Pine City hosted Mora on Friday night.
It was a battle of teams seeking their first win on the year, as well as a section matchup.
The Mustangs began the game with the ball. One of the goals the Dragons had this week was holding Mora to long drives and not allowing them quick scores. And they did just that. Although Mora would wind up scoring on a Maverick Southerland run for a yard out, Pine City did what they set out to do. Down 8-0 Pine City hope to put together their own long drive. But Mora's defense stiffened and held them to a 4 and out. Now with the ball back in Dragon territory, the Mustangs hoped to put themselves ahead by two scores. Again it was Southerland from short distance extending their lead 16-0. Pine City started a promising drive but that was soon shot down by a penalty on 3rd and short pushing them back to now 8 yards to try and grab. The start of the 2nd was electric. Dragon QB AJ Ostensen under pressure found Derrick Kinn for 16 yards on third and long to give them a fresh set. The first down was all for not as they went backwards and were forced to punt. The Mustangs were faced with a long field, but their offense didn't bat an eye, they drove down the field. It would be Southerland who would find the endzone for the 3rd time in the game, as Mora went up 24-0. The ensuing kickoff saw a spark for the Dragons. Braxton Peetz caught the kick on the run, defenders miss, and used his speed to get all the way to midfield before being pushed out of bounds, setting the Dragons up in excellent field position. Sadly, again Pine City was stopped on a 4th down attempt giving the ball back to Mora. It only took two plays before Mora QB Nathan Nelson found Brock Folkema for a 51 yard receiving touchdown, pushing their lead up to 30-0.
After halftime the Dragons looked to build off some of the things that went right in the first half. But again the Mora defense held Pine City to a 3 and out and got the ball back early in the third quarter. The Dragons forced the Mustangs to take more then 7 plays down the field, but Mora ultimately found paydirt again. Southerland pounded the rock in for his 4th touchdown of the game and extended their lead up to 38-0. This was enough to put the game away, Pine City couldn't find the endzone but kept on fighting. The Dragons were able to put together a few solid drives before the final whistle, as Mora won 38-0.
Pine City will try to build off of the good things they saw and move forward. They will host Proctor on Friday night for homecoming!
Mora moves to 1-4 and hopes that momentum will carry into this week. They'll host Pequot Lakes on Friday!
