Bemidji Football Looks to Finish Strong Against Alexandria in Section 8AAAAA Championship

“Finish!”

That’s the name of the game for Bemidji football this week as they head into the Section 8AAAAA championship against top seed Alexandria. The Lumberjacks faced the Cardinals back on October 3rd and had a 12-point lead heading into the 4th quarter, but they could not hold on, falling by 1-point, 36-35.

In fact, the Jacks either led or were tied in three of their four losses, and led in the second half in the other. But this past weekend in the section semifinals, the Jacks dug in their cleats late to finish strong and shut out Sartell.

“We got hit with a lot of adversity that game,” said senior defensive back Nick Strand. “Being able to fall back to our training, like our coaches say, and finishing that game, it shows us and everyone else that we can do it in this game, too. It’s my third year on varsity and we haven’t made it this far, so I’m excited to see what our team can do.”

“It’s really exciting,” added senior slot Miles Gish. “I mean, section championship on Halloween night? How much better can it get? We’re definitely capable of beating them. We all know that we can. We just got to execute. And that’s what we work for all summer, all off-season. And yeah, it would mean a lot.”

Alexandria has ended Bemidji’s season three of the past four years, one of those also being in the section title game. The last time the Lumberjacks won their section and made the state tournament was 2018.