By John George
A few words said by Yellowjacket head football coach Howie Kangas after Friday night's game will most likely never be said at Meinhover Field again.
"You should always take pride in beating Frazee gentlemen," he said after Perham's 33-14 win.
Because of the proposed shake-up in the Heart O' Lakes Conference (see related story on Page 4B), this might be the last time the gridiron version of the 'Battle of the Bees' takes place.
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But, as Kangas continued in his post-game chat with the team, he noted that they shouldn't take that same pride in the way they took care of the Hornets.
"We made way too many mistakes," Kangas said. "We just weren't ready to play and didn't look good in any phase of the game."
In between racking up 419 yards in total offense, Perham committed eight penalties, including three that took away Jacket touchdowns.
"How do you have three touchdowns called back because of silly penalties," Kangas asked himself. "We just kept making mistake after mistake. The fact is, they (Frazee) weren't a very good team and we did a great job of playing down to their level."
Perham started the game with a methodical drive, inching their way into Frazee territory before Mike Guehna broke off a 33-yard touchdown run. After the Jacket defense forced Frazee to punt, the special teams came through for the next score. Nick Stoll broke through the Hornet line to block the punt, which was recovered by Sam Rutten, who took the ball 20 yards for the score.
Marcus Hendrickson scored the first of his two touchdowns with 2:20 in the half, capping a 10-play, 72-yard drive, to give Perham a 19-0 lead.
Frazee would finally break through the Jacket defense as the half ticked away. Four consecutive completions by Hornet quarterback Jake Sailer, three to Drew Dagget, set Frazee up with a first and goal with 45 seconds to play. On fourth down as the halftime horn sounded, Sailer hit Andrew Lockrem on a 14-yard pass to put Frazee on the board.
After Hendrickson's second touchdown gave Perham a 26-7, the Jacket defense forced a Frazee fumble, and Perham was again on the march as the third quarter ended. But as Perham got into the red-zone, things fell apart. Two T.D.'s were voided due to penalties and a bad snap on third down resulted in a fourth down and goal play from the 29, which the Jackets didn't convert.
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Another Frazee turnover, a fumble recovered by Jason Zacharias, set up a Brian Schroeer 4-yard touchdown run.
Sailer and Lochrem hooked up one more time for the Hornets, for a 73-yard score with six minutes to play.
It wasn't the prettiest final game, for either side, in what has been a long and storied rivalry.
"It's unfortunate that this rivalry will come to an end," Kangas said. "But the trend with what's happening in high schools and populations in outer Minnesota, a move like this was probably just a matter of time. It's probably a good time for it to end. We want to be moving up to play East Grand Forks, Crookston and other schools that will help us more come playoff time.
"In the long run, the moves for Frazee and for us will be better," Kangas added. "After playing Frazee tonight, I can't honestly say our team got better from week one to week three. This just wasn't a good test for us to see if we've improved ourselves from the first game."
Perham's next test will come on the road this week as they take on Breckenridge. The Cowboys (1-1, 1-0 HOL) are coming off a 13-0 win at D-G-F last week. The Jackets (2-0, 1-0 HOL) have won three straight in the series, including a 24-22 win last season.
