So much for familiarity.
Moorhead and Bemidji met for the second time in seven days Tuesday, yet Spuds junior Tony Emmerich wasn't on the Lumberjacks' scouting report. In all honesty, he was barely on Moorhead's congested backfield depth chart.
In literally his first offensive action of the season, the junior carried five times for 81 yards, all in the third quarter, scoring a touchdown and a two-point conversion to ignite Moorhead after it had squandered another second-half lead.
The No. 3-seeded Spuds posted 23 points in 6 minutes, 33 seconds to beat the Lumberjacks 37-26 before 1,750 fans in the Minnesota Class 5A, Section 8 football quarterfinals at Jim Gotta Stadium.
"I don't know where he (Emmerich) came from," said Bemidji interim coach Tom Ryan, whose team snapped a 24-game losing streak earlier this season, "but his legs never quit and that was a big difference. When guys are in the pile breaking tackles - that's huge. It'll bury you as a team."
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Conversely, the effort saved the reeling Spuds (6-3).
In a matter of four plays, Moorhead lost captain Jay Thoreson, who aggravated the left ankle injury he had tried to protect by not dressing the previous two games, and the ball, fumbling on the Bemidji 1-yard line on the first possession of the second half. Just minute minutes later, the Spuds also gave up the lead as senior Nate Brown - playing with what coaches believed to be a broken hand - scored on a 16-yard run to give the Lumberjacks (3-6) a 19-14 lead.
Enter the enigmatic Emmerich.
The 5-foot-9, 175-pounder scored from 26 yards out four plays later and added the two-point conversion. He ended Bemidji's next drive with an interception, and ran for 48 yards and drew a 15-yard facemask penalty as Moorhead scored on the ensuing possession.
He added a second interception in the fourth quarter, falling on his face in exhaustion after securing the ball.
Emmerich wasn't used to carrying the ball, let alone a team.
"Guys were going down," said Emmerich, who had two carries for five yards all of last season. "I heard my name called and I stepped in."
"He gave us that spark," said Moorhead coach Rick Eidsness, whose team had lost three in a row at home. "He turned it around for us."
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Moorhead has apparently turned around its once anemic run game. The Spuds rushed for 255 yards, bringing their two-game total to 573. They ran for a total of 158 in their previous three games - all home losses - combined.
As coaches hoped they would, the ground gains reopened the air for senior quarterback Nick Stoltman, who threw three touchdown passes to bring his season total to 20, and receiver Jake Krause, who caught two of the scores and totaled 127 yards.
Now, the question is can Moorhead maintain the balance and the momentum against a team not named Bemidji?
The Spuds will play at Cambridge-Isanti (8-1) at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
"When we get that fire, when we get that spark, it's fun to watch," Eidsness said. "It's fun in football again and we needed that. And we got that momentum. We're feeling good and we're going to keep carrying that forward."
Bemidji 7 6 6 7-26
Moorhead 7 7 8 15-37
M-Krause 10 pass from Stoltman (Lien kick)
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B-Wallner 34 pass from Hengel (Hengel kick)
M-Thoreson 5 run (Lien kick)
B-Skerik 1 run (kick failed)
B-Brown 16 run (run failed)
M-Emmerich 26 run (Emmerich run)
M-Borgen 6 pass from Stoltman (Henne run)
M-Krause 66 pass from Stoltman (Lien kick)
B-Stevens 28 pass from Hengel (Skerik kick)
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: B, Brown 22-109, Skerik 8-10, Wallner 7-7, Hengel 1-2. M, Thoreson 11-65, Emmerich 5-81, Asplin 6-35, Henne 6-47, Werlinger 3-19, Stoltman 3-7, Smith 1-0, Ames 2-5, Wolford 1-(-6), Brammer 4-5, Lien 1-(-3).
PASSING: B, Hengel 9-22-4 176 yards, Brown 0-1-0 0. M, Stoltman 9-15-0 146.
RECEIVING: B, Wallner 4-101, Stevens 2-36, Sorby 2-23, Brown 1-16. M, Krause 6-127, Werlinger 1-5, Borgen 2-14.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Terry Vandrovec at (701) 241-5548
