The Daily News

Wahpeton head football coach Mike McCall said his team achieved one of their goals for the season Tuesday night as the No. 1 ranked Huskies closed out their regular season schedule unbeaten after winning 40-0 over the Valley City Hi-Liners at Frank Vertin Field in Wahpeton.

"This is where we wanted to be. It was one of our goals," McCall said. "I told the kids before the game to go out and have fun. And I think offensively and defensively, we did what we wanted to do and when we wanted to do it."

The Huskies scored on their first possession of the game.

Devin Jilek (5) takes the snap from center while Ryan Smith stands to his left. Smith ran for four touchdowns as Wahpeton finished their regular season schedule with a 40-0 win over Valley City. Wahpeton was unbeaten in the regular season and start the playoffs Oct. 31. photo by Scott Sorum • Daily News Advertisement

Ryan Smith, who finished the game with 220 yards rushing on 17 carries, scored the first of his four touchdowns on the night at 7:02 of the first quarter.

Smith capped the Huskies' drive with an 8-yard run and the Huskies had their first points of the night.

Smith ran in the two-point conversion and Wahpeton led 8-0.

The Huskies defense forced a Hi-Liners punt after only three Valley City offensive plays.

Starting from their own 30 yard line, Smith got the ball again and ran 70 yards on the first play from scrimmage to give Wahpeton a 14-0 lead with 5:23 remaining in the first quarter.

The two-point conversion was no good.

Valley City started to move the ball on their next drive.

The Hi-Liners converted on a fourth down, but eventually had to punt after crossing into Huskies' territory.

In the second quarter, Wahpeton got the ball near mid-field.

With Cody Zarak, Bryce Wetzel and Kyle Houle balancing the Huskies' running attack, they gained yards into Hi-Liners' territory.

Then Smith broke free along the right sideline and finished the drive with his third touchdown of the half, this time from 31 yards out.

Evan McCall hit Justin Formaneck on the two-point conversion and Wahpeton had a 22-0 lead.

Wahpeton went into the halftime break with a 28-0 lead after Smith scored again from 17 yards out with 2:16 left in the half.

The Huskies defense created a turnover in the third quarter.

After recovering a fumble, the Huskies drove the field and Houle scored from three yards out to give Wahpeton a 34-0 lead.

The Huskies scored one more touchdown in the fourth quarter to lead 40-0 and create a continuous clock situation.

Valley City tried to mount a drive in the closing minute of the game, but the Huskies defense wanted to maintain their shutout.

The Hi-Liners took a time out with five seconds remaining in the game and the ball on the Wahpeton 6-yard line.

They tried one last running play that came up short of the goal line and the Huskies had their shutout and their 9-0 regular season finish.

"We did a lot of things tonight to get ourselves ready for the playoffs," McCall said. "We played a lot of people and we got a lot of things set. I'm very comfortable with where we're at going into the playoffs."

The Huskies will open the playoffs with a home game against Bismarck St. Marys.

The time and location of the game has not yet been determined.

Huskies stats:

Rushing:

Smith 17-220-4

Houle 11-44-1

Wetzel 3-22

Zarak 2-9

Hagen 1-4-1

Passing:

McCall 2-4-28

Jilek 1-2-6

Smith 1-1-23

Receiving:

Formaneck 1-25

Kline 1-23

Weisz 1-6

Ralph 1-3

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