Cromwell-Wright football is soaring off to the state tournament this week, but they had to secure an upset to get here. Last Thursday the Cardinals knocked off the then-undefeated, top-seeded, reigning state champions Nevis 20-14 to claim the Section 5 9-Man title.

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“I don’t know if we thought that we could outright win, but we all thought that we’d be in the game. And then as the game went on, we were like, ‘Hey, we can do this.’ And our confidence grew as the game went,” head coach Jeff Gronner recalled.

However, the Cardinals were dealt a big blow in that section final. Before the second half their starting quarterback, senior Dylan Nyberg, would leave the game with an injury.

“It was awesome to see them, how they picked up even after the second half, knowing that I went down. In the locker room, I just overheard them, ‘It’s going to be tough’, I mean, playing without me but, ‘you just got to keep your heads up and just keep grinding’,” Nyberg shared.

Trailing 14-6 at halftime, freshman QB Brenden Gronner stepped in and scored one rushing touchdown in the third quarter to trail just 14-12. Then in the fourth, he’d throw the game-winning touchdown to Drew Nyberg making the score 20-14 Cardinals.

“A lot of guys had to step up. Freshman quarterback came in and he really stepped up, played great, and linemen stepped up a lot. It was just a big game for guys making plays,” senior running back/linebacker Brady Dahl said.

Nyberg did suit up and participate in practice on Tuesday, November 5.

No. 3 Cromwell-Wright kicks off their first Class 9-Man State quarterfinal since 2018 on Thursday, November 7 at 7 p.m. They’re facing No. 2 Fertile-Beltrami at Moorhead High School.