DETROIT LAKES, Minn. - Leave it to a brazenly forgetful teenager to ruin what was supposed to be a night to remember for the Detroit Lakes football program.
After throwing an interception on Moorhead's first offensive play of the season, senior quarterback Nick Stoltman completed 11 of his next 13 passes, including eight in a row, to five different receivers for 114 yards and two fourth-down scores.
He led the Spuds to touchdowns on three consecutive drives in the first half en route to a 36-7 victory against the Lakers and eight decades of assembled alumni on a warm, still Friday night at Mollberg Field.
"Being a quarterback you can't have a conscience, you can't have a memory," said the 6-foot, 175-pound Stoltman, who finished 14-for-21 with 154 yards. "I came out and I threw that one up for grabs and he got it, but I came out the next drive and hit my guy on the numbers."
Of course, that was one play. Detroit Lakes will try to purge the entire game from memory.
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In their last game against the Spuds (1-0) until at least 2008, the Lakers (0-1) fumbled four times and threw two interceptions.
The giveaways, combined with Moorhead's bruising offensive line, led to a crippling discrepancy in time of possession as the Spuds held the ball for 13 of 16 minutes at one point.
"We'd like to play better for our alumni that came back, but Moorhead had a lot to do with that," said Lakers coach Flint Motschenbacher, whose team had been within one score of the Spuds in the previous five meetings. "And we hurt ourselves a little bit, but we have to live with it."
It didn't help that Detroit Lakes was also without a pair of injured starting tackles, one the victim of a freak bicycle peddling accident, but it may not have mattered given the way Stoltman and his stable of options performed.
His ability to get outside the pocket to keep a play alive led to the fourth-down scores, one from 14-yards out to Nathan Borgen, the second a 7-yard flip to Zach Stetz, who later left the game with an injured knee.
The Spuds also ran for more than 175 yards and the defense gave up only 35 yards in the first half when, for all intents and purposes, the rivalry officially ended.
"You couldn't script it out any better," said second-year Moorhead coach Rick Eidsness, who also opened last season by beating the Lakers. "Everything just fell into place our kids were ready, they played well, they did a good job. And not to take anything away from Detroit Lakes, but our kids just did a good job."
Moorhead 8 14 7 7-36
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Detroit Lakes 0 0 7 0- 7
M-Borgen 14 pass from Stoltman (Stoltman run)
M-Stetz 2 pass from Stoltman (Smith kick)
M-Ames 9 run (Smith kick)
M-Ames 43 run (Smith kick)
DL-Haggart 1 run (Kippen kick)
M-Thoreson 2 run (Smith kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
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RUSHING: M, Thoreson 12-42, Ames 7-62, Stetz 3-7, Stoltman 6-(-4), Wolford 1-1, Asplin 3-15, Werlinger 1-34, Van Dyke 6-16, Lien 2-5. DL, Haggart 13-35, Schiller 6-10, Gunderson 7-29, Griffin 1-2, Seaworth 3-9, Provo 1-2.
PASSING: M, Stoltman 14-21-2 154 yards. DL, Schiller 9-19-2 102.
RECEIVING: M, Krause 6-69, Borgen 2-41, Thoreson 2-11, Smith 2-17, Stetz 2-16. DL, Haggart 3-25, Harms 2-10, Provo 2-33, Klein 1-21, Simmons 1-13.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Terry Vandrovec at (701) 241-5548
