Northfield‘s final-seconds win over Faribault and Andover’s rally past Mankato West spice the high school football weekend

A low snap in shotgun formation can lead to plenty of bad things. Unless the quarterback has the composure of Seth Thompson.

A senior, Thompson scooped up a rolling football and threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Julian Vazquez with 14 seconds remaining, giving Northfield a 14-12 come-from-behind victory over Faribault on Thursday night.

“We had a low snap, so Seth raced to pick it up,” Northfield coach Brent Yule said. “Our offensive line protected well, but Seth did have to evade a defender.”

Meanwhile, Vazquez was getting behind the Falcons secondary. Thompson found him 35 yards downfield.

“Seth stepped up and saw Julian wide open deep in Falcon territory,” Tule said. “The ball floated in the air for what felt like three minutes. The Faribault defender started catching up and looked like he was going to knock the ball away, but it was just out of his reach and fell into Julian’s arms and he ran into the end zone.”

It offset what could have been a frustrating ending for Yule. Following a fumble in punt formation, Faribault (1-1) took a 12-8 lead on sophomore quarterback Javahn Siemers’ 31-yard touchdown pass to senior JJ Schrot with 1 minute, 45 seconds remaining.

“The final minutes were frustrating as a coach,” Yule said. “We had many mistakes that piled up which let Faribault back in the game. We had a couple big penalties on defense that gave Faribault the chance to get into scoring position along with an unsuccessful snap exchange between our long snapper and punter. Our kids did a great job fighting until the end and never giving up.”

That is what second-year Faribault coach Glenn Hansen appreciated from his squad as well. The Falcons finished 4-6 in his initial season.

“We had a lot to prove. Nobody was giving us a chance to beat them,” Hansen said of the game against rival Northfield. “Three plays [two on fourth down on Northfield’s opening touchdown drive] was the difference. We are getting the consistent effort to be successful.”

Quite a difference from a year ago, when Northfield (1-1) laid a 49-0 thumping on the Falcons.

“It’s a god-awful feeling to get beat like that, but there is a lot of positives that came out of it,” Hansen said. “Our guys are devastated, but it’s because they care. We are getting closer to where we want to be. It’s not all doom and gloom like some people are looking at it as.”

Andover coach Tom Develice knew there was plenty of room for improvement for his Huskies. It only took a week to see it.

Senior running back Wyatt Myers scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns, on runs of 3 and 8 yards two minutes apart, as the Huskies rallied for a 28-21 victory over perennial Class 5A power Mankato West. Andover lost to eventual state champion Chanhassen in the semifinals of the 2023 state tournament.

“Knowing that Mankato West is a great football program, we knew we needed to have a great week of practice,” Develice said. “I thought our players and coaches came in every day prepared and worked extremely hard.”

The Huskies were coming off a 21-14 loss to St. Thomas Academy in which the Cadets scored twice in the final 1:10. Junior running back Dominic Baez scored the tie-breaking touchdown on a 10-yard run with 12 seconds remaining.

“Everyone in our program, players and coaches, felt the need to improve,” Develice said. “We felt that we did not finish well against St. Thomas Academy in all areas — offense, defense and special teams. We thought it would have changed the outcome of the ballgame if we finished drives in all phases. Our concentration this week against Mankato West was really to focus on the areas that we thought we came up short on Week 1.”

4(a): Receiving touchdowns for senior wide receivers Meyer Swinney of Edina in a 35-14 victory over Eden Prairie and Josh Walstrom of Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa in a 32-0 rout of West Central Area.

4(b): Sacks registered by Albany senior linebacker Cooper Brinkman in a 45-8 victory over Melrose. He was coming off a 13-tackle performance in the Huskies’ season-opening triumph over New London-Spicer.

4(c): Interceptions by Waconia senior defensive back Aaron Golka in the first two weeks of the season.

5a: Touchdowns scored by Duluth Denfeld junior running back/defensive back Deon Bergner in a 49-28 victory over Grand Rapids. He scored on runs of 21, 47, 48 and 55 yards and returned an interception 42 yards for another score.

5b: Touchdowns accounted for by Cherry senior quarterback Noah Sundquist in a 64-8 triumph over Cass Lake-Bena. He ran for three scores and threw two touchdown passes. He completed 11 of 12 passes for 132 yards.

5c: Touchdown receptions by Moorhead sophomore wide receiver David Mack in the first two weeks of the season.

26: Tackles by Delano senior defensive back Caden Rock in the first two weeks of the season.

31: Schools that recorded a shutout in Week 2, nine fewer than in Week 1.

70: Points scored by BOLD in a 70-6 victory over MACCRAY. BOLD is averaging 63 points per game in the first two weeks of the season.

94: Yardage covered on a St. Agnes touchdown pass from Josh Lopez to Daniel Plamann in the Aggies’ 28-13 loss to Hill-Murray.

289: Rushing yards for Mabel-Canton junior Kale Tollefsrud on 25 attempts, with four touchdowns, in a 44-26 victory over Lanesboro. He scored on runs of 9, 22, 79 and 99 yards.

“He’s a rare breed. There are not a lot of guys like him in Minnesota or around the country.” — Edina junior quarterback Mason West on Meyer Swinney, who had eight catches for 197 yards in a 35-14 win against Eden Prairie. The two hooked up on 5-, 5-, 30- and 85-yard scoring plays.