Comets Grind Out 14–8 Road Win in Season Opener
A year ago, the Comets learned how far toughness could take them. Friday night in New Folden, they showed they really haven’t forgotten that lesson, and the new-look Comets are picking up where they left off last year.
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy opened 2026 with physical, patient football that showed great resilience and determination. The Comets built a two-score lead, absorbed a second-half charge from Northern Freeze, and then leaned on their defense to finish a hard-earned 14–8 road victory. It wasn’t flashy, but it seemed to be exactly the kind of win Head Coach Korey Fry was looking for. “This was old-school football at its best…Northern Freeze came ready to play tonight. They were physical at the point of attack, challenged us for four quarters, and made us earn everything. This was a grind-it-out football game, and I’m proud of the way our guys responded.”
The Comets left New Folden Friday night with 174 passing yards, four defensive sacks and a second-half defensive stand to survive a physical season opener. For most of the first half, Hillcrest had to earn every yard. The teams played a scoreless opening quarter before quarterback Sam Swensen finally broke through with a 15-yard touchdown run in the second. Swensen then hit Maverick Peterson on the conversion for an 8–0 lead. Later in the quarter, Swensen found Isaac Hamilton for an 11-yard touchdown pass, sending the Comets into halftime ahead 14–0.
Swensen finished 13-of-24 for 174 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. Peterson emerged as Hillcrest’s biggest downfield weapon, catching four passes for 88 yards, an average of 22 yards per reception. Micah Rasmussen added four catches for 58 yards, while Hamilton caught two passes for 21 yards and the touchdown.
The passing game mattered because running room was difficult to find. Hillcrest carried the ball 25 times for only 46 yards. Rasmussen led the Comets with 30 yards on 11 carries, while Eli Walkup added 29 yards on 10 attempts. Swensen’s three carries produced only five net yards, but one of them was the critical 15-yard scoring run. Northern Freeze attacked the game from the opposite direction.
The Freeze ran 37 times for 154 yards and leaned heavily on Trig Anderson, who finished with 89 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. Kelby Augustine added 70 yards on 11 attempts. But while Northern Freeze had success moving the ball on the ground, Hillcrest nearly erased its passing game completely. The Freeze completed only three of seven passes for 25 yards. That imbalance became the story of the second half.
Northern Freeze opened the third quarter with its best offensive push of the night. Anderson capped the drive with a 15-yard touchdown run, and Avynn Ryba caught the conversion from Alex Bray to cut the Hillcrest lead to 14–8. From there, the Comets’ defense took over.
Hillcrest finished with four sacks for 23 yards in losses and held Northern Freeze scoreless the rest of the way. Eli Walkup led the defense with eight tackles and a sack, while Drake Veldhouse finished with 7.5 tackles. Isaac Hamilton recorded 4.5 tackles and a sack, Maverick Peterson added 4.5 tackles and a half sack, and Levi DeYounge contributed 1.5 sacks. Freshman Jude Moline also recorded four tackles in his varsity debut.
Northern Freeze managed 11 first downs, converted just two of nine third downs and only one of 10 fourth-down attempts. Hillcrest’s defense repeatedly forced the Freeze off the field despite Northern Freeze holding the statistical edge in rushing yards.
Special teams also quietly helped the Comets maintain field position. Xander Knutson averaged 39.5 yards on two punts, including a long of 42, while Peterson and Rasmussen combined for 30 yards on three punt returns.
The Comets finished with 12 first downs, 220 total offensive yards and 174 yards through the air. Northern Freeze produced 179 total yards, with 154 of them coming on the ground. Neither team turned the ball over. The difference came in the moments that mattered most: Hillcrest made its two first-half touchdowns stand, pressured the quarterback four times for sacks and kept Northern Freeze off the scoreboard for the final quarter and a half.
Fry noted that there is plenty to sharpen following the Comets’ first game. Hillcrest was flagged eight times for 45 yards, converted only three of 14 third downs and battled cramps through much of the second half. Fry made no attempt to hide those shortcomings. “Was it perfect? Absolutely not,” he said. “Those are areas we have to clean up.” But opening games have a way of revealing things that are deeper than big plays and defensive execution. They show how a team reacts when momentum shifts and legs get heavy, often revealed when an opponent refuses to disappear.
Hillcrest was challenged physically by Northern Freeze, and the pressure and precision challenged them mentally and physically. But, the Comets never broke. “There is something to be said about finding a way to win when things aren't perfect,” Fry said. “Tonight our guys were challenged physically. They were challenged mentally. They had to protect a six-point lead on the road against a team that kept coming. And they found a way.”
That is a promising place for the 2026 Comets to begin. And, as Fry put it, now the work continues. “We’ll enjoy the win tonight. Then we go back to work.”