Mike Kraft/MDN West Fargo Sheyenne quarterback Ethan Visness takes a snap during the first quarter of a Class AAA football game against Minot High at Duane Carlson Stadium on Friday, Sept. 5. Visness tossed the game-winning touchdown with less than a minute remaining in a 31-27 victory.

Minot High was just a few ticks of the clock away from its first win of the season, but with one flick of the wrist from West Fargo Sheyenne quarterback Ethan Visness, that victory was snatched away.

Visness connected with Max Zenker over the middle on a 2nd-and-goal from the 19 for a touchdown with 34 seconds remaining as the Mustangs escaped with a 31-27 victory over the Magicians on Friday, Sept. 5, at Duane Carlson Stadium. It was Visness’ lone touchdown pass of the contest and the defending state champion Mustangs avoided an 0-2 start to the season as a result.

The loss dropped the Magicians to 0-2 for the first time since 2021, a year in which they finished 2-8.

At the time of deadline Friday night, the Magicians and Mustangs were deadlocked at 24 following Ryder Sutton’s first career touchdown pass, a 15-yard strike to James Pollatta with 2:42 remaining in the third quarter. Minot would take the lead on a 42-yard field goal off the leg of Blake Anderson, his second of the contest to go along with a 1-yard touchdown run in the final moments of the first quarter.

Sheyenne’s game-winning drive started at its own 7 yard line with 3:12 left. The Mustangs quickly advanced the ball into Minot territory a minute later and had 1st-and-goal from the 9 with 1:07 left. A holding penalty on the following play pushed Sheyenne back to the 19, but the Mustangs found the end zone two plays later for the game-winning score.

Minot’s final play came at the Sheyenne 35 with 7 seconds to go, but a last-ditch quarterback scramble from Sutton only got him to the 20 as time expired.

The Magicians will look to post their first victory of the season when they host West Fargo on Friday, Sept. 12, at Duane Carlson Stadium at 8 p.m.

Meanwhile, Minot’s Class AA team continues to roll, unfazed by the long bus trip to Fargo. Minot North improved to 2-0 on the season and is proving themselves to be worthy of that No. 1 ranking following a 28-7 victory over Fargo South. Both of Minot North’s victories have come on the road and now they will get the luxury of two straight home games.

Through two games, the Sentinels have outscored their opponents 69-7. Stats for their game against the Bruins were not provided. They will host Grand Forks Red River in their third of four non-conference games on Friday, Sept. 12, at 7 p.m. The Rough Riders are currently ranked fifth in Class AA and knocked off Bismarck St. Mary’s, 14-13, on the road last week.

Class A saw a matchup of No. 1 and No. 5 as top-ranked Langdon easily got past fifth-ranked Harvey-Wells County 36-8. No. 2 Ellendale/Edgeley/Kulm, No. 3 Dickinson Trinity and No. 4 Velva/Drake-Anamoose/Garrison also posted victories. The Aggies bounced back following their loss the previous week, knocking them out of the No. 1 spot. Logan Vincent ran for three touchdowns and Cooper Kittleson tossed two touchdown passes, one to Grady Crawford and another to Reese Steffen in V/D-A/G’s decisive 44-0 victory.

Bottineau remained unbeaten, easily getting by Bishop Ryan, 35-6. The Stars scored the first 35 points of the game, using a couple big plays in the process. Landon Solberg returned a punt 55 yards for a score and Emerson Marum connected with Daniel Morin for a 53-yard touchdown. Marum also ran for a score, and Wyatt Campbell found the end zone twice.

Des Lacs-Burlington continued to highlight its suffocating defense, shutting out Tioga, 40-0, to improve to 3-0. The Lakers have allowed just 14 points so far this season. Tyler Schaefer rushed for two touchdowns, the second going for 60 yards and Easton Andersen and Jayden Davis hauled in touchdown passes of 40 and 50 yards, respectively.

Defensively, the Lakers outscored Tioga 2-0, recording a safety in the first quarter.

Lastly, in 9-man, points were certainly not at a premium between Nedrose and Dunseith. The two teams combined for 106 points in Nedrose’s 70-36 victory. Nedrose put up 30 points in the opening quarter. Kaleb Eggen returned a punt for a 50-yard touchdown to start off the scoring spree. Brickson Burckhard threw for three scores and rushed for two more.

Tiger Lee ran for five touchdowns totaling 61 yards in Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn’s 40-6 victory over Surrey.

Divide County rallied past TGU with 21 unanswered points in a 48-38 victory, outscoring the Titans 27-6 in the fourth quarter. Trailing 31-21 heading into the fourth, Trayven Head scored on a 23-yard touchdown run, but TGU responded with a 57-yard strike to rebuild a 10-point cushion. But Divide County scored three consecutive rushing downdowns of 1, 50 and 20 yards to move to 3-0 on the season and handed TGU its first loss.

TGU threw for 300 yards, while Divide County rushed for 369 yards. Head had 143 yards and four touchdowns on the ground on 23 attempts and Stockton Nelson also eclipsed the century mark, rushing for 121 yards and two scores on 20 attempts.

Oliver Sveet had 263 yards receiving and five touchdowns on seven receptions for TGU.

All five ranked teams in 9-man went unbeaten in Week 3. No. 5 Grant County snuck past Napoleon/Gackle-Streeter, 28-20. The top four teams won their games by a combined score of 251-26.