a score of 21-20, the Bulldogs picked off Frazee quarterback Carter Sonnenberg on a second and short deep in OTC territory with just 6:44 left in the game. The Bulldogs worked the ball down the field and had fourth and goal from the 1-yard line when Mason Hammer ran up the middle for a touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 26-21 lead with just 3:21 left in the game. The touchdown was Hammer’s second of the game as the senior rushed for a team-high 97 yards on 19 carries.

Chris Fronning looks for a block during a kick return last week. 

On the following possession, Frazee converted several long plays, including a long pass from Sonnenberg to the OTC 15-yard line, with just over 1 minute remaining in the game. Sonnenberg completed another pass to give the Hornets a first and goal with just over 30 seconds left from the 4-yard line. 

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Frazee running back Jake Nagel scored on a 4-yard run with just 4 seconds left in the game to put the Hornets in front for good by a score of 27-26. Frazee converted the two-point conversion to put them in front by a score of 29-26. 

A long pass down the sideline on the subsequent possession fell incomplete to give Frazee a 29-26 upset win over OTC in Henning. 

Hammer scored the first touchdown of the night in the first quarter when he scored on a 2-yard run. 

Nagel scored his first of four touchdowns in the game in the second quarter when he tied the game at 6-6 on a 31-yard run. He put the Hornets in front by a score of 14-6 later in the quarter when he scored on a 55-yard run and converted the two-point conversion.

Photo by Chad Koenen
Bricker Bladow rushed for 48 yards on 10 carries during Friday’s 29-26 loss to Frazee in Henning. 

Mason Dalluge made the score 14-12 in favor of Frazee when he caught a 42-yard touchdown pass from Jack Mekalson later in the quarter. The two-point conversion failed leaving the score at 14-12 heading into halftime.

OTC took the lead in the third quarter when Owen Buehler caught a 4-yard pass from Mekalson. Hammer converted the two-point conversion to make the score 20-14 heading into the fourth quarter.

That’s when Nagel scored his third touchdown of the game, this time on a 6-yard run. The point after kick was good to give Frazee a 21-20 lead, which set up the exciting final minutes of football on Friday night. 

Mekalson led the way passing for the Bulldogs by going 4-10 for 118 yards and 2 touchdowns. Buehler was on the receiving end of 2 of those completions for 70 yards and a touchdown, while Dalluge caught 1 pass for 42 yards and a touchdown and Hammer caught 1 pass for 6 yards. 

In addition to Hammer, Bricker Bladow rushed 10 times for 48 yards. 

As a team the Bulldogs had 268 of total offense, compared to 365 yards for Frazee. The Hornets finished with 277 yards on the ground, compared to 150 yards rushing for OTC. Each team had just 1 turnover. 

This week the Bulldogs will travel to Parkers Prairie in their regular season finale. The Panthers come into the game with a record of 2-5 overall after losing to New York Mills by a score of 32-18 on Friday night. Their two wins have come against Roseau by a score of 36-14 and Underwood by a score of 50-22. They also have losses against Frazee by a score of 13-8, Breckenridge by a score of 27-8, Pelican Rapids by a score of 6-0 and Osakis by a score of 45-0. 

The Panthers come into the game averaging 17.1 points per game on offense, while giving up 22.7 points per game on defense.

The Bulldogs are averaging 32.7 points per game on offense, while giving up 17.3 points per game on defense.

The game will be an important one in a log jammed Section 6A.

NY Mills currently leads the Section 6A standings with a record of 6-1 and QRF ranking of 7, while Breckenridge is in second place with a record of 5-2 and a QRF ranking of 18. OTC is in third place with a record of 5-2 and a QRF ranking of 20, Pine River-Backus is currently in fourth place with a record of 5-2 and QRF ranking of 25, Menahga is in fifth place with a record of 4-3 and a QRF ranking of 27, Lake Park-Audubon is in sixth place with a record of 3-4 and a QRF ranking of 35, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley is in seventh place with a record of 2-5 and a QRF ranking of 46 and Underwood is in eighth place with a record of 0-7 and a QRF ranking of 55.