HUNTER, N.D. — The Valley City Hi-Liners saw their season come to an end Friday night with a 24-13 loss to the Northern Cass Jaguars, finishing the year 3-6 overall and 3-4 in Region 1 play.

The game was tightly contested early on. Northern Cass struck first after blocking a punt, setting up a 10-yard touchdown pass from Hudson Rietschel. Valley City responded quickly, as quarterback Hudson Kriewald connected with Derek Shape for a 70-yard touchdown on third down to give the Hi-Liners a 7-6 lead.

The Jaguars answered with a long, methodical drive in the second quarter to reclaim the lead at 12-7 and looked poised to extend it before halftime. However, Valley City’s Jack Dieterle intercepted a pass near midfield to swing momentum. On the ensuing drive, running back Kaleb McClaflin broke free on a fourth-down run to set up first-and-goal at the 1-yard line, and Corbyn Powell powered in for the score to give the Hi-Liners a brief 13-12 lead.

Northern Cass executed a perfectly timed two-for-one sequence, racing down the field to score just before halftime and then finding the end zone again on its opening drive of the third quarter to go up 24-13. From there, the Valley City defense held strong and kept the Jaguars off the board, but the Hi-Liners offense was unable to find a spark in the second half.

With the loss, Valley City narrowly missed the Class A playoffs by one game, closing the 2025 season with a 3-6 record.