Bismarck senior Esley Thorton didn't get to be an all-state quarterback by chance.

That's why it wasn't surprising when Thorton's heads-up play turned a Jake Miller fumble into a 55-yard touchdown run against West Fargo on Saturday in the semifinals of the state Class AAA football playoffs at the Community Bowl.

Thorton's dash, along with two rushing touchdowns and two touchdown passes, carried the Demons to a 42-14 win over West Fargo. The Demons beat the Packers by an identical score in last year's quarterfinals.

The top-ranked Demons (11-0), winners of 21 straight games, will play Fargo South in the title game at the Dakota Bowl in Fargo on Saturday. It will be the third straight time the Class AAA heavyweights will have played for the championship.

"We're glad we made it, but our goal wasn't to make it, but to win it. We've got to finish it out," said Thorton, whose day included 40 yards rushing, 114 yards passing and a hand in five scores.

"We're explosive," Bismarck coach Mark Gibson said. "We've got guys that at any given moment can score from anywhere on the field."

That was evident in Bismarck's latest blowout. Thorton was 7-for-9 passing with TD strikes of 8 yards to Alex Deyle in the first quarter and 50 yards to Carson Winkels in the third. Thorton also scored on runs of 1 and 3 yards.

After being stopped on downs the first time it had the ball, Bismarck scored on six of its next seven possessions. The only time it didn't score was when Thorton was intercepted by Levi Bachmeier late in the second quarter and when the game ended.

Trailing 14-7, the Packers had an opportunity to tie the game after the interception, but a holding penalty killed their chance from inside the Demons' 5-yard line and they missed a field goal with 1:38 left in the half.

Bismarck proceeded to march 80 yards in five plays to go up 21-7 with 53 seconds left in the half.

"It could have been 14-14," West Fargo coach Jay Gibson said. "It's hard to get yards the closer you get, but I was feeling pretty good.

"We had five plays to score and we didn't and then we missed a field goal. They went (80) yards to get a touchdown like nothing. They're really something."

Miller and Thorton accounted for all 80 yards on the heartbreaking drive just before the half. Miller had 60 of his game-high 142 yards on two carries during the series. Thorton ran for the other 20, including the 3-yard score.

Alex Deyle's 8-yard TD catch came on the Demons' second possession of the game after the Packers came up short on fourth-and-1 on their own 41. The Packers converted three of four fourth-down plays.

On the ensuing possession, Bismarck marched 78 yards on 12 plays to go up 14-0 on Thorton's 1-yard run.

West Fargo scored its first TD on a 23-yard option pass from Tyler Lohmann to Austin Nelson with 4:10 left in the half.

The Packers kept the momentum when Bachmeier hauled in Thorton's deep out pass and West Fargo drove down to the Bismarck 5. On second down, a holding penalty moved the ball to the 15 and the Packers never recovered.

In addition to scoring in the waning seconds of the half, Bismarck opened the third quarter with a 50-yard Thorton-to-Winkels touchdown pass on the fifth play of the half.

West Fargo put together a 67-yard scoring drive to get within 28-14 on Bryce Jorgenson's 20-yard pass to Brady Schwartz.

Then it happened.

On second down on Bismarck's next possession, Miller took a straight handoff into the line and the ball was taken away. It wound up back in Thorton's hands and he sprinted down the sideline for a score that sealed the Packers' fate.

"I saw the ball come loose, but I thought Jake was down," Thorton said. "I kind of waited and (the Packers) went for the ball and it popped right up to me. I just ran with it and ended up getting in the end zone."

Mark Gibson said that kind of heads-up play isn't unusual. "The nice thing is we've got playmakers," he said. "The Esley Thorton run was incredible. It was the turning point in the game. They've got a chance to get back in it and it goes the other way. That's incredible. Those things you don't coach. Those skill players have been around for a few years and we're reaping the benefits of that right now."

The Demons ran for 238 yards, including 56 by Channing Mann in the fourth quarter. Mann scored on a 4-yard run with 9:59 left.

At one point, Mann carried 16 of 17 times BHS snapped the ball.

Jay Gibson summed up what many coaches may feel right now.

"We had to play the perfect game because we are an inferior team," he said. "There is not doubt about it."

West Fargo 0 7 7 0 - 14

Bismarck 7 14 14 7 - 42

First Quarter

BHS - Alex Deyle 8 pass from Esley Thorton (Calvin Krueger kick), :44.

Second Quarter

BHS - Thorton 1 run (Krueger kick), 6:34.

WF - Austin Nelson 23 pass from Tyler Lehmann (Scott Salter kick), 4:10.

BHS - Thorton 3 run (Krueger kick), :53.

Third Quarter

BHS - Carson Winkels 50 pass from Thorton (Krueger kick), 9:56.

WF - Brady Schwartz 20 pass from Bryce Jorgenson (Salter kick), 5:41.

BHS - Thorton 55 fumble return (Krueger kick), 3:16.

Fourth Quarter

BHS - Channing Mann 4 run (Krueger kick), 9:59.

Team Statistics

WF BHS

First downs 20 14

Rushes-yards 50-238 23-44

Yards passing 179 114

Passing 15-26-1 7-9-1

Fumbles-lost 2-0 2-0

Punts-average 3-28.5 0-0

Penalties-yards 6-45 4-30

Individual Statistics

Rushing: WF - Bryce Jorgenson 12-9, Jacob Kiefer 8-24, Tyler Lehmann 3-11. B - Esley Thorton 8-40, Jake Miller 21-142, Carson Winkels 1-3, Alex Deyle 1-minus 2, Tyler Vogel 2-3, Channing Mann 16-56, Dillon Lange 1-0.

Passing: WF - Jorgenson 14-25-1, 156 yards; Lehmann 1-1-0, 23 yards. B - Thorton 7-9-1, 114 yards.

Receiving: WF - Zach Neer 4-65, Brady Schwartz 3-46, Austin Nelson 3-47, Kiefer 5-19, Jon Pistorius 1-2. B - Calvin Krueger 1-7, Nick Jolliffe 1-8, Miller 2-41, Winkels 1-50, Deyle 2-8.

Records: West Fargo 7-3, Bismarck 11-0.