Ethan Hendrickson and Logan Torma combined to rush for 197 yards and four touchdowns in leading the Menahga football team to a 30-8 victory at Bagley in the season opener on Sept. 3.
“The win was so great for the team, coaches, family and community,” said Menahga head coach Kevin Sommers. “The first win feels great.”
Hendrickson’s 2-yard TD run, Torma’s 18-yard TD run and a safety by Connor Korvela gave the Braves a 16-0 lead after the first quarter.
A 5-yard TD run by Hendrickson and a 13-yard TD run by Torma in the second quarter extended Menahga’s advantage to 30-0 at the half.
An 88-yard TD by Bagley on the opening kickoff of the second half closed out the scoring.
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Hendrickson rushed 17 times for 104 yards while Torma rushed 15 times for 93 yards as the Braves compiled 229 yards on the ground. Aaron Pietila (three carries for 12 yards), Ryan Tolkkinen (five carries for 10 yards) and Dylan Rasmussen (three carries for 10 yards) also contributed to Menahga’s running attack. Tolkkinen completed both passing attempts for 13 yards with Korvela making both receptions. Leading the offensive attack were linemen Bodie Berttunen, Justin Gonska, Riley Sunstrom, Marcus Peterson and Cooper Hasbargen.
“Our game plan was to win the coin toss, take the ball and run it down the field, and get up early. That is exactly what we did,” said Sommers. “(The) Oline (offensive line) never gets enough credit. A huge reason why we won was our oline dominating the line of scrimmage. We pushed the Flyers around.”
Defensively, Brock Berttunen and Shawn Hendrickson were in on 12 tackles each with Toby Isola and Peterson contributing on eight tackles each. Isola, Peterson and Brock Berttunen had three tackles each behind the line of scrimmage with Berttunen recording two sacks and Hendrickson, Isola, Peterson and Korvela having one sack each.
In the other Week 1 games involving Section 6A teams, Ottertail Central defeated Breckenridge 22-8, Pine River-Backus blanked Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 44-0, New York Mills shut out Red Lake 43-0, Underwood was shut out by Pelican Rapids 42-0 and Lake Park-Audubon lost to Ada-Borup West 32-14.
The Braves travel to Wadena-Deer Creek this Friday night (Sept. 10).
