Dueling orthodontic advertisements stripe the bottom of Hill Murray’s football scoreboard.
On Saturday, the Pioneers delivered a proverbial kick in the teeth to Johnson in a Class 4A, Section 3 semifinal, rolling to a 59-18 victory.
Grady Buettner rushed 10 times for 160 yards and three touchdowns and Brayden Hartmann completed 8 of 14 passes for 114 yards and three scores as the Pioneers led 38-12 at the half.
Hill-Murray (8-1) scored on each its first-half possessions against a foe that tackled poorly and played without injured, lynchpin center Noah Yang for a third consecutive game.
Johnson had minus-31 rushing yards on 15 attempts. Ali Farfan completed 9 of 19 pass attempts for 216 yards and a touchdown.
The senior, who ran for an 11-yard touchdown, was repeatedly sacked before being replaced by freshman Sayvon Darrough, who competed 4 of 11 throws for 49 yards and an intreception.
“We’ve got a good, young group on defense, but we got out butt kicked against Byron,” said Hill-Murray coach Robert Reeves, whose 8-1 team lost to the Bears and their 26-man senior class by 36 points in September. “That’s a good way to learn about your team, and we made adjustments.”
Reeves said the Pioneers’ defense added a lineman for a five-man front and went with man-to-man coverage on the back end.
“We’ve got some good athletes up there who can come off the edge and in the secondary,” the coach said. “We’re not the biggest team but we’re quick and explosive. We figured we’d lock (receivers) up and get after the quarterback.”
Johnson’s 18 points are the most the Pioneers have surrendered outside of that Byron contest this season. The Governors (6-3) also scored on a 72-yard Farfan pass to Anthony Stevenson and a 91-yard kickoff return by Rickie Thomas.
Johnson senior Justice Moody caught four passes for 98 yards and again impressed Reeves after facing him for a third consecutive year.
“He told me after the game he’s not being recruited for college, and I think that’s a shame,” said the former Gophers assistant. “He can play at any level in the state of Minnesota, because he’s explosive and dynamic. I’m going to use my connections to get his name out there, because he’s good.”
Johnson coach Richard Magembe, a former St. Cloud State player at the NCAA Division II level, said he believes the smaller-statured Moody has been overlooked less because of his size and more because of the erroneous belief that the St. Paul City Conference isn’t fertile recruiting ground.
“People write the city off and assume there’s no talent here, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth,” Magembe said. “It’s here, but you have to be wiling to look. Justice shows up in games against any opponent and his grades are fine. He needs a fair evaluation, because I played with guys his size who had success in college.”
Hill-Murray, top-seeded in the section, hosts second-seeded South St. Paul (8-1) on Friday in the section final. The Packers beat Chisago Lakes 30-10 in their section semifinal. Hill-Murray beat South St. Paul 35-14 in the regular season meeting last month.
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