By Elijah Bisel
The playoff seeds had been locked, and the #3 Northfield Raiders (5-3) were at home against the #6 Rochester John Marshall (JM) Rockets (0-8). The two teams met earlier this year at JM and the Raiders won 27-0. It was their only away victory of the regular season. The clear, October
Tuesday night was the first round of the Section 1AAAAA playoffs. The Raiders had been
preparing “all year, right from the start” for this moment, said head coach Brent Yule before the
game.
The Raiders were hoping to get a fast start as they received the opening kick, and that’s what
they did. Starting the first drive from their own 30, the Raiders scored in just under three minutes
of offense after Senior back Charlie Monaghan continued his scoring streak after a 5-yard run
into the right side of the end zone, after a pitch from QB Cam Kaiser. Raider’s up 7-0 at the 9:07
mark in the first. JM hoped to respond after a quick score from Northfield, but were forced to
punt from their own 27 yard line after a three-and-out. On the punt, Senior WR/DB Brayden
Brakke broke through the line and was able to tip the punt, giving the Raiders great field position
after the ball only traveled 8 yards. So at the 6:43 mark in the first, the Raiders began their
second drive from the JM 35, and were able to capitalize on the field position. With 4:12 in the
first, Cam Mellgren ran through the right side of the Raider line and scored from 2 yards out.
Raiders 14, John Marshall 0. JM mishandled the kick from Raider Junior Kallestad, and wound
up pinned on their own 15 yard line. They were able to convert on a first down after QB Darius
Jordan threw into the middle of the field to WR Zach Ladu, but were then stifled by the
Northfield defense and forced to punt from their own 29. The punt only went 21 yards, so the
Raiders started on the 50 yard line with 1:55 left in the first. After Monaghan and Kaiser brought
the Raiders to the JM 31 yard line, Kaiser aired it out deep to the left sideline to Senior wing
back Gabe Sawyer for a fantastic score of 31 yards. The Raiders ended the first with a 21-0 lead
after a dominant quarter. The second quarter began in similar fashion as JM punted after three
plays for the third time in the game. After some great runs from Charlie Monaghan and Owen
Murphy, Northfield scored at the 7:13 mark in the second after a 48 yard drive. Murphy ran in
from five yards out after a strong push from the Raider line. Northfield and JM traded
possessions for the rest of the half after the Raider offense slowed down. QB Jordan and the
Rockets converted on two fourth downs and got into Raider territory, but were not able to score
before halftime. After the half: Northfield 28, John Marshall 0.
At the start of the third quarter, Rocket QB Darius Jordan came out firing. After some nice
throws and two pass interference calls on Northfield, the Rockets were able to drive down field
to the Raider 7 yard line after the opening kick. Northfield was able to shore up on defense
however, and forced a 4th down. JM drew up a pass, and Jordan slung a pass right to a Rocket
receiver near the goal line, but Brayden Brakke made a timely deflection to force the turnover on
downs at 6:25 left in the third. The Raiders then played hurry-up offense and put on their most
impressive drive of the night as Monaghan ran for 23 yards, then 40 yards consecutively to bring
the Raiders from their own 7 to the JM 30 yard line. Monaghan continued to impress as only two
plays later, Cam Kaiser hit him in the flats and he turned up field to score on a 23 yard
touchdown. It was Monaghan’s fifth touchdown in the last two games. Raiders up 35-0 with 4:03
left in the third. With the game out of the Rockets reach, Northfield began to play their second
team on defense and offense. They still continued to perform well however as JM punted once
more, but the Raiders couldn’t get anything going on their next drive after a turnover on downs
and the third quarter came to an end. The Rockets continued to rely on the pass, and were able to
score their first and only touchdown with 8:22 to go in the game. Backup QB Jacob Brumm
replaced Jordan for JM, and threw between the hash marks to receiver Elijah Ladu, who made
some nice moves and ran in for an impressive 53 yard score. After a blocked extra point, the
score remained Raiders 35, Rockets 6. The second team Raider offense, led by Sophomore QB
Seth Thompson, took their time on a six minute drive. The drive was capped off by a 15 yard
touchdown run by Sophomore Logan Prescott, who ran into the right side untouched, after some
fantastic blocking from the receivers and linemen. The clock ran down on JM’s final possession,
and the Raiders advanced to the Section 1AAAAA semi-finals.
Final score: Raiders 41, John Marshall 6.
The Raiders will head to Owatonna for the semi-finals at seven this Saturday. The Raiders lost at
Owatonna 21-19 earlier this year. They will hope to end their three game skid away from home.
It will be the last chance for the Raiders to win in Owatonna’s current stadium, as they have
finished a new venue for next season.
Notable Stats: Four different running backs scored for the Raiders, marking the first time this
season that more than three running backs had a touchdown for Northfield. The Raiders will end
the season with a 5-0 record at home. In those five games the Raiders scored 192 points and
allowed only 25.