By Les Knutson Sports Reporter
Coming up a pair of clutch fourth-quarter defensive stops, on the heels of an impressive offensive performance — which featured five sustained drives, along with a short go-ahead touchdown drive — the Heron Lake-Okabena / Fulda Coyotes won their first game as a paired high school football program, earning a 30-29 victory over Red Rock Central in a thriller at Fulda’s Alex Fisher Field last Friday evening, September 8.
“This was a great win for our guys,” summed up HL-O / Fulda co-head coach Jonathon Curry, who was calling the offensive plays. “Our guys responded when we gave up big plays. We just kept battling, grinding away until we got it done.”
The game featured several lead changes and numerous big plays. Most of those big plays were made by the Falcons, who had a dominant team in 2017, defeating both Fulda (48-6) and HL-O (61-6) by large margins last fall in the each school’s final year alone.
The Coyotes scored first on a drive, twice converting on fourth-and-three situations with 14-yard pass completions by sophomore quarterback Eli Fest, who — after getting his first throw knocked down — completed seven straight passes, helping get his team untracked early.
After taking a quick 6-0 lead, HL-O / Fulda later claimed leads of 14-7 and 22-21, while the Falcons posted leads of 7-6, 21-14 and 29-22 before the Coyotes came up big in the fourth quarter and came out on top.
