By Matt Kane
Sports Editor
PERHAM — It took some time for the Tigers to stretch their legs after a nearly four hour bus ride to Perham Friday night, but when those legs were loose Delano ran over and past the Yellowjacket defense for a 34-12 non-Wright County Conference win.
The Tigers and Yellowjackets were locked in a close battle until the fourth quarter when Delano scored 20 unanswered points.
“It took us awhile to get going. I don’t care what anybody says, you get off a bus after four hours, you are going to be a little bit stale, and we were,” Delano coach Merrill Pavlovich said. “From about the midpoint of the third quarter and through the fourth quarter we controlled the game. We controlled the line of scrimmage, and we made some adjustments on defense.”
Clinging to a 14-12 lead after Perham scored on its opening drive of the second half, Delano’s offense took over at its own 38-yard line with 5:50 to play in the third quarter.
The Tigers used up the rest of the third quarter, and, after switching ends of the field, on a fourth-and-four play from the Perham 9-yard line, Delano quarterback Matt Shaver dumped a pass over the line to Jake Raskob. The receiver sidestepped would-be tacklers to the end zone.
Raskob’s touchdown catch gave Delano a 20-12 lead.
The extra-point try by kicker John Max sailed wide right, meaning the difference in the game was a touchdown and a two-point conversion.
Perham never got the chance to go for another two-point conversion, as Delano’s defense barely allowed the Yellowjackets to cross midfield.
Perham’s ensuing drive, following the Raskob touchdown, began at its own 36-yard line. The Yellowjackets used up 4 minutes, and 28 seconds of the game clock, but ended up gaining just 14 yards. Perham got the ball to the Delano 40-yard line, but two negative yardage plays and a penalty pushed the ball back to the 50.
On second-and-10 from the 40-yard line, Tiger linebacker Mac Alger tackled Nathan Schmitz for a four-yard loss. An incomplete pass and a false start pushed the ball back to the 49-yard line, and, on fourth down, Schmitz was tacked for a one-yard loss to end a key possession for the Yellowjackets.
The fourth down play was supposed to be a pass, but Perham quarterback Ben Bucholz pitched the ball to Schmitz as he was being tackled by Delano defensive end Eric Dahl.
“He liked to roll to the outside, so we kept him inside so he could only step up,” Dahl said of pressuring Bucholz. “We knew we had to stop them. One score and they could tie the game, so it was vital.”
Dahl didn’t have an official sack, but his defensive line mates compiled five. Justin Collins and Dillon Semolina each had two, and Tony Turnquist had one.
Delano’s offense rewarded its defense for the early fourth quarter stand by giving it a bigger cushion to work with via a touchdown.
After the first two plays of the drive went for a total of five yards, Shaver went to the air and, again, found Raskob, this time for a 45-yard scoring strike. Max’s extra point was good, and Delano could breath a sigh of relief with a 27-12 lead.
The touchdown pass was Shaver’s fourth of the game. He completed nine of 13 pass attempts for 171 yards, with the four touchdowns and one interception.
“I had a lot of time on those touchdown passes. I could see where my receivers were. Good blocking up front,” Shaver said.
Pavlovich was not surprised by Shaver’s passing efficiency.
“Matt could always throw the ball. He’s got to work on his composure at quarterback, and that comes with experience,” the coach said. “He’s getting better every game. He threw an I-N-T, but he came back with a big run, pulling it down for a first down on a broken play, and he played really well, tonight.”
The performance came despite some early butterflies the quarterback admitted having.
“I was kind of nervous coming into it,” Shaver said. “It was a long bus ride, and a longtime to think. I got a feel for it as the game went on.”
Shaver’s favorite receiver, Raskob, finished with four catches and 106 yards receiving to go along with the two touchdowns.
Darius Clare caught the other two touchdowns, and finished with 48 yards, all coming on the two catches.
The Tigers weren’t finished after the second Shaver-to-Raskob connection.
After Delano’s defense stopped Perham’s offense on fourth down at the Yellowjacket 37-yard line, the Tiger offense covered those 37 yards in six plays.
Sophomore fullback Will Finn finished Delano’s final possession with an 18-yard touchdown run on fourth down and one to go. Max’s extra point set the game score at 34-12 with just 39 seconds to play in the game. Perham conceded the game, kneeling the ball on the final snap.
The touchdown, for Finn, was the first of his varsity career, and the 18 yards it covered put him over the 100-yard mark for the game. Finn finished with 101 yards rushing on 20 carries.
Pavlovich credits the entire backfield for Finn’s success.
“You can’t take anything away from (Jake) Gleason and (Darius) Clare, they blocked well tonight, allowing Finn to get some big carries,” he said. “Finn had a good night.”
Delano gained 185 yards total on the ground, and, with Shaver’s 171 yards through the air, finished with 356 total yards.
The Tiger defense was not out-staged by its offense. Delano gave up 203 yards of total offense to Perham. Schmitz was responsible for 100 of those yards on 19 carries. Bucholz threw 17 times, completing 10 passes for 81 yards and one touchdown.
Whereas the fourth quarter belonged to the Tigers, the first three quarters made for a competitive game.
Delano held a 14-6 lead at halftime, but that lead was quickly shrunk when Perham took the opening drive of the second half to the end zone. The drive covered 69 yards in 10 plays, and took almost six minutes off the clock.
Schmitz, the Yellowjackets’ hard-running fullback, and all-time leading tackler on defense, finished the drive with a three-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion attempt, which could have tied the game, failed, leaving Delano in front 14-12.
In the first half, the Tigers scored first on the first of Shaver’s four touchdown passes. After getting behind the defense on the right sideline, Clare was the recipient from 22 yards out on a second-and-11 play. The Max kick gave Delano a 7-0 with 10:22 to play in the second quarter.
Perham answered back with its first-half touchdown with 5:34 to play in the half.
Bucholz kept the play alive by scrambling around the strong pressure put on by the Delano defensive front. He finally stepped up in the pocket, and found a wide open Ben Karsnia for a 33-yard scoring play. The two-point pass play failed, leaving the Yellowjackets trailing by one, 7-6.
The possession was the result of a Schmitz interception of Shaver. Schmitz returned the ball 34 yards to the Delano 30-yard line.
The first half ended on the heels of the second touchdown hookup between Shaver and Clare. The flight of the Shaver pass mirrored the full rainbow in the eastern. Clare tiptoed the sideline all the way to the pot of gold in the end zone. The fourth down and 15 play covered 26 yards. It came with 52 seconds to play in the first half.
Both of Delano’s first half touchdown drives covered 74 yards.
The win improved Delano’s overall record to 2-0, which sounds so sweet to the players.
“Two wins; twice as many as last year,” Dahl said. “It feels good. It’s always better to win than lose.”
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