Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

MONONA – Jason Dumont knows the look of a championship football team.

Helping Regina claim seven state titles as the Regals’ defensive coordinator before becoming head coach Dumont has had an inside look at how a title team looks.

Dumont believes he watched another championship caliber team on Friday.

Fourth-ranked MFL Mar Mac rushed for 253 yards on its way to a 22-7 win over No. 5 Regina on Friday in a Class 1A quarterfinal in Monona.

“We knew they were good and I would be very surprised if they are not in the championship game frankly,” Dumont said of MFL Mar Mac. “Of all the championships we won, and the semifinals and the runner-up’s I honestly believe that team we just played is better probably three or four of the teams we played in championship games, they are that good.”

Wyatt Powell rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns as MFL Mar Mac (10-1) snapped a string of four consecutive quarterfinal losses while advancing to the semifinals for the first time in program history.

MFL Mar Mac will play second-ranked Underwood (10-1) in the 1A semifinals on Friday at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

Regina closed the season 9-2.

“Our kids played their butts off and you are always going to have that at Regina,” Dumont said. “That’s just part of the tradition here sometimes you just run into a guy with a bigger stick and they had a bigger stick tonight.”

Each team had just one possession in a fast-moving first quarter.

Regina senior Jackson Naeve picked off a Elias Hatt pass at the Regina 1 yard line to end a MFL Mar Mac threat on the game’s opening possession.

Starting at its own 1 on its first possession Regina marched to the Bulldog six yard line but had to settle for a 35 yard field goal and couldn’t convert.

“We open up and get a stop and have a really good drive and get down here and we miss a field goal and when you play a team like this you are going to have to play a perfect football game,” Dumont said. “I was proud of the kids and the way they battled, we did a lot of really good things but when you play a team like this you have to do everything perfect and we knew that coming in.”

MFL opened the scoring when Powell got loose on a third-and-three play, broke several tackles and raced 63 yard for a touchdown.

The 220-pound Powell, who has played the last 10 games with a broken hand, rushed for his 144 yards on 21 carries.

“They are big, they are physical and listen, they don’t do anything fancy but when we got back and watch the film I guarantee we are in the right positions and you just can’t tackle some of their guys,” Dumont said. “(Powell), you just can’t tackle him he’s that good.”

Following the Powell touchdown run Brandon Christofferson picked off a Gentry Dumont pass on the ensuing Regina possession.

The Bulldogs marched 35 yards in nine plays converting on three third downs and took a 15-0 lead on a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Carver Blietz-Bentien.

Regina had five first-half penalties to go with the interception while falling into a 15-0 halftime hole.

“We shot ourselves in the foot a lot,” Gentry Dumont said. “We played well up front, we played well defensively but against good teams it’s just who makes the little mistakes and we made some of those mistakes.”

Regina lost a fumble on the opening play of the second half and had its next three possessions end on punts or turn over on downs.

“Against a team that really controls the ball you have to capitalize on every drive,” Regina senior Jackson Naeve said. “We messed up a few things, we didn’t play our best but hats off to them they are a great team.”

MFL Mar Mac took a 22-0 lead when Powell capped a 7-play, 28-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run with 10:36 remaining.

Regina got on the board when Dumont hit Ty Joss with a 13-yard touchdown pass with 4:10 remaining but MFL Mar Mac got three first downs on its next possession to run out the clock.

“They are a really good team,” Naeve said. “They’re good, they are physical and honestly it was just their night.”

Dumont completed 19-of-27 passes for 160 yards with Joss making five receptions for 81 yards.

Freshman Tate Wallace had six receptions for 28 yards and Naeve caught three passes for 17 yards.

“They need to be very, very proud of the way we ended up, I think they lost to a team that’s probably going to be in the championship game and they played extremely good football,” Jason Dumont said. “I couldn’t be more proud of them we just ran into a buzz saw tonight.”

                                      ICR                 MFL

First downs                11                    14

Rushes-yards             18-36               50-253

Comp-Att-Int             19-27-1           3-7-1

Passing yards             160                  36

Total yards                196                  289

Punts-avg.                  3-29.3              1-51

Fumbles-lost              1-1                   1-0

Penalties-yards         5-33                 5-57

Regina                        0   0   0  7  –   7          

MFL Mar Mac          0  15  0  7  –  22

MFL – Wyatt Powell 63 run (Powell run)

MFL – Carver Blietz-Bentien 1 run (Benjamin Krambeer kick)

MFL – Powell 4 run (Krambeer kick)

ICR – Ty Joss 13 pass from Gentry Dumont (Cash Hatfield kick)

Individual statistics

RUSHING – Regina: Jackson Naeve 7-22, William Aitchison 3-13, Gentry Dumont 8-1. MFL Mar Mac: Wyatt Powell 21-144, Quinn McGeough 15-55, Bryce Radloff 5-39, Carver Blietz-Bentien 8-24, Brandon Christofferson 1-(-9).

PASSING – Regina: Gentry Dumont 19-27-1 160. MFL Mar Mac: Carver Blietz-Bentien 3-6-0 36, Elisa Hatt 0-1-1 0.

RECEIVING – Regina: Tate Wallace 6-28, Ty Joss 5-81, Alex Jensen 3-26, Jackson Naeve 3-17, Andrew Greve 1-8, William Aitchison 1-0. MFL Mar Mac: Brandon Christofferson 1-32, Hunter Christofferson 1-2, Wyatt Powell 1-2.

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