The dust has settled a bit from No. 5 Devils Lake’s miraculous comeback win over No. 2 Jamestown. For the players involved, perhaps they’ve finally come down slightly from that high.
In any case, it was a statement win for the Firebirds. Here are three main takeaways from the evening.
They found a way to win without Bryar Exner
Beating the No. 2-ranked team in Division AA was going to be difficult no matter what. But take away Exner, the player who carried Devils Lake — literally — in its home opener against Watford City? On paper, it might have seemed like a hopeless effort.
But the Firebirds certainly didn’t think that way.
A big storyline from the night was the in-game improvement from Will Heilman, the sophomore running back who was plugged into Exner’s place. Heilman was a big part of the Devils Lake baseball team this past spring and summer, as only a freshman. He had previous running back experience, but had been playing wide receiver this year. Devils Lake elected to put him back in there, in place of Exner.
Early on, he looked fairly overmatched. Quarterback Mason Palmer handed it off to him several times, and he either made a very marginal gain or no gain at all. The Firebirds trailed 14-0.
But, to Heilman’s credit, he looked to grow more comfortable as the game wore on. Devils Lake didn’t give up in going to him, and it eventually paid off, with multiple first-down runs that helped the Firebirds grind their way back into the game.
By the time the team reached the postgame huddle, Heilman was one of the key figures head coach Todd Lambrecht was shouting out. Palmer, Heilman’s baseball and football teammate, was similarly complimentary of the work he did. Heilman did a progressively better job of finding open routes and coming up with gains.
Overall, it was really the multifaceted attack Devils Lake put forward that won it the game, despite a slow start and despite not having a weapon as explosive as Exner. Palmer had three separate touchdown runs, along with some critical passes to Oliver Wirth and Weston Nelson. Wirth displayed incredible strength and resilience, particularly on a play where he muscled his way through a pile for a gain of 18.
And once Heilman got going, things really started to click.
They proved the voters right
When Devils Lake first received its No. 5 ranking last week, there were likely some people who didn’t agree.
The Firebirds were unranked preseason. They lost their first game to a team in the division below them (albeit, Central Cass, one of the highest-ranked teams in said division). Then they beat a lowly Watford City team that hasn’t won more than two games in a season since 2017. And even in that win, despite a great defensive performance (only six points allowed) and a tremendous effort from Exner, their 26-point offensive performance felt underwhelming.
Then, most recently before the Jamestown game, they beat Valley City, a team that’s now 0-3. This was enough, the voters collectively decided, for Devils Lake to poke its way into the rankings.
In all reality, though, a loss to Jamestown likely would have dropped the Firebirds from the rankings this week. Their time in the top five might have been short-lived.
Instead, they all but assured a ranking this week — at least No. 5, if not higher. Beating the No. 2 team was exactly the type of statement they needed to stay afloat. And, fairly unsurprisingly, they moved up to No. 3 in the ranking released Monday evening. Jamestown moved down to No. 4.
So now, instead of being a 2-2, potentially unranked team, they’re 3-1 — the same record as Jamestown, and with the momentum on their side. They’ve won three consecutive games, which, for context, was their win total in each of the last two seasons. Devils Lake hasn’t had a winning season since 2017. One more win this year would tie its most in a season since then.
Now they get some well-deserved rest
Devils Lake gets a week to recharge before diving into the most important part of the season: region play.
When Lambrecht was talking to his players after the game on Friday, he told them that he was giving them Tuesday off. He said they should even do something besides think about football on Tuesday. It should be a nice break in the action for these players, and a satisfactory one at that, after they beat the No. 2-ranked team on its home turf.
Yet, despite the roaring and celebrating that occurred Friday night, the Firebirds aren’t getting too high on themselves just yet. Lambrecht still had a lot of criticisms, particularly regarding the defense and other individual things that he wants to clean up. It’s all part of the winning culture that Devils Lake is creating here: happy with the progress, but never satisfied.
The Firebirds have only played one home game so far this year. But on Sept. 27, they’ll return to Devils Lake for their homecoming game as they host Wahpeton.
The Huskies are 1-2 after recently beating the same Valley City team that Devils Lake beat to earn a ranking in the first place. Wahpeton started its season by losing to Kindred and Minot North. This week, Wahpeton plays Watford City, the team Devils Lake handled fairly easily at home in Week 2.
Devils Lake and Wahpeton will kick off at around 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 27, at Roller Field.
