FARGO - The silence in the two-hour van ride back from Alexandria, Minn., is what Mahnomen football coach John Clark Jr. will remember. After 39 straight victories and two straight Minnesota Class 1A state titles worth of banter and laughing in that van, the silence was deafening.
"Our coaches take a van separately from the team bus," Clark Jr. said. "It was one of the quietest drives I've ever been in."
It was Nov. 8, 2014, in the Class 1A state quarterfinals when Dawson-Boyd beat Mahnomen 34-20. Mahnomen entered that game winning by an average of 40 points in the previous 11 victories. In the state title run in 2013, the Indians won by an average of 42 points with eight shutouts. The 2012 state title run featured 14 wins by an average of 35 points with eight shutouts. The streak of 39 straight wins-the longest active winning streak in Minnesota-was over.
There was nothing left to say.
But Clark Jr. had to do something he hadn't done since Mahnomen lost to Dawson-Boyd in the 2011 state championship 35-20. He had to address his players after a loss.
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"I told them you're not defined by one game," Clark Jr. said. "It's your body of work. I thanked them for their service. It was a different feeling. You're not quite sure how to react."
Not until the loss, when there was no streak, was Clark Jr. and his staff fully able to comprehend what they had just done.
"I know as a coaching staff we talked a lot about how everybody thinks it's so easy," Clark Jr. said. "It's not easy. That was one hell of a ride. We hoped that our kids realized that too. It was an amazing accomplishment. It looked and sounded easy for a lot of people in our community, but it's not. It's not something that happens too often."
The 39-game winning streak only trailed Mahnomen's 44-game winning streak in the early '90s, Minneota's 48 in a row in the late '80s, and Stephen-Argyle's 76 in a row from 2003-08 in Minnesota history. Minneapolis Washburn also went 58-0-2 from 1966-73.
After the loss, Mahnomen went back to work. The last time the Indians had lost two games in a row was when they lost in the section championship in 2008 and opened the 2009 season with a loss. In the 77 games since, the Indians have never lost two games in a row.
They made sure of it, opening this season with a 53-0 win over Pillager and a 50-0 win over Fertile-Beltrami. The Indians have given up a total of 153 yards in those two games.
"(The loss) puts things in perspective," Clark Jr. said. "After our first game, we said, 'Well, that's one in a row.' I know for this year's team there's this look forward to the playoffs to try to redeem ourselves. We are stressing to them that we can't look at the end. We have to build this week by week."
