WACONIA – It’s a long drive back to Bemidji from Waconia. Luckily for the Bemidji High School football team, Wednesday night’s matchup against the Wildcats was wrapped up before the two-hour mark. The Lumberjacks dispatched the Wildcats 20-0 in one of the more efficient, complete showings of the year to cap off the regular season “We were trying to be efficient, we’ve got a four-and-a-half-hour ride,” head coach Bryan Stoffel quipped.
“That has to be right up there – I don’t remember a game going that fast.” Things went right for Bemidji right from the jump. Two weeks ago, the Jacks found themselves down 14-0 to Alexandria before they took a snap on offense.
Last Saturday, Brainerd scored an 80-yard touchdown against Bemidji on the first play from scrimmage. Finally, the Lumberjacks flipped the script. Waconia fumbled on the first play of its opening drive and senior Hudson Pink recovered, handing BHS possession just outside the red zone.
“It completely sets the tone,” Stoffel said. “That was the challenge we talked about pregame, is that we’ve had two horrendous starts in Alexandria and Brainerd and it’s our time to get a really good start. And I think we had a great start to the game with that series.
” The Jacks scored just a few plays later, recovering a fumble in the endzone to take a quick 7-0 lead – though it’s not exactly clear which player secured the ball. “That is the mystery of the night,” Stoffel said. The Wildcats looked in.