Red Lake Falls senior's 39-yard touchdown helps propel team to victory

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Ben Knott didn't catch a pass all season.

The Red Lake Falls senior picked a good time to change that.

Knott got open on a broken play, hauling in a 39-yard touchdown in the first quarter. The play helped Red Lake Falls surprise No. 4-ranked Fosston 14-0 Friday night in the Minnesota Class 1A, Section 8 title game at the Alerus Center.

The Eagles, who lost in Week 5 41-29 to Fosston, move into the state tournament, taking with them an 8-3 mark.

"They kind of took it to us," Red Lake Falls coach Brian Remick said of the previous meeting. "We sort of used that as motivation -- we knew we were a better team than we showed."

Fosston, which had run its way to an unbeaten mark, ran into a wall Friday, finishing its play at 9-1.

"We expected a low-scoring game," Greyhounds coach Les Viken said. "We had a great season and the kids played hard and fought it out to the end."

The game didn't look as if it would be a low-scoring affair in the early stages.

Red Lake Falls marched right down the field on its opening drive. But the Greyhounds tightened up.

And that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

A furious Fosston rush put quarterback Jesse Gagner on the run. The senior rolled right, found nothing, rolled left and unleashed a 25-yard wobbler as he took a punishing blow.

Knott, alone by seven yards, waited and hauled in reception and ran the final 14 yards untouched.

"There's a reason we don't throw to him," Remick said with a grin.

But the Eagles are glad they did.

So is Knott, who added a second touchdown on the ground in the second quarter.

"I never thought that was going to get to me," Knott said of the pass. "It took forever."

While the end result might surprise some, it was no surprise to an excited Red Lake Falls team.

"We set a goal to make it here," Knott said. "When we got here we said it wasn't good enough. We knew we were the underdogs."

The Greyhounds were unable to get much of anything going all game. When they did, something went wrong.

"We just left the ball on the carpet too many times," Viken said. "And too many penalties."

Fosston 0 0 0 0-- 0

RLF 7 7 0 0--14

RLF--Knott 39 pass from Gagner (Largis kick)

RLF--Knott 15 run (Largis kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing: RLF, Vraa 18-58, Violette 9-55, Knott 15-49, Gagner 8-13, Swendra 2-2.

F, Marquis 16-85, Swenson 11-32, Sather 5-9, Arnold 1-(-3).

Passing: RLF, Gagner 3-7-1 57 yards.

F, Sather 2-10-0 25.

Receiving: RLF, Largis 2-18, Knott 1-39. F, Wille 1-15, Swenson 1-10.