Jax Johnson (Photo by Noah Clooten)
FARGO — In their first trip to the Dakota Bowl since 2020, the Langdon Area/Munich Cardinals trailed early.
“Keep our heads up,” sophomore wide receiver Eastyn Schaefer said. “Keep working. Work hard. And we just needed to lock in defensively.”
Defense was a big factor in getting LA/M to this point. The Cardinals had surrendered just 8.8 points per game entering Friday.
And they shut out Bottineau (11-2) in the second half, leading to a 29-14 Dakota Bowl victory for LA/M (13-0) at the Fargodome. The Cardinals earned their fourth Division A state championship in the last eight years, following three consecutive titles from 2018 to 2020.
“They’re all sweet,” said LA/M head coach Josh Krivarchka, who led those teams as well. “You look back, and the first one always is probably the most meaningful, because you’ve never won it before as a coach. But you get to this point; any state championship is pretty special.”
Bottineau struck first on a 31-yard touchdown pass to Landyn Grant. LA/M drove the ball to the Braves’ 11-yard line on its first drive. But Schaefer dropped a wide-open potential touchdown pass, forcing the Cardinals to turn it over on downs.
After back-to-back tackles for loss, including one by Theo Romfo, LA/M got Bottineau to punt it back.
“It’s hot in here,” Romfo said, sweating. “I mean, we haven’t played a game this hot for a couple months.”
It took all of one play for the Cardinals to score on their second possession. It came on a 48-yard pass — not from quarterback Jax Johnson, but from Schaefer. Tanner McDonald caught it and got in the end zone for the reception, slicing LA/M’s deficit to 7-6.
Schaefer said he played quarterback in middle school.
“We run that play every week in practice,” Schaefer said. “We just implemented it this week because we figured their corners bite up, so we just figured it would work. And Tanner McDonald made a great catch and great play.”
The Cardinals’ Maddux Stremick and Landon Schneider made back-to-back tackles for loss to end the first quarter.
But Bottineau found the end zone again early in the second, with a 22-yard pass down the right sideline to Landen Solberg and a full-throttle touchdown pass of 32 yards to Skylar Foster-Salois.
The Cardinals were behind 14-6. Bottineau quarterback Emerson Marum had only entered the day with a 53% completion rate, but he burned LA/M early with the passing game.
“We knew coming in that their quarterback was probably their best athlete,” Krivarchka said. “And credit to him. He made us run around and have to try to drag him down. Even when we were dragging him down, he was throwing the football. And you watch it on film; they made so many third and fourth-down plays during the season, and they kept doing it today, too. It’s almost freaky how often they made those conversions.”
The Cardinals punched back on an explosive dash by Romfo. Johnson made a short pass to him up the middle, and Romfo outmuscled the defender behind him to get loose and take it 67 yards to the house.
“I had a go,” Romfo said. “And I heard Coach K. on the sideline yell my name right before the snap. I’m like, ‘Okay. Jax, our QB, he’s gonna throw it to me. So just gotta catch it.’ And I was able to break it off for a touchdown. And it was just great.”
Johnson ran in for the two-point conversion, tying the game at 14 apiece.
An interception by Schaefer led to his own 20-yard touchdown reception on the next drive. LA/M grabbed a 21-14 lead before halftime.
The Cardinals’ defense made two gutsy stops in the second half. Bottineau converted pass plays of 20-plus yards on both drives, but each ended in a turnover on downs.
“Especially on the goal line, when we were able to stop them from scoring, it was great,” Romfo said.
The Braves never scored again after grabbing that 14-6 lead.
“We played a lot of ‘bend, but don’t break,’” Krivarchka said. “And our kids bent at times, but when it came down to it, they made plays.”
Stremick led LA/M with 6.5 tackles, while Keaton Ullyott had 3.5.
The Cardinals scored their lone touchdown of the second half early in the fourth quarter. Johnson had just been sacked, forcing a fourth-and-16 situation.
But Schaefer caught a 32-yard pass with a man on him. He got in the end zone for his second touchdown reception and third touchdown overall.
“He’s a competitor. He’s an athlete out there,” Krivarchka said. “And we expect him to make plays for us.”
Stremick caught a two-point conversion pass to extend the Cardinals’ advantage to 29-14. It was the score that held in the fourth LA/M state football championship win ever.
Johnson, who threw for 1,800 yards this season and rushed for another 1,613, won Division A Senior Athlete of the Year. From across the field, the Cardinals’ student section chanted “MVP! MVP!”
Johnson comprised a lethal senior running duo with Sam Davis all season.
“Our seniors leaders, they were very helpful,” Schaefer said. “They’re a good group.”
And then he added, with a smirk, “It kind of helps when you have the Senior Athlete of the Year on your team.”
The Cardinals had fallen short in the semifinals each of the last two years. This group got over the hump to go undefeated and bring a championship back to the area.
“Our team bonding,” Romfo said of what made this team special. “Everyone loves each other. We all play collectively for a goal at the end of the year, and we achieved it.”
