FARGO – The shocker Thursday was not that No. 1-ranked Mahnomen rolled Fosston 48-7 in the Minnesota Section 8A title game at the Fargodome. The shocker was the Indians were actually losing.
After Mahnomen took a 6-0 lead thanks to a 15-yard touchdown run from Mitch Foss on the opening drive of the game, Fosston answered two plays later with an 80-yard touchdown run from Sam Manecke and the extra point put Fosston up 7-6.
“Win the next play,” said Foss, who finished with 151 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries. “Always win the next play.”
The next play was a 1-yard run by quarterback Tom Pavek, but the play after was a 76-yard touchdown run by Foss. For 39 seconds Mahnomen (11-0) trailed. It was just the third time in the Indians’ 39-game winning streak they had been trailing.
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“There was no panic,” Mahnomen coach John Clark Jr. said. “I think our guys understand it’s one play. It’s actually good for us in a way. We need that.”
Mahnomen responded with 42 unanswered points and the Indians’ fifth straight section championship.
There’s no panic or fear on the Mahnomen sideline, except for the cheerleaders. They do jumping jacks for each point after every score. They did 70 jumping jacks in the first quarter and 190 for the game.
“They started that, not us,” Clark Jr. said. “Guys try to take some pride in making them do those jumping jacks. To be honest, we’ve been pretty nice to them. It could have been worse.”
Between Pavek and Foss there was 306 yards and four touchdowns on 18 carries. At this point, Mahnomen barely cracks a smile over a section title.
“We treat it as a tradition here at Mahnomen,” Pavek said. “We fight through everything and keep going through each year. There’s pressure, but we just take it game by game and focus each week on what we have to do to win each game. It’s been working for us.”
Mahnomen scored on all six possessions in the first half, and had over 300 yards rushing with 8 minutes, 57 seconds to go in the second quarter. After Fosston took a 7-6 lead with 8:39 to go in the first quarter, the Greyhounds picked up 54 yards of offense and three first downs for the rest of the half.
“It is a big deal, but we treat it as another game and we just move on to the next game,” Pavek said.
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Mahnomen is eyeing a familiar foe in the Class 1A quarterfinals. The Indians will play the winner of today’s game between Dawson-Boyd and Canby. Dawson-Boyd is the last team to beat Mahnomen in the 2011 Class 1A state title game. The Indians got redemption in the 2013 state championship game, rolling D-B 46-13.
“We’ve kept our eye on them and they’ve kept their eye on us,” Clark Jr. said. “It’d be a good battle. Get the rubber match out of the way.”
Mahnomen certainly has no plans to lose anytime soon.
“We’ll lose again,” Foss said. “Just not now. We’re going to win another state title.”
