On Saturday, the Ray/Powers Lake football season came to an end with a 44-38 loss to the Surrey Mustangs in the second round of the NDHSAA 9B State Playoffs.

The Mustangs took control of the game early and built a 32-8 lead in the second quarter. From that point, RPL’s Jace Nelson and Tyson Enget scored the next three touchdowns to cut Surrey’s lead to 32-30. However, the Outlaws’ comeback bid was thwarted by a consistent Mustang offense that produced a pair of touchdown drives in the fourth quarter.

It was the second meeting of the season between the two clubs as RPL won the first matchup of the year at home on Aug. 27 by a final score of 40-38. While RPL ends the 2021 season with a record of 8-2, Surrey (7-1) will travel to Cavalier for its quarterfinal contest this Saturday.

The Minot Daily News reached out to RPL co-head coach Seth Wisthoff for his thoughts on the game, and what his expectations are heading into 2022. Here is what Wisthoff had to say.

MDN: Surrey had great success early jumping out to a 32-8 lead. What problems did their offense pose for your group?

Wisthoff: Physicality and size, they have a lot of big, strong, physical players and we were not able to match that enough to get stops.

MDN: With 403 rushing yards in the game, what made Surrey’s running game so difficult to stop?

Wisthoff: Senior running back Chris Jenner. He does such a nice job of taking what the defense gives and our guys had a lot of trouble bringing him down.

MDN: Jace Nelson and Tyson Enget made plays later on to keep the game competitive. What was the key to their individual success?

Wisthoff: We had plays from everyone throughout the game that kept us going. We wanted to put our best team effort out on the field. Our guys battled and I was really proud of how they hung around, even though we were down big early.

MDN: What was your message to the team after the season ending defeat?

Wisthoff: Whether we are in season or out of season, our main goal is to help them become men of character. Part of that is learning to handle a loss and moving on with life. We wanted a win really bad, but the loss does not change who we are as people.

MDN: How many seniors will you lose from this year’s team and what are your expectations for the program in 2022?

Wisthoff: We graduate five seniors and most of them were major contributors on our team. We move to 11-man next year, so numbers are going to be important for us going forward and we will have a lot of learning to do. I am excited to see what the next few years have in store for our program.