With a 7-1 record at the end of conference play, the football team advanced to Section play-offs as the first seed. On top of that the team was named Co-Conference Champions along with St. Michael Albertville and Rogers. They were then ranked 7th in the State for 5AAAAA football.
“It seemed that lots of people doubted us at the beginning of the season, and we’ve been able to prove them wrong,” said Senior Captain Ben Hensen. “That has just made all of our success even more exciting, it’s just cool seeing all the hard work paying off.”
The team had come through many obstacles including injuries, illness, and even having a key player penalized by not being able to play one game. However, they were able to push through these events and emerge as a stronger, more focused team.
“Having to pull together throughout the season really made everyone step up, and fight through the hard times,” said Senior Buzz Tryggeseth. “It seemed to bring us closer, just when we needed it, in time for Sections.”
The Bison received a bye for the first round of sections, because of their success in Conference play. This gave the team time to prepare for their first section game. They played a back and forth game against the St. Cloud Tech Tigers, where each team competitively worked to overcome their opponents success’s. The game started with a touchdown from the Tigers early in the first quarter. The Bison dominated the second quarter, but were unable to put any points on the board. Senior Captain Josh Gaughan was then able to run the ball for a fifteen yard touchdown. The Bison then attempted a two point conversion, which was unsuccessful. This resulted with St. Cloud Tech still being in the lead with a score of 7 to 6 to start the fourth quarter. The Bison then took control, with another touchdown run by Gaughan and a successful two point conversion. This pulled the Bison up 14 to 7. To end the game the Bison gave St. Cloud Tech a safety, which gives the other team two points, enabling them to run the clock until the end of the game making the final score 14 to 9.
That win resulted in the team moving onto the Section 8 Finals, where they played the Brainerd Warriors at St. Johns University. Near the end of the first quarter the teams first points were scored off of a 93 yard kick return by Junior Dillon Miller. After, which Gaughan successfully completed a two point conversion. The Bison were not able to score again until the fourth quarter with touchdowns by Gaughan and Tryggeseth. However, the final score was 33 to 22 in favor of Brainerd. This ended the 2009-2010 football season for the boys varsity football team.
“It was hard losing our last game of the season,” said Senior Lucas Hein. “But it’s good to know that I came away from it with many memories, and that we were just as successful as last year.”
