MOORHEAD-Moorhead's football team claims the Spuds do not talk about the past. That doesn't mean they don't think about it.
In their minds, when it comes to Brainerd, they see a 35-point shellacking at the hands of the Warriors last season and an overtime loss two seasons ago when the Spuds blew a 20-point lead at home.
Moorhead running back Mike Duginski didn't mince words about Friday's matchup with the Warriors.
"I wanted to beat them so bad," Duginski said. "It was stressed all week. We don't look at the past often, but it was in the back of our minds. We just wanted to get some revenge."
If the No. 4-ranked Spuds don't like the past, then they can talk about the present, as they moved to 5-0 with a 38-13 win over Brainerd on Friday. Duginski remembers the feeling of last season, losing 56-21 to Brainerd.
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"That was rough," Duginski said. "It was just one of those games where you just wanted to get out of there. You just wanted to go home. The bus ride was quiet. It was a horrible feeling."
Last season, Duginski wanted to get off the field to head home from Brainerd. Friday, he ran like he wanted to get off the field just as quickly.
Duginski rushed for 114 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries and hauled in three passes for 123 yards and two touchdowns on Friday. He started the Moorhead redemption with the first three touchdowns and put the exclamation point on it with his final touchdown in the middle of the fourth quarter.
"It's like on top of the world right now," Duginski said. "It's completely flipped from last year."
Moorhead punted on its first possession of the game, but would score on its next four in the first half.
Matt Bye found Duginski for a 43-yard touchdown pass with 2 minutes, 45 seconds left in the first quarter to open the scoring. After a Brainerd punt on the ensuing possession, Duginski went 51 yards for a touchdown on the next play. Brainerd answered with a punt and Duginski answered with a 62-yard touchdown catch from Bye.
"All week we were thinking about it," said Bye, who finished with 186 yards and two touchdowns through the air to go along with a rushing touchdown Friday. "We don't talk about the past much in our program, but it was there in the back of our minds. It meant a lot to get this win."
Moorhead took a 20-0 lead into halftime the last time the two met at Jim Gotta Stadium and saw it erased and turned into an overtime win for Brainerd. Friday, the Spuds took a 28-0 lead and never let go.
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"Overall, we knew it was going to be a dogfight," Moorhead coach Kevin Feeney said. "The kids executed the gameplan perfectly in the first half. We work all year long for eight games. I really challenged the kids to say we put too much dang work in this to not come around and fly around and have fun playing the game of football."
Brainerd answered a Brady Leach 37-yard field goal that put the Spuds up 31-0 with two unanswered touchdowns, but Duginski ended any hope with a 5-yard touchdown run with 7:54 left.
"It was a pretty quiet ride home," Bye said of last season's trip home after the loss to Brainerd. "It wasn't a good feeling. It's hung with us all offseason. We came out with an edge we haven't come out with all year tonight."
Brainerd 0 0 13 0-13
Moorhead 14 14 3 7-38
M-Duginski 43 pass from Bye (Leach kick)
M-Duginski 51 run (Leach kick)
M-Duginski 62 pass from Bye (Leach kick)
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M-Bye 5 run (Leach kick)
M-Leah 37 kick
B-Pederson 23 pass from Devine (Saxum kick)
B-Jevning 5 run (pass failed)
M-Duginski 5 run (Leach kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: B, Pederson 5-26, Rahn 18-41, Jevning 9-18. M, Bye 10-59, Weah 9-84, Duginski 14-114, Grove 3-11, Nichols 3-9, O'Connell 1-8.
PASSING: B Devine 5-12-0 62 yards. M, Bye 8-13-1 186 yards.
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RECEIVING: B, Peabody 2-16, Kline 1-17, Pederson 1-23, Jevnig 1-7. M, Duginski 3-123, Brandt 2-40, Weah 1-5, Nelson 1-12, Howell 1-6.
