ST. CLOUD — Grand Meadow junior Christophor Bain doesn’t fumble very often, but even when he does fumble, it may not be a good thing for the Superlarks’ opponent.

Bain fumbled on his first carry of the game against Waubun, but he responded by racking up 229 yards of offense as GM beat Waubun 35-20 in the Class 9 man state semifinals at St. Cloud State University Saturday.

With GM trailing 7-0 in the first quarter, Bain fumbled on the Larks’ first play of the game, but from that point on he was motivated. He broke two tackles at the line of scrimmage before he scampered for a 51-yard touchdown catch on third and 10 on a screen pass to tie the game at 7-7 in the second quarter and Bain put GM up for good when he broke a 56-yard TD run to make it 21-14 Larks in the third quarter.

“I settled down and I needed to play better. I was mad ever since I fumbled,” Bain said. “Coach said I get two on the year and I already fumbled twice already. This was my third one. I had to make up for it somehow.”

GM head coach Gary Sloan said he gave Bain and Zach Myhre a limit of two fumbles each this season because that’s how many fumbles GM grad Landon Jacobson had last season. Even though Bain had an early miscue, Sloan wasn’t about to stop calling his number.

“”With both of those guys, if they make a mistake I almost always give them the ball on the next play. They’re just so driven to make up for that mistake,” Sloan said of Myhre and Bain.

GM’s biggest turnaround came on the defensive side of the ball. After struggling to stop Waubun’s option attack in the first half, the Larks shut down the Bombers (11-1 overall) in the second half when they switched from a 4-3 to a 3-4 defense. Michael Stejskal forced and recovered a fumble that set up Bain’s go-ahead TD run and Bain later picked off a pass and ran it back nine yards for a TD to put GM up 35-14 with 2:20 left in the game.

“We geared everything all week trying to limit [Waubun quarterback Peyton Syverson] and he obviously hurt us, but we kind of underestimated some of their other guys,” Sloan said. “You’ve got to give Waubun a lot of credit. They really played hard. They came out and hit us right in the mouth and I didn’t know if we were going to take it or not.”

Syverson was able to get free for four runs of more than 10 yards in the first half, but he had just one carry of more than 10 yards in the second half and that came on the last play of the game when the outcome had been decided.

“It was tough with their quarterback,” GM defensive lineman Connor King said. “We switched to a 3-4 and that helped a lot to put someone in the middle. Everyone played team defense and did our jobs. We tried to do a good job keeping their guards off our linebackers.”

The Larks will now face off against Underwood (13-0 overall) as they will try and capture their third straight state title 10 a.m. Friday in TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. GM beat the Rockets 20-0 in the state quarterfinals last season and they topped Underwood 28-6 in the state title game in 2013.

GM has now won 35 straight games and it will play in its fourth straight state championship game Friday.

SCORING SUMMARY

Waubun 6 8 0 6 — 20

GM 0 14 7 14 — 35

First quarter

(W) Peyton Syverson (kick failed) (12 plays, 70 yards) 7:21

Second quarter

(GM) Christophor Bain 51 pass from Michael Stejskal (Wes Ojulu kick) (3 plays, 51 yards) 10:23

(W) Syverson 16 run (Darius Woods-Steichen pass from Syverson) (10 plays, 70 yards) 6:14

(GM) Ojulu 9 pass from Stejskal (Ojulu kick) (4 plays, 52 yards) :25

Third quarter

(GM) Bain 56 run (Ojulu kick) (1 play, 51 yards) 5:27

Fourth quarter

(GM) Zach Myhre 1 run (5 plays, 37 yards) 11:02

(GM) Bain 9 interception return (Ojulu kick) 2:20

(W) Syverson 13 run (pass failed) :18

GM STATS

Rushing: Christophor Bain, 19-for-149, TD; Zach Myhre, 11-for-27, TD; Stejskal, 7-for-6

Passing: Stejskal, 7-for-14, 104, 2 TD, INT

Receiving: Bain, 3-for-80, TD; Connor Harston, 2-for-11; Wes Ojulu, 1-for-9, TD; Myhre, 1-for-4

Penalties: 1-for-10

WAUBUN STATS

Rushing: 181

Passing: 93

Penalties: 8-for-53