SARTELL – Despite its promising offensive effort, the Bemidji High ÍáÍáÂþ» boys soccer team’s season ended on Tuesday night.
Sartell’s Seth Davidson erased the Lumberjacks’ one-goal lead, scoring in the 26th and 78th minutes to give the Sabres a 2-1 win and a spot in the Section 8-3A Tournament championship game.
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Brady Riley scored his third goal in two postseason games for BHS to open the scoring. He headed in a pass from Reed Johnson in the sixth minute to give the Jacks a 1-0 lead. It came after a handful of high-quality chances for Bemidji in the opening moments.
Sartell’s leading scorer added to his team-high on a penalty kick in the 26th minute. Davidson scored his 19th goal, beating sophomore keeper Kellen Heuer to his right for the equalizer. Charlie Zellmann was flagged for a handball in the penalty area to set up the Sabres a PK chance.
The Lumberjacks finished the first half with seven shots on goal before carrying their offensive momentum into the final 40 minutes. Isaac Stone and Noah Meyer had scoring chances that were thwarted by Sartell keeper Kyan Rieder early in the second half. Stone had another chance while the game was tied but missed wide of the left post.

Stone and Meyer almost connected with roughly 12 minutes left in regulation. Stone crossed a ball to Meyer in front of the Sartell goal before the header bounced wide. Riley followed with a strike that a Sabre deflected to prevent the go-ahead goal. The ensuing corner from Johnson went to Stone, who missed wide again on the far corner.
Despite a significant advantage in shots attempted for BHS, Sartell scored the eventual winner in the 78th minute off a set-piece chance. Marcus Congdon’s free kick went to Davison, who scored with under three minutes remaining. The Jacks finished the game with an 18-5 lead in shots attempted, with 11 of them being on target. Rieder made 10 saves.
Bemidji’s 12-match unbeaten streak snapped on Tuesday, which also ended its six-game clean sheet run. Rick Toward told Joel Hoover on the KBUN postgame show that the Lumberjacks surrendered more than half of their goals on set-piece chances this season. BHS finished with a record of 12-3-3.
Sartell 2, Bemidji 1
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BHS 1 0 – 1
SAR 1 1 – 2
Bemidji – Riley 6’ (Johnson).
Sartell – Davidson 26’ (PK) 78’ (Congdon).
Saves – Heuer (BHS) 1; Rieder 10.