Linebacker knew what he wanted — the ball and the title — so he took both

This is the fourth part of a 50-day feature looking back at the 50 years since Minnesota's high school football state tournaments began. Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here.

"We did our thing." — Mahnomen/Waubun coach John Clark Jr.

Jayden Heisler is small in stature at 5-9, but it doesn't prevent him from jumping into the fray.

The gritty Mahnomen/Waubun linebacker wrestled the ball out of Dawson Vosika's hands and corralled it in his own at the Thunderbirds 10-yard line with 1 minute, 36 seconds remaining, preserving a 22-21 victory over BOLD in the Class 1A championship game.

BOLD marched down the field after Mahnomen/Waubun took its first lead of the game, 22-21, on quarterback Jon Starkey's 10-yard touchdown run and Parker Syverson's two-point conversion run with 5:12 remaining, setting up Heisler's takeaway.

"He's always in the middle of the pile somewhere," Thunderhawks coach John Clark Jr. said with a laugh. "He's going to make plays."

Heroes emerged from two other finals in 2018:

"He made some incredible plays," Willmar senior quarterback Drey Dirksen said. "He had the night."

"If you want to talk about a guy that worked his buns off to get here — the most offseason preparation by far — it was Zachary Jungels," teammate Pat Leary said. "We all fed off him in the offseason. He had the day he deserved today. He's a fantastic player."

State championship games

Class 6A: Lakeville North 28, Eden Prairie 21

Class 5A: Owatonna 14, St. Thomas Academy 3

Class 3A: Rochester Lourdes 24, Fairmont 7

Class 2A: Caledonia 21, Barnesville 0

Class 1A: Mahnomen/Waubun 22, BOLD 21

Nine-Man: Spring Grove 40, Mountain Lake Area 18