Big third quarter powers Rails past FHS

The Broncos came in fired up for Friday’s Homecoming contest against Proctor, but the Rails spoiled the celebration with a 37-21 victory at Sports Stadium.
The Rails, who have won four in a row after opening the season 0-2, scored a late touchdown in the first half to take a 21-7 lead and opened it up in the third, finishing the quarter up 34-7.
“It’s a big mental turning point,” Broncos coach Stuart Nordquist said about the late first-half score. “Should’ve never happened. Was a big breakdown by a couple of individuals.”
The breakdowns are coming all too often for the Falls (0-5, 1-6) as it searches for its first true victory. The lone win came via forfeit from Fort Frances in the opener.
“Third quarter they just dominated us, and had they not had so many penalties, we would’ve had a difficult time scoring,” said Nordquist, who was honored Saturday in Minneapolis by getting enshrined into the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Eric Soberg scored the first two touchdowns of the game for the Rails — the first on a run from 36-yards out on Proctor’s second drive in the first quarter and the second on a 21-yard catch and run on fourth-and-10 in the second quarter.
The Broncos rebounded and got within seven with 2:49 left in the first half when Jacob Casareto hit Tim Myles from 5-yards out. The score was set up by an impressive 25-yard connection between the two that put the Broncos on the Rails’ 10-yard line. However, the Rails started the next drive on their own 35 and ran it up the gut, looking satisfied with a 14-7 lead, but Soberg rattled off a 30-yard run on the second play of the drive to get the Rails going. Six plays later, quarterback Steve Nelson hit receiver Reed Olson on a bootleg with 33.5 seconds left in the half to extend the lead and grab the momentum.
“We just have to get to the point where we stop giving up big plays,” Nordquist said.
The Rails opened the second half with another score on a Nelson to Olson connection of 36 yards, and went up 34-7 when Shawn Wiita powered it in from 7-yards out following a turnover on downs by the Broncos.
In the fourth, the Falls capped the scoring with a 5-yard run by Casareto and a 60-yard run by Chris Steinbach with 17.4 seconds to play.
The Broncos finished with 228 yards to the Rails’ 384. Steinbach was the leading rusher with his 60-yard jaunt, while Kyle Hell ran nine times for 27 yards. Casareto finished 8 of 18 for 116 yards and one interception, Myles caught three passes for 76 yards and Mike Menard hauled in two passes for 30 yards.
“If people stop you at what you’re trying to do, you can’t do much about it,” Nordquist said. “They were bigger, faster, stronger.”
The game was also void of legendary Proctor coach Dave Hylla, who died suddenly before the season. Out of Nordquist’s 39 meetings against the Rails, Hylla roamed the opposing sideline in all but three. The two long-time coaches had a friendly rivalry and heavily respected one another.
“We were good friends and good colleagues,” Nordquist said.
The Broncos will look to rebound Friday at Hibbing before playing Oct. 15 at home against Cloquet in the regular-season finale.

P 7-14-13-3 37
IF 0-7-0-14 21

First Quarter
P — Eric Soberg 36 run (Matt Holter kick)
Second Quarter
P — Soberg 21 pass from Steve Nelson (Holter kick)
IF — Tim Myles 5 pass from Jacob Casareto (Casareto kick)
P — Reed Olson 10 pass from Nelson (Holter kick)
Third Quarter
P — Olson 36 pass from Nelson (Holter kick)
P — Shawn Wiita 7 run (kick blocked)
Fourth Quarter
P — Holter 25 field goal
IF — Casareto 5 run (Casareto run)
IF — Chris Steinbach 60 run (run failed)