FARGO-Through the first 24 minutes of Friday's North Dakota Class 3A football game between Fargo Davies and Minot, it appeared as though the Magicians would come away with a convincing road victory.
Minot enjoyed lopsided time of possession in the first half and held the lead at halftime against Davies-the team that defeated the Magicians in the state championship game last season.
The Eagles didn't allow Minot to run away, but the Magicians made just enough plays in the second half to post the 30-23 win at Davies High School.
"We had a really good first half, but we came out flat in the second," said Minot senior quarterback Ben Bolinske, who rushed for two touchdowns and passed for two scores in the game. "The big thing about that is we responded. That shows that we have heart. It's a grind and we finished the game out well."
After a scoreless first quarter, Minot (2-0) broke out in the second quarter. Bolinske found senior wide receiver Logan Bischof for a 5-yard touchdown on the first play of the second quarter and later scored on a 1-yard keeper.
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Senior place kicker Mason Hoffer kicked a 21-yard field goal as time expired in the first half to give No. 2-ranked Minot a 16-0 lead at halftime.
The second half began with Davies executing a 10-play, 66-yard drive that senior quarterback Tanner Boyanovsky completed with a 2-yard touchdown run followed by a 2-point conversion.
After holding Minot to a three-and-out, Davies marched to another score with senior fullback Conor Rayl scoring on a 2-yard run. Boyanovsky ran in the the 2-point conversion to tie the game 16-16.
The Eagles (0-2) had all the momentum until Minot answered with an 80-yard touchdown connection between Bolinske and Bischof on the first play of ensuing possession.
Bischof finished the night with eight catches for 160 yards and two touchdowns. The team's primary target senior all-state tight end Braydon Lund was targeted three times and only caught one pass.
"Ben is one of the best quarterbacks in the state and Braydon takes a lot of pressure off me," Bischof said. "Ben just found me and made a perfect throw."
Bolinske followed up Bischof's big catch with another 1-yard keeper early in the fourth quarter. Minot converted on fourth down twice during its second scoring drive of the second half.
"I was going through all my reads, and he ended up being open most of the time," Bolinske said. "I threw it to him and he capitalized. It was all set up for him I guess."
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Boyanovsky connected with senior tight end Deyton Slama for a 20-yard touchdown, but the Eagles were unable to get another game-tying score.
"I'm proud of the way we responded in the second half," Davies head coach Jason Thielges said. "We started to play more physical and were playing like the team we were a year ago. At the same time we made some errors on plays that we have practiced again and again. That's unacceptable, and hopefully we are ready to play like we know we can during our EDC games."
M 0 16 7 7-30
FD 0 0 16 7-23
M--Bischof 5 pass from Bolinske (Hoffer kick)
M--Bolinske 1 run (kick failed)
M--Hoffer 21 field goal
FD--Boyanovsky 2 run (Boyanovsky run)
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FD--Rayl 2 run (Boyanovsky run)
M--Bischof 8 pass from Bolinske (Hoffer kick)
M--Bolinske 1 run (Hoffer kick)
FD--Slama 20 pass from Boyanovsky (Cyr kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: M, Marler 14-80, Nagel 20-87, Bolinske 5-59, Mosser 7-46, Bischof 2-20, Wickum 1-3. FD, Arguelles 8-47, Boyanovsky 20-100, Baer 7-25, Rayl 6-29.
PASSING: M, Bolinske 9-18-0--174. Boyanovsky 5-10-1--61.
RECEIVING: M, Lund 1-14, Bischof 8-160. FD, Vetter 1-10, Arguelles 1-13, Baer 1-8, Slama 1-20, Runde 1-10.
