Bethlehem Academy Football Rolls Over Hayfield

The Faribault Bethlehem Academy Cardinals led 55-6 at halftime of their Monday night football game in Hayfield en route to a 61-27 victory.

The Cardinals scored three times in the first quarter.  They added two more offensive scores in the second quarter, a punt return for a touchdown and two pick sixes for the huge halftime lead.

A snap over Hayfield punter Ethan Pack's head gave the Cardinals the ball on the 10 yard line of Hayfield.  Bethlehem Academy scored a couple plays later when Brady Strodtman scored on a 3 yard run.  The two point conversion was unsuccessful.

Hayfield came out the next series and the junior Pack, also the Vikings quarterback fired a perfect strike to classmate Isaac Matti for a 60 yard touchdown.  The two point conversion unsuccessful.  The score with 3:50 to go in the first quarter was tied at 6,

Nineteen seconds later Cardinals running back, senior Strodtman broke into the open and sprinted 62 yards for the score.  A two point coversion run by senior Aiden Tobin was successful.  Cardinals were up 13-6.

Bethlehem Academy started their next series on the Hayfield 47 following a short punt and broke out another weapon.  Sophmore Derrick Sando is fast and showed it on a 25 yard touchdown run.  Tight end Charles King ran the two point conversion in to extend the lead to 21-6.

That exciting run by Sando was our Cashwise Foods of Owatonna Delivery of the game.  It gave the Cardinals a cushion they wanted and it was all BA through the remainder of the first half.

The next score for Bethlehem Academy came on a 2 yard pass to King from sophmore quarterback Elliott Viland.  Tobin ran in the two point conversion with 6:52 to go in the second quarter.

Back to back drives resulted in pick sixes with 5:22 to go in the first half Strodtman broke infront of a Hayfield receiver and darted to the end zone. The extra point attempt was no good.

With 4:38 to go King intercepted a pass and took the ball to the end zone.  Extra point was no good.

The Vikings were forced to punt the next series, Sando raced 60 yards for another Cardinals score on the return with 2:08 to go.  Extra point kick was good by Jax Bokman.

BA got the ball again before the end of the half and scored on a Elliott Viland 73 yard hookup with Bokman for a TD with no time left on the clock.

The Cardinals got the ball to start the second half and most fans were probably thinking the same thing I was.  Run to keep the clock moving.  But they threw the ball and Viland was injured, forced out of the game with an apparent shoulder injury.

BA Junior Kyle Ernste came in to play quarterback, Strodtman also played some quarterback in the second half.

Hayfield capitalized on a snap over punter Strodtman's head had them start a drive on the Cardinals 10 yard line.  On a 4th and 1 the Vikings got a connection between Pack and senior receiver Dawson Andree.  The extra point kick by sophmore Damarri Boysen was very high and through the uprights.

A fumble recovery by senior Aiden Naggaard set the Vikings up again in the red zone.  Starting from the BA 8 yard line they scored on a 3 yard pass from Pack to senior Keegan Bronson.  The extra point kick by Boysen good again with 11:56 to go in the game.

The final score for Hayfield came with 6:28 to go when Pack hit Bronson for a 53 yard score.  Boysen's kick was a line drive through the uprights.

BA got the ball to start their final drive at the 50 yard line and drove down the field.  In the final seconds it looked like they would take a knee but Ernse dove into the end zone for a 1 yard touchdown with zeros on the clock and the Cardinals had a 61-27 win on the road.

If you were only given the final statistics you would think this was a very tight ballgame.  Hayfield 299 total yards, Bethlehem Academy 298.

Vikings 295 yards passing, Cardinals 126.

Rushing yards BA 172, Hayfield 4.  The Vikings had three turnovers, the Cardinals 1,

Time of possession was 25:31 for Hayfield and 22:10 for Bethlehem Academy.

The Vikings had 15 first downs, Cardinals 13.

Viland was 2 of 5 passing for 75 yards and two touchdowns.  Ernste 2 of 3 for 29 yards, Strodtman completed his only pass for 22 yards.

Strodtman rushed 14 times for 111 yards and two TD's.  Sando added 43 yards on 7 carries and a score.  Tobin ran 5 times for 24 yards.  Viland 2 times for 20 yards.

Pack was 18 of 40 for 295 yards and 4 scores along with two interceptions.

Strodtman led Bethlehem Academy with 11 total tackles, Hudson Dillon had 5.  Aiden Tobin, Andrew Donahue and Oliver Linnemann each had 4 and Sando finished with 3.5 total tackles.

The schedule says Hayfield hosts Fillmore Central Saturday at 3:00 p.m. while BA hosts Randolph at 1:00 p.m. Saturday.

Do you remember this?

One of these might be my retirement place.