Photo by Cameron Carlson
KINDRED — In a game that featured two heavyweight offenses grinding through sub-freezing temperatures, it all came down to a single kick.
The ball deflected off the Kindred kicker’s foot. It landed just past the playing field. It took a few small bounces, then came to rest, all alone in the grass.
Nobody bothered to retrieve it.
Instead, a flock of Firebirds exploded into mayhem around midfield. Kindred players stood, watching. Stunned. Those associated with both teams were in disbelief — a shot of euphoria fueling the Firebirds, the sting of defeat slaying the Vikings.
“This is everything we’ve dreamed of since we were little kids,” Devils Lake running back Bryar Exner said. “I was just filled with joy.”
When the dust settled, Devils Lake (9-2) earned its first trip to the Dakota Bowl since 2010. The Firebirds handed Kindred (10-1) its first loss of the season, pulling out a 28-27 stunner in overtime at Jerlow Field.
Each team scored after regulation. But the missed kick was the difference.
“It was a wild ending,” Firebirds head coach Todd Lambrecht said. “It came down to overtime. Kindred’s a great team. They’re coached so well, and our guys just stepped up. I’m happy for the boys. I am. They earned it.”
Exner led Devils Lake with 101 rushing yards unofficially, along with 27 receiving yards. He had three of the Firebirds’ four touchdowns.
But, what was billed as an offensive slugfest was instead a defensive showcase for most of the first half.
“They’re gonna break at some point,” Exner said. “As long as we keep working hard, they’ll break.”
Devils Lake had all the early momentum. Kade Fee snatched an interception, and two runs from Exner got the Firebirds in the end zone less than two minutes into the game.
Kindred leaned on its running game with Myles Thielges and Sawyer Hesse. The Vikings got a first down on their first full possession, but three incomplete passes forced them to punt it over.
Each team went three and out. Devils Lake had two possessions in a row without a first down.
Early in the second quarter, on fourth and nine from their own 39, the Firebirds faked a punt. Mason Palmer ran it all the way past midfield.
And so Devils Lake kept working. Will Heilman made a 12-yard reception. Single-yard runs from Palmer and Exner got it past the goal line.
Suddenly, the Firebirds looked just a little more comfortable. They led 14-0.
Kindred finally got on the board with a five-minute, 68-yard drive at the end of the half. Thielges had five carries, while Hesse had three. After a series of marginal gains, Gabe Whipple found Brooks Bakko wide open for a 33-yard touchdown pass.
Devils Lake got another chance but didn’t score. It clung to a 14-7 lead at halftime.
Luke Wasness had a big sack to help hold the Firebirds’ advantage.
“Our DBs played great in the passing, which was a big thing,” Exner said. “[The Vikings] ran the ball on us pretty good, but we stopped them when it mattered.”
As the contest wore on, the Vikings started to come to life. Most of their production wasn’t fueled by explosive plays, but rather, incremental gains from Hesse and Thielges. They opened the second half with a 70-yard drive that took up more than eight minutes of clock, with 10 plays combined for the Hesse-Thielges duo.
Kindred had it tied for the first time, 14-14, with 5:41 left in the third quarter.
And Devils Lake didn’t respond well. It went three and out.
“We told them it’s gonna be a nail-biter,” Lambrecht said. “We’re not gonna always get a first down. We have to just keep trudging.”
The Firebirds technically weren’t losing, but it sure felt like the game was slowly sliding out of their grasp, like a train wreck in ultra slow motion.
“They found an itch in their kangaroo that got us a little unbalanced,” Lambrecht said. “And we were kind of struggling.”
An enormous interception by Coby Dronen Levitt changed that. So Palmer and Exner went back to work from Devils Lake’s own 34. Weston Nelson caught a 15-yard pass to get inside Kindred’s 20.
Palmer threw one to Exner, who broke down the left sideline for a 14-yard touchdown run. He bobbled the ball in his arms for a moment before regaining control and rushing it into the end zone.
“I got lucky with that,” Exner said. “Thankful it landed right in front of me.”
Devils Lake could breathe a little, back up, 21-14.
But Kindred, of course, responded with a touchdown on its next drive. After a strong kick return by Hesse, eight combined carries for Thielges and Hesse helped tie it with less than three minutes left in regulation.
As the Firebirds tried to end it in the fourth quarter, Heilman had a pair of key catches, including a diving grab to get the ball to Kindred’s 26-yard line. But Devils Lake ran out of time on the clock.
So the teams went to overtime. High school ball has unique rules: Each team gets the ball from the opponent’s 10-yard line (but on the same side of the field, for convenience’s sake).
Devils Lake was up first.
“Ideally, we want to be on defense,” Lambrecht said. “I had to do a quick refresher [on the rules] myself, because the last time we played in overtime was when we played Wahpeton down there and went to nine overtimes.”
It took two plays to score. Exner carried it three yards, then caught a seven-yarder to find the end zone.
Then the Firebirds needed a stop.
And they almost got it.
Dronen Levitt tackled Hesse for a loss of one. Hesse got the yard back on the next play, so Kindred faced third and 10 with the game on the line.
Bakko burst for a carry of eight yards. On fourth and goal from the two-yard line, one more stop would have won the game the easy way — well, relatively easy.
Instead, Thielges snuck through for a two-yard touchdown run.
But the extra point wasn’t just a formality — Kindred needed it to stay alive. The Firebirds gave it all they had to block it.
And it worked.
“This game is played in inches,” Lambrecht said. “And millimeters, sometimes.”
Devils Lake now heads to its fifth Dakota Bowl in program history. It has never won a state title before.
The Firebirds will rematch with Minot North, whom they lost to by only six points during the regular season. It will be the third of four games on Friday in the Fargodome, with the slate starting around 9 a.m.
“They can throw, but they run the ball really well,” Lambrecht said of the Sentinels. “Our defense has to step up again and just slow them down. Get some stops. And then our offense has to click.”
Devils Lake was shut out for most of its last matchup with Minot North before nearly making a fourth-quarter comeback.
“We played a horrible game except the fourth quarter,” Exner said. “We’ve gotta use that and know how we can play against them.”
