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Daquan Moore took off on a 41-yard touchdown run, as fellow Denfeld speedsters Taye Means (33) and twin brother Dashawn Moore (1) watched. Photo by John Gilbert.

The biggest high school football game of the season lived up to the advance billing as Denfeld turned loose its finally fully-assembled herd of swift running backs and used that Hunter Horde to beat East 27-14 Friday night at East-Ordean Field.

Not that the Greyhounds didn’t have their moments to make it exciting and force Denfeld to also show its versatility and defensive abilities to remain undefeated. The story of the game was, as predicted, the assembling of standout junior Taye Manns, the second game of the season for Daquan Moore and the first game for his senior twin brother Dashawn Moore all in the same game.

The Moore brothers had to clear up some eligibility issues before being turned loose, while Manns carried the load impressively to open the season.

At East, Manns started a rush into the line at his own 20, spun free of tacklers and took off, 80 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. In the second quarter, Daquan Moore broke around left end, outflanked the Greyhound defense, and went 41 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead. E

ast battled back and reached the Denfeld 3 yard line with a fourth-and-goal opportunity to cut into the deficit, but KJ Pulliam — who spends much of his time catching passes on offense — came up with a big interception and ran it back almost all the way, which gave Dashawn Moore his chance to flash through the East line, spinning 180 degrees before artfully backing into the end zone. So it was 20-0 at halftime, and all three of the prize running backs had scored a touchdown.

East rallied behind junior Treston Stokes in the second half, when he broke away for a 74-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, and added a 12-yard scoring run to lift the Hounds to a 20-14 deficit, as payoff for gaining control of possession. However, the Hunters clinched it when Manns broke free again, for a 39-yard touchdown run, and the 27-14 final.

The Hunters don’t have much time to celebrate their undefeated start to the season, with victories over Grand Rapids, Pine City and East, because Friday defending section champion North Branch comes to Mark Heikkinen Field to challenge that explosive Denfeld offense.

That was just one of the big sports stories last weekend, and if we can look past the absurd failures of both the Vikings and the Gophers who blew leads and turned certain victories into defeats, we can move on.

For example, the UMD volleyball team suffered its first loss at Romano Gym in Northern Sun action last Friday night, when Northern State was unimpressed when the Bulldogs won the first two sets, and overcame nine match points to win the third, fourth, and decisive fifth sets. The fifth set was to 15 points and not 25, and UMD led 14-11 before Northern got on a roll and won the game and the match. “It was very back and forth,” said UMD coach Jim Boos, “and give Northern credit for coming back and making it exciting. But from the standpoint of a coach, I couldn’t embrace the exciting part.”

Because of an injury, Boos gave freshman Paige Decker a chance to show her skill at outside hitter, and she came through to lead the Bulldogs in kills, and then repeated that feat Saturday night, when the Bulldogs got everything back in sync and whipped Minnesota State Moorhead 25-15, 25-20 and 25-15 for a 3-0 sweep.

Surrounded by impressive balance, Decker had 10 kills, while Cianna Selbitschka, Samantha Paulsen and Hope Schjenken each had 8, and Grace Dark 7, reinforcing the balance scheme that has carried the Bulldogs. “The Northern match was fun — long, but fun,” Decker said. “They played really well. Against Moorhead, we really had our combinations going better, and we were very balanced. In high school, I played only in the middle at Rochester Century, and I never played outside until I got here, and now that’s all I’ve played. I’m gaining confidence every match.”

The Bulldogs will get two more chances to tune their evolving style this weekend, facing Augustana Friday at Romano Gym at 5 p.m., and then taking on Wayne State, which was ranked No. 1 in the nation up until last weekend, at 4 p.m. Saturday.

“It’s good we’ve got them at home,” Decker said.

That will be part of a huge homecoming weekend, highlighted by Saturday’s noon football game against Winona State, followed by the Wayne State volleyball battle. Friday, before the 5 p.m. Augustana volleyball match, the UMD Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held at Weber Music Hall at 7:30, highlighted by a pair of top hockey stars — Jack Connolly, the 2012 Honey Baker winner, on the men’s side, and Caroline Ouellette, a star on the early women’s teams from 2002 through 2005 when winning NCAA titles was almost an annual thing.

The rest of the Hall of Fame cast includes Sara (Belanger) Pepin from 1992-96 women’s basketball; Nicole Dietz from 2001-04 soccer; Joleyn (Young) Hansen from 1988-91 volleyball; Mike Josephson, 1968-72 basketball; Jeff Kaldor, both baseball and football from 1988-91; Morgan (Place) Kowalik from women’s track and field and cross country 2008-12; Dale Kusnierek from track and field and football 1972-76; and russ Rabe, football 2001-04.

Loss of Henry Boucha

The shock will last for a while, after hearing the news that Henry Boucha had died at age 72 from continuing heart problems that had drawn him from Warroad to the Twin Cities for treatment. Covering hockey at every level for 55 years has left some indelible memories, including being in the Metropolitan Sports Center press box for the 1969 state hockey tournament.

Roseau, the Region 8 winner, whipped St. Paul Harding in the first game, and it was time for the second game, between Minneapolis Southwest and Warroad — which had lost to Roseau in the region final but beat Eveleth for the Region 3 “back door” slot in the tournament. It was the second year the tournament was held at Met Center, home of the North Stars, while St. Paul built its new Civic Center with the guarantee of the tournament’s return.

I had already seen Warroad play for a couple of years, which meant I had seen Henry Boucha live up to all the rave previews I had heard, but I wondered how the crowd of 15,000 at Met Center would react when the vast majority of them got their first look at Boucha. It didn’t take long. Southwest got the puck on the opening face-off and threw it deep into the Warroad zone. Boucha, who played both center and defense in big games when he rarely left the ice, skated back to his end boards to retrieve the puck.

The first speedy forechecker from the Southwest Indians raced in, as Henry, almost casually, reached for the puck. Of course, he had already peeked at where the forechecker was, and instead of grabbing possession and running into trouble, he made one deft move — swatting a light backhand of the puck, then spinning to retrieve it with his first powerful strides out of the zone. There was an audible, electrifying gasp, 15,000 strong, and it was gamed-on.

The Warroad Warriors beat the strong Southwest outfit 4-3, then beat arch-rival and neighbor Roseau 3-2 in the semifinals before meeting Edina in the championship game that will never be forgotten by anyone watching, live, or on television. After Edina’s high-speed Hornets beat Moorhead 5-0 and South St. Paul 7-1 to gain the lower-bracket slot in the final, my story in the Minneapolis Tribune foretold that the championship would be between “The Lightning and the Legend.”

It was all of that, but the game is forever shrouded beneath the tragedy that occurred when Edina defenseman Jim Knutson got Boucha lined up for a heavy bodycheck and when he threw the check, his elbow happened to catch Boucha flush on the ear, pinning it into the plexiglass and leaving Boucha crumpled to the ice. The still electrified crowd probably numbered 10,000 cheering for Warroad and the remaining Edina residents and students cheering for the Hornets. The silence was deafening.

I ran downstairs from the press box and around the underground corridor to reach the dressing and training room area and saw Boucha on the training table and a tearful coach Dick Roberts by his side. Boucha was done for the game and his shattered eardrum left him with a long recovery. T

he Warriors, courageously, rallied for their fallen star, and, led by sophomore defenseman Alan Hangsleben, tied the game 4-4, only to lose 5-4 in overtime to the heavily-favored Hornets and their star center, Bobby Krieger, who went on to play at Denver University.

The University of Minnesota was coached by Glen Sonmor, who referred to Boucha as “the Electric Indian” for his Ojibwa heritage. Sonmor got a commitment from Boucha, and had emissaries on the road on signing day to celebrate signing Boucha, Mike Antonovich of Greenway of Coleraine, and Dean Blais of International Falls simultaneously. But Boucha was denied admission at Minnesota, and while Sonmor’s Gophers went on to win the WCHA and reach the NCAA finals, Boucha went north, to play for the Winnipeg Jets in the Western Canada Junior A league.

I made a trip to Winnipeg to chronicle Boucha’s play, as he scored 27 goals-26 assists—for 53 points in 51 games. Boucha entered the U.S. Army and wound up playing for the U.S. National team at the 1971 World Tournament in Bern, Switzerland, and became a stalwart member of the 1972 U.S. team that won the Silver Medal at the Olympics. He was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings, No. 16 overall, in 1971 and was named Red Wings rookie of the year in 1973, his first full season in the NHL.

He was traded to the North Stars for Danny Grant in 1974, but he never attained the great promise every Minnesota hockey fan anticipated was coming soon, because of another tragic occurrence at Met Center.

On January 4, 1975, playing against a Boston Bruins team that always tried to physically intimidate the Stars, a young Bruins winger named Dave Forbes confronted Boucha and the two fought. Both went to the penalty boxes, and when their time was up, they returned to the ice. Forbes, obviously, figured they would fight again, while Boucha skate away toward the action on the ice. Always aware, however, he glance out of the corner of his eye, anticipate Forbes might try to sucker punch him. He was right, but Forbes, who was holding the knob end of his stick in his right hand, threw a roundhouse right that struck Boucha, with the knob hitting Henry in the eye socket. It was horrible.

Henry lost almost all the sight in his eye, and possibly adding to such a tragedy, when Forbes was brought back to Minneapolis for a court hearing for the assault, he was treated like a celebrity by the Twin Cities media. I never knew whether that attitude was a remnant of the discrimination Native Americans always were subjected to or not, but it was disgusting.

Henry tried to come back, playing briefly for Sonmor with the Fighting Saints of the World Hockey Association, as that franchise was folding, and he signed with the Kansas City Scouts, who moved to Denver and became the Colorado Rockies in the NHL. But his impaired vision never allowed a full return of the incredible skills of the Electric Indian.

His memorial service will be Friday at 2 p.m. at Warroad Gardens — fittingly, the hockey arena in Hockeytown, USA. We could call it the House that Henry Built. He will never be forgotten by anyone who ever witnessed his magic.