Lost River’s Connor Dunlea heads upfield as he scores on a 26-yard reception from Chase McAuliffe with 30 seconds left in the first half of a Class 1A 8-man state quarterfinal game against visiting Adrian on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022. The host Raiders won 44-8 to advance.
Lost River’s Connor Dunlea heads upfield as he scores on a 26-yard reception from Chase McAuliffe with 30 seconds left in the first half of a Class 1A 8-man state quarterfinal game against visiting Adrian on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022. The host Raiders won 44-8 to advance.
It's hard to call the Lost River High School football team underdogs, as the Raiders were ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in the Class 1A 8-man ranks throughout the regular season.
But the Raiders seem to thrive when thrust into that role.
They'll try to avenge their lone loss of the season when they meet top-seeded St. Paul at 1 p.m. Saturday at Cottage Grove High in the state championship game.
"I think it's hard to beat someone twice," Raiders quarterback Chase McAuliffe said, referring to his team's 46-32 loss to the host Buckaroos (10-0 overall) on Sept. 17. "We've prepared hard and have high hopes."
Then-No. 1 Lost River took a 10-point lead after one quarter but second-ranked St. Paul rallied for a 30-24 halftime advantage and held on, in part because the Raiders lost two fumbles in the fourth quarter.
"Nobody had stopped anybody," Raiders coach Dennis Dunlea said of the previous meeting. "When we fumbled, they got it back and we kind of got out of our realm a little bit and ran out of time."
The Buckaroos have cruised through the playoffs, defeating Perrydale 62-6 in the quarterfinals and Myrtle Point 46-22 in last week's semifinals as Clay Smith rushed for 197 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries.
The Raiders (10-1), who will be playing in their first state championship game since winning the Class 2A 11-man title in 2004, have faced St. Paul three times since moving to the 8-man ranks three seasons ago. They've lost all three, the others by scores of 36-24 and 54-46.
"We know them so well and have tremendous respect for them," Coach Dunlea said. "They're so much like us."
Those losses will only add a little bit of extra motivation for the Raiders.
They defeated two-time defending state champion Adrian 44-8 in the quarterfinals, the team that knocked them out of the semifinals a season ago.
And in last week's semis, the Raiders defeated previously undefeated Powder Valley 40-14 as McAuliffe threw five TDs passes and rushed for another score. The Badgers were seeded No. 2 for the playoffs and Lost River No. 3, despite the Raiders being first or second in the coaches' poll all season.
"It changed the way we play. We come out with a fire," McAuliffe said of being the underdog. "We knew that Powder Valley was bumped ahead of us and we knew that wasn't right."
The Raiders feel like they have one more thing to avenge Saturday.
"I think we're like 0-3 against (St. Paul)," McAuliffe said. "I hope we can beat them, prove everybody wrong."
