Imagine trailing by a score of 56-6 at halftime in a high school football game. The game is over, right? Not if you’re at the North St. Paul Polars.
That’s the situation the Polars found themselves in Thursday against Hill-Murray. Then the unbelievable happened. North St. Paul scored twice to cut the deficit to 56-18, only to have Hill-Murray strike back with a score to lead 63-18 late in the third.
Dead? Not yet.
North St. Paul scored to make it 63-24 and then on the next possession the Pioneers fumbled and the Polars recovered inside the 10-yard line. After a 5-yard penalty the Polars scored on a touchdown pass to 6-foot-3 sophomore receiver Duke King.
Trailing 63-32 entering the fourth quarter, the Polars kept clawing.
Hill-Murray had a 2nd-and-goal situation from the 1-yard line and the Polars found a way to stuff them and force a turnover on downs. Then from their own 1-yard line, North St. Paul marched the length of the field and scored again (plus the 2-point try) to make it 63-40.
Down by 23, the Polars recovered an onside kick and on the first play of the ensuing drive sophomore quarterback Elijah Adzimahe hit Jeremiah Manley for a 45-yard catch-and-run touchdown. Another 2-point conversation made the score 63-48 with about two minutes left in the game.
“If you would’ve told me at halftime we’d be at a two possession with two minutes left, I would’ve wondered what you were smoking here in Minnesota,” said Pat Barrett, who was announcing the game on NSPN.TV.
The Polars didn’t recover their next onside kick attempt but the Pioneers fumbled and the Polars recovered with 1:45 to go. Four plays later Adzimahe took a high snap and sprinted to the right for a 37-yard touchdown, cutting the deficit to 63-54.
But time ran out on the Polars. They didn’t recover the next onside kick and Hill-Murray was able to run out the clock and survive the epic comeback. Still, this one fell just short of being one of the great comebacks in Minnesota sports history.
Adzimahe had his fingerprints on all seven North St. Paul touchdowns. He passed for three scores and his four rushing touchdowns came on just 10 carries for an eye-popping 183 yards.
Manley had two catches for 118 yards. Both went for long touchdowns. King had five receptions for 124 yards and a touchdown.
It’s been a roller coast season for the Polars. They shut out Minneapolis Roosevelt in the season opener and then lost 44-0 to Rochester John Marshall. In Week 3 they scored with 20 seconds remaining to top DeLaSalle 34-29 and then got blanked 32-0 by South St. Paul in Week 4.
North St. Paul takes on Simley next while Hill-Murray takes its three game winning streak to the field against South St. Paul.
