On September 29th the West Fargo Packers beat the St. Mary Saints with a score of 34-27 to move to a 2-4 record.
From the start of this game, it was a defensive battle, as the Packers were able to pick up a fumble early in the game setting the offense up near the redzone; however, the Saints held strong, forcing a turnover on downs. After a couple punts back and forth, Jack Guscette came up with a huge interception, giving the offense great field position once again, which they were able to capitalize on with an inside zone run to Leyton Hofland for the touchdown. Leyton would also run in the 2-point conversion to put the Packers up 8-0. Near the end of the quarter, a bobbled pass fell into the hands of a St. Mary’s defender who took it back for a touchdown, making the score going into the 2nd quarter 8-6.
Most of the 2nd quarter was dominated by the two defenses, highlighted with a 60-yard punt by Carter Dauner. Late in the second Tony Leal took over, catching a nice slant route, then mossing three defenders on the Packers way into the redzone. The homecoming king Jesse Ramirez finished off the drive with a great catch, with a defender all over him. The 2- point try would be no good making the score 14-6 Packers.
Coming out of the half, it was all Leyton Hofland, with him breaking off a big run and punching it in after a few more plays, giving the packers a comfortable 20-6 lead. St. Mary’s would answer back next drive though, with a very nice 6-minute drive resulting in a touchdown. On the ensuing kickoff, the Packers would fumble and give St. Mary’s the ball on the 20 yard- line. St Mary’s would capitalize off the turnover, throwing a back shoulder fade to the endzone, the extra point would be good, tying the game at 20-20. The Packers would fumble once again on the kickoff, giving the Saints the ball at the 30-yard line. St Mary’s would throw another back shoulder fade, to smack the Packers in the mouth and go up by 7. After Isaac Blotsky got subbed in on the kickoff, the offense would continue the trend, fumbling on their drive, making it 3 fumbles in a row.
At the start of the 4th quarter, the defense was able to come up big, stopping the Saints and giving the offense a chance to answer back, which they did on a Tony Leal catch and run, catching the pylon on his way to the endzone. Leyton would take a pitch play to the outside on the 2-point conversion, giving the Packers the one-point lead. The defense would once again come up big, with Carter Raun dropping into coverage and knocking down a pass into Jack Guscette’s hands for his second interception of the day, putting the game on ice. The Packers would score one more time and walk out of homecoming with a nailbiter win.
Once again, the turnovers killed the Packers, coughing up the ball 4 times with 21 of St. Mary’s points coming directly from turnovers. Ultimately, if this team can clean up the turnovers, they can make a deep playoff run. The defense has improved drastically since the first 2 games, and the offense has found its footing. Overall, it was a fun win for homecoming, but we’ll be waiting to see if the Packers can fix their mistakes going into Friday, October 6th’s game against the Mustangs.