By Heath Hotzler
A strong week of practice had Perham quarterback Marcus Hendrickson convinced the Yellowjackets offense was on the verge of an explosion. Then he made sure of it.
Hendrickson passed for 210 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 82 yards and a touchdown to lead Minnesota Class 3A Perham to a 40-21 Heart O' Lakes Conference victory against Class 2A Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton on Friday to help the Yellowjackets remain undefeated.
"We knew we could throw the ball," said Hendrickson, who entered the game with 83 passing yards in two conference games. "We just played pitch and catch all night."
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Hendrickson connected on 12 of his final 15 throws, spreading the ball to seven different players.
The junior's favorite target was running back Michael Guehna, who worked his way free over the middle for four receptions for 91 yards and a touchdown.
Most of Hendrickson's success in the passing game was due to short routes turned into long gains by Yellowjackets receivers.
Guehna scored on a 54-yard pass play over the middle that covered about 20 yards in the air. Guehna did the rest of the work by outrunning Rebels defenders to the end zone.
Hendrickson also hit Sam Rutten from 15 yards out and Mac Stoll from 12 yards out with perfect passes in the end zone.
"In 20-some years, I've never had a team throw the ball the way you do," Perham coach Howard Kangas told his team after the game.
D-G-F helped the Yellowjackets by sputtering on offense much of the night, giving Perham a short field on several occasions. The Rebels also fumbled seven times on a sloppy field, turning the ball over five times.
"It's been our Achilles heel all year," D-G-F coach Jon Martin said. "We're not necessarily turning it over, it's that we're shooting ourselves in the foot."
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The Yellowjackets traveled 51 yards on 10 plays on their opening drive, scoring on a 1-yard run by Nick Kiphuth to take an early lead. Hendrickson made the score 8-0 with a two-point conversion run.
Hendrickson connected with Guehna on a 54-yard touchdown pass and Kiphuth ran in the two-point conversion to give Perham a 16-0 advantage with 1 minute, 54 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
D-G-F answered with a scoring drive on its next possession - capped by a 21-yard run by Omar Longoria - to make the score 16-8.
The Rebels, whose running game was shut down for much of the first half, suffered a major setback when starting quarterback Michael Nelson injured his left ankle and left knee midway through the second quarter. Perham owned the second half, scoring on two passes by Hendrickson and a D-G-F fumble recovered in the end zone.
"We finally got things up and going," Hendrickson said. "We got back in there and made some adjustments. We knew it was only a matter of time."
The Jackets will play their third game on the road in as many weeks on Friday when then head to Barnesville to take on Agassiz Valley. It's likely the last meeting between the teams as Agassiz Valley heads to the Valley Plains Conference with Frazee next season.
