For the Proctor Rails, seven hours on a bus - one way - was not as bad as 48 minutes on the football field against St. Mary's on Friday.

The Saints ran the Rails out of town, posting a 39-12 win over the team from just outside of Duluth, Minn. Proctor came into the game having gone 22-2 and with two straight section championships in Minnesota's Class AAA.

St. Mary's quarterback Justin Klabunde threw two touchdown passes in the first half, and Tanner Harris - the Saints' other quarterback and safety - sparkled on defense with an interception and blocked punt to set up two other scores as the Saints took a 26-12 halftime lead.

Harris said he took advantage of the opportunity that presented itself when Klabunde was chosen to start behind center.

"We knew we had two quarterbacks, they said they needed me on defense and on special teams," Harris said. "They told me to step up and be a play-maker today."

Harris' clutch play extended into the second half when he recovered a fumble on a muffed punt return to set up Klabunde's 1-yard TD run.

The Saints got into scoring position on a nice catch by Ryan Huber, who had three receptions for 83 yards.

"We've got two quarterbacks in camp and both work very hard," St. Mary's coach Dan Smrekar said. "For depth reasons, we went with Klabunde. We were very pleased with both quarterbacks. Tanner made some great plays at free safety."

Klabunde was 6-for-9 for 109 yards and two touchdowns passing and he ran seven times for 47 yards and a score.

Harris was every bit as valuable as the game was a statistical dead heat that came down to several key plays.

"It comes down to four plays," Proctor coach Derek Parendo said, pointing to fumbles, dropped interceptions and blocked kicks. "You flip those four plays around and it's a different game."

Proctor took the opening kickoff 80 yards in 13 plays to go up 6-0 on Kash Ankarlo's 8-yard run. The Saints kept the drive alive by jumping offside on fourth down. Ankarlo was the Rails' leading rusher with 43 yards on nine carries. As a team, Proctor ran for 131 yards on 44 attempts.

But the Rails returned the favor later when St. Mary's Presley Becker stripped the ball from Proctor's Eric Soberg on a punt return and recovered it on the Rails' 27. On fourth-and 9, later in the drive, Klabunde found Ryan Huber behind the secondary for the go-ahead score.

Early in the second quarter, Harris picked off a terribly underthrown pass at midfield and returned it to the Rails' 22. Four plays later, Isaac Schwab scored on a 2-yard run.

Harris came up big again on Proctor's next possession. Harris raced in untouched from the right end to block a punt to set the Saints up on the Proctor 21. After Klabunde ran 20 yards to the 1, Schwab scored again for a 19-6 lead.

"After the first drive, we did some defensive adjustments, and we got a couple of turnovers," Smrekar said. "And we not only got them, we did something with them."

Proctor cut the deficit to 19-12 with 2:32 left in the half on an 11-play, 77-yard drive. Steve Nelson hung tough in the pocked and connected with Adam LaFontaine for a 36-yard touchdown. Nelson didn't see the score as he was laid out by 295-pound nosetackle Sean Lengenfelder.

Nelson completed 6 of 15 passes for 121 yards. Of those, five went to Reed Olson for 85 yards.

Instead of running out the clock, the Saints took over on their own 34 and picked up three quick first downs. With 30 seconds left, Andrew Carlson scored on a 4-yard pass from Klabunde.

St. Mary's iced it on its first possession on the second half, courtesy of Harris' recovery of a Soberg muffed punt.

John Welk added a late score on a 6-yard run for the Saints.

"It's definitely a nice way to start the season," Harris said. "We came out today and believed we could win."

St. Mary's won despite being outgained 270-253 in total yards.

That gave Parendo something to chew on for at least seven hours.

"It's difficult to come this far," he said. "That's not an excuse, but we just weren't ready. We thought of every scenario since Aug. 5 that could have happened, and this was one of them."

Proctor 6 6 0 0 - 12

St. Mary's 7 19 6 7 - 39

First Quarter

Proctor: Kash Ankarlo 8 run (kick failed), 6:17.

St. Mary's: Ryan Huber 26 pass from Justin Klabunde (Zach Reisenauer kick), 2:31.

Second Quarter

St. Mary's: Isaac Schwab 2 run (kick failed), 9:17.

St. Mary's: Schwab 1 run (run failed), 7:29.

Proctor: Adam LaFontaine 36 pass from Steve Nelson (kick failed), 2:32.

St. Mary's: Andrew Carlson 4 pass from Klabunde (Reisenauer kick), :30.

Third Quarter

St. Mary's: Klabunde 1 run (kick failed), 8:55.

Fourth Quarter

St. Mary's: John Welk 6 run (Reisenauer kick), 6:21.

Team Statistics

Proctor St. Mary's

First downs 14 11

Rushes-yards 44-131 41-144

Yards passing 139 109

Passing 7-17-1 6-9-0

Fumbles-lost 2-2 1-0

Punts-average 2-28.0 4-38.0

Penalties-yards 7-55 7-40

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Proctor Steve Nelson 11-35, Patrick Everson 1-2, Jake Hanson 1-1, Eric Soberg 10-29, Kash Ankarlo 9-43, Reece Lamppa 1-5, Jay Carlson 2-3, Shawn Wilta 6-11, Ira Kaldahl 1-(minus 1), Luke Nikko 1-3, Tyler Haedrich 1-0. St. Mary's Justin Klabunde 7-47, Brock Krumm 2-(minus 7), Isaac Schwab 11-31, John Welk 8-28, Andrew Carlson 9-30, Ben Schwieters 2-6, Lance Becker 1-0, Tanner Megal 1-9.

Passing: Proctor Nelson 6-15-1, 121 yards; Oraskovich 1-2-0, 18 yards. St. Mary's Klabunde 6-9-0, 109 yards.

Receiving: Proctor Reed Olson 5-85, Everson 1-18, Adam LaFontaine 1-36. St. Mary's Ryan Huber 3-83, Matt Chuppe 1-12, Welk 1-10, Carlson 1-4.

Records: Proctor 0-1, St. Mary's 1-0.