Rush City Finishes Comeback in Final moments against Hinckley-Finlayson

Rush City hosted Hinckley-Finlayson on Wednesday night.

The Tigers came into the regular season finale having won on homecoming night, while the Jags lost to a tough Aitkin team on their own homecoming.

The Tigers received the opening kickoff, and only needed two plays to get a first down. But they were then stopped and forced to punt after the next three plays. On the punt would come the first score, the Jags Jacob Lyons Jr went 57 yards for a punt return touchdown. They would convert the PAT and take an early 7-0 lead.

After this, neither offense was able to score but the Tigers were able to get close before turning it over on downs. It wasn't until halfway through the 2nd quarter when the Tigers were able to score. They were able to stop a Jags 4th down attempt, and take over deep in plus territory. This proved to be the momentum they needed to get into the endzone, as Tyler Monson would punch it in from a yard out. They converted the 2 point and took over the lead 8-7.

The next couple of drives saw each team punt or turn it over on downs. But on one of the final drives of the half Rush City looked to put a long drive together and extend their lead before the half. If it could go wrong it did go wrong on this drive for the Tigers. It started with a poor snap that lost yardage, then a holding call backed them up even further on 2nd down. They would actually get most of the penalty yardage back on a pass to Lukas Diedrich, but it still set up a third and long. Nihart would look to pass again on third, but slipped as he stepped up to pass, and with his knee touching he was down, losing big yardage again. So they would go to punt, but the snap was not on target and Nihart struggled to corral it. Once he did though it didn't help matters much, as he slipped in the endzone trying to punt, his knee once again down, this time resulting in a safety. Now the Jags would get the ball and lead by 2 in the final minutes of the half. They would find the endzone on the drive after Kellen VonRueden found Lyons Jr on a 29 pass, and with the PAT they now lead 16-8 going into the half.

The Jags started the 2nd half with the ball but couldn't get much traction and were forced to punt. The Tigers first possession of the 3rd ended in turn over on downs. The next two drives saw back to back turnovers. It started with the Jags, who were driving down the field but fumbled a handoff which the Tigers recovered. This sparked the Rush City offense and they with one play were inside the redzone. But only a couple plays later, they would fumble a handoff and give the ball right back to H-F. This would bring us to the 4th and final quarter. After recovering the fumble, their offense just couldn't get anything going and they were forced to punt. The Tigers offense went back to relying on the run, and Tyler Monson began to gash the defense. The heavy run allowed the Tigers to then find success through the air. They gained 46 yards on the next two pass plays, the 2nd finding the endzone in the hands of Kyle Haugrud. The 2 point conversion saw another snap go awry and the Tigers couldn't convert which left them down by 2. The Jags next drive saw them go 3 and out and punted it back to the Tigers. Rush City relied heavily on Monson and he seemed to be getting stronger as the quarter went along. The run game pushed them down inside the redzone again. The Jags defense was finally able to make a few stops and get it to 3rd down. On the third down play it was another bad snap, that Nihart chased after and eventually was brought down for a huge loss. Now it was 4th down, all the Jags needed was a stop and they would win, while a Tigers conversion would keep the comeback alive. Now most 4th and long plays are just meant to get a first down, most don't wind up in a score. But the Tigers defied all odds and Nihart chucked a prayer into the endzone, and Lukas Diedrich came down with the catch for the go ahead touchdown. While they were unable to convert the 2 points, all momentum was on their side. H-F had one last hope to try and win, but the RC defense was too strong and held up forcing a turnover on downs. They knelt out the rest of the clock sealing the 20-16 victory.

The Tigers end the regular season 5-3 and will host a playoff game next Tuesday.

The Jags finish 1-7 on the regular season, and will travel next Tuesday, but if they can play well like they did against the Tigers, they should have a chance against anyone they play.

Our Pine Insurance Player of the Game was Rush City's Tyler Monson, he had over 30 carries and over 200 yards rushing and a touchdown.