By Kate Almquist

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 Behind the story

On this date in 1969, Shanley High School’s football team overcame a 24-0 deficit, capitalizing on South’s five fumbles, to rally for a 28-24 victory and extend its winning streak to 49 games.

Here is the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:

By Dan Nelson, Staff Writer

Shanley “recovered” from an early 24-0 deficit to turn back an enthused Fargo South 28-24 for its 49th consecutive high school football win at Fargo High Stadium Friday afternoon.

The four-point margin of victory in the Eastern Dakota Conference battle was the narrowest since the Deacons began their streak in 1964. And the 24-point lead Coach Sam Neis’ South Bruins built with only a minute gone in the second quarter was the biggest advantage any team has had on Shanley in five seasons.

But five crucial fumbles by South halted a pair of Bruin drives and provided Coach Sid Cichy’s squad with three touchdowns and the come-from-behind win.

Shanley used a pair of fumble recoveries to pull to within 24-14 at the half and utilized three more South fumbles to win in the second half.

South took the second-half kickoff but on first down Dale Sundby fumbled and Doug Fischer recovered for Shanley on the Bruin 38.

Quarterback Mike Pendergast found Rod Kern on a 12-yard pass but the Bruins held and Shanley faced a 4th-and-9 on South’s 25. Bruin fullback Chuck Deutsch bulled through the right side of South’s defense for 12 yards. Three plays later Deutsch went over from eight yards out and Shanley trailed 24-22.

Following Shanley’s kickoff Sundby again fumbled on first down and Jeff Baer recovered for the Deacons on the Bruin 12 and Deutsch picked up 11 yards to the one. On the next play Deutsch scored and Shanley had its first lead at 28-24.

Shanley couldn’t muster a drive in the fourth quarter but South couldn’t take advantage of its scoring opportunities either.

The Bruins got the ball on their own 27 with 4:30 left but on first down from the 49 Sundby’s pitchout intended for McLaughlin was fumbled and Fischer recovered for Shanley ending any chance of a score.

South got the ball back on its 42 with 2:17 remaining but Jim Lynch broke up a fourth-down pass from McLaughlin to Sundby on the flea-flicker and Shanley took over.

South had bolted to a 16-0 first-quarter lead behind the brilliant quarterbacking of Sundby. Making his first start for South in several outings, Sundby hit Carl Oberholtzer with an 11-yard touchdown pass with 8:27 left in the first quarter and ran for the two-point conversion and an 8-0 Bruin lead.

But a 55-yard kickoff return and a 22-yard run by Shanley’s Deutsch put the Deacons on South’s 16. It looked as if the Deacons would even the tally.

Scott Persiel and Terry Quenette teamed to stop Kern on a third-and-goal from the 3. Quenette then threw Deutsch for a one-yard loss on fourth down. South quickly caught Don White on fourth down.

Sundby connected with Tom Lechner on 3rd down for 18 yards and three plays later Steve Jasch for 24 yards to set up the touchdown territory moving to Shanley’s four-yard line. Sundby’s 17-yard pitchout to McLaughlin flipped to Deutsch and South scored.

Deutsch put the Deacons within 41 seconds of the half on a 19-yard touchdown. Sundby ran the conversion and with 11:02 left in the half the Bruins had a 24-0 lead.

Shanley got on the board in short order scoring a pair of touchdowns within 41 seconds to pull to 24-14 at the half.

Deutsch ran over three South tacklers for a 19-yard touchdown with 9:05 left in the half. On the ensuing kickoff McLaughlin fumbled and Fischer recovered for Shanley on the South 24. Deutsch picked up eight yards before Pendergast connected with end Al Danielski on a 16-yard touchdown pass.

A 50-yard South drive was halted with only two minutes left in the half when Sundby fumbled while trying to pass and Danielski recovered for Shanley.

Deutsch was the leading ground-gainer for the Deacons rushing for 172 of Shanley’s 201 yards. The workhorse fullback carried the ball 24 times for a 7.2-yard per carry average.

Oberholtzer picked up half of South’s 145 yards on his 71-yard touchdown scamper. He rushed 13 times in the game for 73 yards. Sundby picked up 46 yards on the ground but was thrown for 23 yards in losses. He also was dropped in his own backfield four times.

South held a definite statistical edge in the first half picking up 12 first downs to Shanley’s three. The Bruins rolled up 145 yards rushing while holding Shanley to 119. But two first-half fumbles had enabled Shanley to stay in range of the high-flying Bruins.

In the second half South lost three more fumbles, gained only 29 yards on the ground and eventually finished with a minus-16 yards rushing. The Deacons gained 82 yards passing in the game on 6-for-12 attempts in 10 tries. Pendergast hit on seven of 15 attempts in the contest for 95 yards. South picked up 15 first downs while Shanley — without a first down in the fourth quarter — had 11 for the game.

Shanley, 4-0 in the Eastern Dakota Conference and 5-0 for the season, hosts the No. 3-ranked Wahpeton Wops at Jack Williams Stadium Friday night. South, 1-2-2 in the EDC and 1-3-1 overall, hosts Grand Forks Red River.

Scoring Summary

• South — Oberholtzer 11 pass from Sundby (Sundby run), 8-0
• South — Peinovich 17 run (McLaughlin run), 16-0
• South — Oberholtzer 71 run (Sundby run), 24-0
• Shanley — Deutsch 19 run (Kern run), 24-8
• Shanley — Danielski 16 pass from Pendergast (pass failed), 24-14
• Shanley — Deutsch 6 run (White run), 24-22
• Shanley — Deutsch 1 run (run failed), 28-24

Statistics