A scoreless first half is a rarity in the Minnesota State High School League’s Class Nine-Player Prep Bowl Championship Game. But that was the setting on Saturday, Nov. 23 when Fertile-Beltrami and Hills-Beaver Creek met at U.S. Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis with a title at stake.

During the halftime break, football historians combed through the archives to find the lowest scoring Class Nine-Player Prep Bowl title game. It happened in 1991 when Chokio-Alberta edged Grygla/Goodridge, 7-6 at the Metrodome, the former indoor stadium that sits on the same site as U.S. Bank Stadium. Would this season’s Class Nine-Player title game rival that?

Nope, that record is safe. 

Fertile-Beltrami (13-0) found another gear in its offensive attack in the second half and scored on three consecutive possessions that paved the way to a 20-8 victory over Hills-Beaver Creek (12-1) for the first football championship in program history. Fertile-Beltrami is the first Class Nine-Player state champion from Section 8 since Stephen-Argyle Central in 2009.

Senior running back Isaiah Wright rushed for 185 yards on 33 carries and scored a touchdown to help power the Falcons, who generated 170 yards in the second half. Senior running back Jonah Harstad chipped in 28 yards on the ground and bulled his way into the end zone twice. 

Wright rushed for 116 yards on 14 carries in the third quarter and scored one of Fertile-Beltrami’s two touchdowns as the Falcons built a 14-8 lead. He scored on a 2-yard run and then the ensuing two-point conversion to give the Falcons a 14-0 lead with 5:50 remaining in the third quarter. 

But Hills-Beaver Creek answered with what may have been the most impressive individual effort of the Prep Bowl. While the scoring play will list a 53-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Jamin Metzger to senior wide receiver James VandenBosch, what was truly memorable is how VandenBosch made his way into the end zone with 2:09 left in the third quarter. 

VandenBosch caught Metzger’s pass between two defenders at the 25-yard line along the far sideline. While the two defenders did all they could to slow VandenBosch, it was to no avail. He kept his legs moving, churning forward, and at one point, it looked like he stepped out of bounds along the way. In reality, he pirouetted the sideline with one foot over, but not touching the turf. He then dragged the two defenders a handful of yards before lunging and stretching so the football would break the plane of the end zone.

But the Falcons answered early in the fourth quarter with Harstad’s 1-yard plunge to cap an 8-play 50-yard drive. A few plays earlier, Wright put the Falcons into scoring position with a 38-yard run.