GRAND FORKS - Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton coach Anthony Soderberg said the high school football matchup between the Rebels and East Grand Forks Senior High seems to go in cycles.
It all depends who has the experienced upperclassmen in any given year.
On Friday night, D-G-F had that distinction.
The Rebels took advantage of three turnovers, including Chad Johnson's 70-yard interception return for a touchdown, to beat the Green Wave 20-6 at Senior High field.
"Last year, we were inexperienced and young and they had the senior-led line and senior quarterback," Soderberg said. "They lost all those guys, so they're inexperienced and young now and we're all back. I think we were just older and stronger."
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The Rebels turned the tide in two plays early in the second quarter. Tanner McManus picked off a Trevor Selk pass and returned it to the EGF 36. On the next play, Zack Nelson lofted a pass high for Dylan Berggern, who reeled it in for a 14-0 lead with 9:45 to play in the half.
Johnson's long pick return on a pass by EGF's Austin Filipi in the third quarter pushed the lead to 20-0.
The Green Wave cut the lead within two scores early in the fourth quarter when Tye Ausmus scored from 5 yards out. Ausmus led the Green Wave with 60 yards on 15 carries.
But EGF's two interceptions and one fumble were too much to overcome.
"Our defense played well," Soderberg said. "When we were fresh and not tired, we were good. We couldn't get in much conditioning this week with the heat, so we were tired in the second half."
The teams were given one timeout per quarter to break for water due to the heat.
"There was no verbal complaining from our guys, but there were hands on hips and body language," Soderberg said. "It's tough when can't condition like you'd like before the game."
D-G-F was led by Johnson's 80 rushing yards and Nelson's 108 passing yards.
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EGF coach Scott Oliver said the turnovers were big, but he said he saw plenty of correctable mistakes.
"That stuff comes with a team that doesn't have a lot of experience," Oliver said. "I wasn't really happy with our discipline. It was a lot of little things. Our execution needs to be better. We would move the ball and then self-destruct. But I really liked our grit. We kept battling and kept competing."
DGF 6 8 6 0-20
EGF 0 0 0 6-6
DGF-Johnson 1 run (kick failed).
DGF-Berggren 36 pass from Nelson (Fuchs pass from Nelson).
DGF-Johnson 71 interception return (kick failed).
EGF-Ausmus 5 run (kick failed).
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Miller writes for the Grand Forks Herald
