Grand Forks Red River defeats Bismarck-St. Mary’s in state quarterfinals – Grand Forks Herald

GRAND FORKS — The clock struck zero for halftime at Cushman Field, and Grand Forks Red River headed to the locker room with a 41-0 lead over Bismarck St. Mary’s in the state quarterfinals.

The referees convened and ruled that St. Mary’s called a timeout with nine seconds remaining.

What followed summed up the Roughriders’ dominance in the first round of the playoffs, which ended in a 41-13 victory for Red River (10-0): Saints defensive end Jacoby Grimm took a snap and dropped back to make a pass. He fired a floater that hit Red River’s Carter Flom in the chest.

Flom proceeded to make the interception, then went down the middle of the field to celebrate with his teammates.

“He was running,” Flom said, “and I just saw him throw the ball and I had to go after him. It was really fun to go and celebrate on the sidelines.”

Red River put up 302 yards of offense in the first half with their starters sitting out the second half.

“The game went the way I hoped it would,” Red River coach Virn Muir said. “Just to control both sides of the line of scrimmage, take some things away from them. I know they’ve got some injuries that they’re dealing with, but just to limit their possession, not let them have the ball. We scored in all our races.

“You can’t script a better game than we did in the first half. I’m just proud of our guys for performing the way we did. To be able to come out of this game healthy is huge. We play again at home next week, very pleased with everything we were able to do tonight and achieve.”

Quarterback Pierce Parks was 13-for-16 for 188 yards and three touchdowns in the rain in the first half.

Just before the interception, Flom caught a 17-yard pass from Parks that gave Red River a 41-point halftime lead.

Parks also found Cam Klefstad for a 7-yard touchdown and Kaden Mackie for a 24-yard pass. Maki nearly scored another 32-yarder, but was ruled out at the 1-yard line. That led to Thomas Craft’s second touchdown of the first half after scoring Red River’s first of the night.

“They couldn’t stop any of those zone routes,” Mackey said. “Pierce was throwing really good balls, so I could just get out in open space, make my moves and show them I’m mobile.”

On the other end, Saints running back Jacoby Grimm finished the first half 2-for-10 for six yards. The Saints had 23 yards of total offense to open the game.

The Roughriders unleashed a new drive to open the second half. Sophomore defensive end Reese Walters, the younger brother of South Dakota State commit JB Walters, stepped in for Parks. Matt Dosch also saw playing time alongside the likes of Max Mannausau, Noah Brandvold, Ray Dusek, Reid Krogstad and Eddie Rogers.

“It’s a great memory for them,” Muir said. “Everybody thinks we just show up and want to win football games…but you try to teach life lessons with sports because sports is a great place to experience failure, hardship, maybe do things you’re not comfortable doing, learn how to do things with dedication. Having the ability to do so only completes your program.

“We just want to leave good memories for our children. They can remember dozens of games, but when they get older, they remember what happens in the locker room, what happens on the field. They’ll remember parts of the games and stuff, but something like tonight just makes everyone feel good about the program.”

Red River will host Wopeton next Friday, November 8.

“We just have to keep doing what we’re doing,” Mackey said. “Keep the ball, don’t make mistakes and we just have to play a really good game.”