FARGO (NewsDakota)- The question for nine-man football in the last three years has always been “what would it take to beat New Rockford-Sheyenne/Maddock?”
Turns out, the answer was the greatest offensive performance in DakotaBowl history in a record-setting individual game.
Mason Warcken accounted for a DakotaBowl record 678 yards and seven touchdowns as the LaMoure-Litchville/Marion Loboes rallied from 22 down in the third quarter to defeat the Rockets 52-46 in overtime and end their 37-game winning streak in the 9-Man State Championship Game on Friday at the FargoDome for their first championship since 2021.
New Rockford-Sheyenne/Maddock (12-1) struck early, with Layton Jacobson plunging in from a yard out for an immediate 8-0 lead. That would be doubled when Aidan Rodriguez scooped up a fumbled punt and scored from 40 yards for a touchdown to extend to a 16-0 lead. But then Warcken got going, finding Joey Potts on fourth down for a 15-yard score to cut the lead to 16-6 after one.
In the second, a 13 yard rush by Jax Demester extended the lead to 24-6. After a Loboe fumble at the one, Demester was called for intentional grounding in the end zone to cut the lead to 24-8. Warcken then found frshman Oliver Lesko on fourth down from 27 yards and the lead was 24-16 for the Rockets. Demester, who threw for 412 yards and two touchdowns, found Koy Zieman for a 37 yard score to extend the lead at the break to 32-16.
After Tommy Allmaras, the state’s Senior Athlete of the Year, broke loose on a 15-yard touchdown run, the Rockets led 38-16. Then, the Loboes (13-0) senior quarterback went to work. Warcken found Colby Thielges from 45 yards to cut the lead to 38-22. On the next possession, he ran in from eight yards to cut the lead to 38-30. The Rockets answered, however, when Demester found Jaxon Simon on a swing pass from 22 yards to extend the lead to 46-30. Warcken then found Lesko again from 23 yards to cut the lead to 46-38.
In the fourth, both teams stalled until Warcken scampered in from five yards to tie the game at 46. The Rockets attempted three hail mary passes at the end of regulation, but came up empty as the game went to overtime, where Warcken found Thielges from five yards for the 52-46 lead. Then on fourth down, Demester was picked off by Warcken and the celebration was on.
It was a record-setting game. The game was the longest (3 hours, 46 minutes) in DakotaBowl history. Warcken broke every passing record set last year by Rockets QB Easton Simon, going 28-for-63 for 553 yards and five touchdowns while adding 125 yards and two more scores on the ground. The game total (96) was a record as well as the amount of plays run by both teams (91 by LLM; 67 by NRSM). The total yards of 1,180 was a record as well (Loboes had 689 and Rockets had 491).
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