Note: This is the full story from Oct. 12.
On a night that featured two shining stars, one shone just a little brighter. Entering the Oct. 7 gridiron clash at Malcolm between No. 10 Lincoln Lutheran and the fourth-ranked Clippers, the quarterback that had the better night was probably going to determine the outcome.
Turns out, it was Hayden Frank’s night as the senior signal caller played a part in all seven of Malcolm’s touchdowns while racking up 369 yards of offense as he led his team to a 51-34 win in a battle for first place in the district.
While Frank was the story by the end of the night, Garret Hoefs wrote the first chapter. The Lutheran senior wasted no time marching his team down the field as he engineered a five-play, 69-yard drive that took just 56 seconds off the clock.
When the Clippers’ first drive ended with a punt, Hoefs went to work again and drove his team back down the field on a scoring drive that ended in a 30-yard connection to Jonny Puelz to give the Warriors a 14-0 lead.
“We told our guys all week that they’d come out on fire and we’d face adversity,” Malcolm head coach Scott Amen said. “It didn’t surprise us that they scored fast.”
The Clippers settled in and put together a long drive to close out the first quarter. Three plays into the second quarter, Malcolm turned the ball over on downs when a fourth down pass slipped through the hands of Dalton Amen in the end zone.
Lutheran tried to go for the kill on the next play, but Hoefs under threw Jameson Pella and Frank picked it off, then broke several tackles on a 37-yard return for a touchdown.
“That was the spark we needed,” Amen said. “Our backs were kind of against the wall.”
After a Lutheran punt, Malcolm got the ball back at midfield. On the third play of the drive, Frank found Dalton Amen behind the defense and connected with the junior wideout for a 32-yard touchdown to tie the game.
With under a minute to play in the half, Gabe Schmidt picked off Frank and returned it 38 yards to the Malcolm 35-yard line. Two plays later, another Hoefs to Puelz connection gave the lead back to the Warriors.
Knowing they would receive the kick to open the second half, the Malcolm coaches had a choice to make about what to do with the final 17 seconds of the half.
“We talked about playing it safe and taking a knee,” Amen said. “But, I told Cole (Gore) to go for it.”
The offensive coordinator dialed up a good one as he sent Logan McGreer down the left sideline and Frank uncorked a ball that flew more than 50 yards and caught the speedy sophomore in stride for an 80-yard touchdown.
“That was a great catch by Logan and perfect ball from Hayden,” Amen said. “With Logan’s speed, once he’s in open space, there aren’t many that can catch him.”
Frank added two points on a conversion run to send Malcolm to the break with a 22-21 lead.
The Clippers held onto the momentum as they needed just four plays to find the end zone on a drive that featured a 19-yard rumble from Colt Reiling before Frank went 43 yards down the sideline to take a nine-point lead.
The Warriors kept it close with another touchdown midway through the third quarter when Hoefs hit Cole Reilly on a three-yard toss.
It was all Malcolm the rest of the way as Frank ran it in three more times with runs from 12, 21 and five yards. The Concordia basketball commit tallied 189 yards on the ground on 18 carries along with 180 through the air on eight completions.
“I can’t think of a time we’ve ever had anyone close to that many yards or that many touchdowns in one game,” Coach Amen said. “He’s got so much fight in him and he wants to win so bad.
“But, Hayden would be the first to tell you, he can’t do it alone. Our line played great on both sides of the ball. Colt came in and ran really hard after Lucas (Christensen) went down. That’s the best I’ve ever seen him run. Our defense settled in and contained their quarterback after the first quarter. It took the whole team.”
Malcolm (7-0) hopes to remain unbeaten when it travels to Centennial (3-4) Friday night.
“No matter what the records are, they always play us tough,” Amen said. “They have a solid quarterback and we’ll have to work hard to keep him contained. It’s never easy against them.”
