November 4, 2004 at 7:50 a.m.
Despite Chisago comeback, 'Cats fall to Knights in section playoffs
Despite Chisago comeback, 'Cats fall to Knights in section playoffs
The Wildcats, looking to avenge the 63-24 homecoming loss at the hands of the Knights in September, came ready to play. They stopped the Knights’ first possession at three and out. After the ensuing punt, the ‘Cats drove 44 yards in ten plays, capped off by a three-yard run by senior quarterback Mike Tschida for the touchdown. The extra point attempt sailed wide left, but the Wildcats were off to a quick 6-0 lead.
The Knights, however, responded on their next possession. On third and four from their own 36-yard line, quarterback Tyler Krutzig completed a 43-yard pass to wide receiver John Arlt to make it first and ten from the Chisago 21. Knights’ running back Dan Haller went 7 yards on fourth and one from the 12 and scored on the next play to put the Knights ahead 7-6.
A 33 yard kickoff return by sophomore David Willhite was wiped out by a penalty, and the Wildcats began their next drive at their own 17. But the ‘Cats again started to move the ball. Tschida hit sophomore running back Zach Sill with a 19 yard pass. Sill then rushed for 12 and 14 yards on the next two plays, and it looked like the Wildcats were poised to score again. The St. Michael defense stiffened, though, and the drive stalled on the Knight 38-yard line.
Despite pinning the Knights back on their own three yard line after a Devin Swanberg punt, the Knights went into big play mode again. On the first play after the punt, Krutzig hit Nic Wacker for 60 yards to pull the Knights out of the hole and into Wildcat territory at the 37. Krutzig took it in himself seven plays later.
St. Michael was building momentum.
The Knights forced the Wildcats to punt again on their next possession, giving them back the ball. Two plays in, on second and nine, Krutzig hooked up with Arlt again, this time for 63 yards to put the ball at the Wildcat four-yard-line. Ron Fricke scored on the next play to make the halftime score 21-6 in favor of St. Michael.
“St. Michael is a big play team,” said Bill Weiss, Chisago Lakes head football coach. “They did the same thing against Milaca last week. It says a lot about their abilities when they’re able to convert those plays even though you know what’s coming.”
Trailing by 15, Chisago Lakes stormed back thanks to their running game.
The Wildcats came out and played inspired football in the third quarter. They took the opening kickoff and drove to the Knights’ 44-yard-line behind the running of Sill and junior fullback C.J. Hoffman.
On first down from the 44, Tschida kept the ball, ran to the left and found daylight. Once he got out into the open, he only had one man to beat. The Knight defender dove for the Wildcat quarterback at the 5, but Tschida managed to step just inside the front pylon for the score. Devin Swanberg converted the extra point to bring the Wildcats to within eight points.
Down 21-13, on the ensuing kickoff, ‘Cats senior Lukas Anderson stripped the ball from the Knight return man and recovered the ball on the Knights’ 28-yard-line. Looking to trim the gap even further, on third and five from the 23, Tschida hit Hoffman for 14 yards and a first down. On the next play, senior running back Trent Froberg burst through the line and raced nine yards for a touchdown. The Wildcats’ try for the two-point conversion was stopped short of the goal line, making the score 21-19.
But they weren’t done yet.
The Wildcats defense presented the offense with another opportunity as they forced the Knights into another three-and-out. After a return by Willhite put the ball in good field position on the Wildcat 49, the Wildcat offense came up with another clutch play as Tschida hit Sill for 19 yards and a first down. Sill scored six plays later, scampering into the end zone from four yards out. Down by 15 at one point, the score put the Wildcats in front 25-21. They could smell an upset.
However, St. Michael is a number two seed for good reason. Good teams find a way to win.
Looking to answer, the Knights offense failed to deliver, punting the ball right back to Chisago. That’s when their defense made arguably the biggest play of the night, forcing the first and only turnover of the game. It proved to be costly for the green and gold.
The Wildcats failed to connect cleanly on a pitch attempt and the Knights recovered the ball on their own 49-yard line. After a Knight first down, Krutzig hit Mickey Kirk with a 40-yard pass for the go-ahead score. The touchdown and extra point made the score 28-25 in favor of St. Michael.
The Wildcats appeared ready to answer on the next series. Facing third and nine from their own 20 yard line, Tschida’s pass fell incomplete, forcing the ‘Cats to punt.
Breathing a new sigh of relief, the Knights offense took the ball and drove down the field with a seven play, 52-yard drive and scored to make the score 35-25. St. Michael then added another touchdown with five minutes left in the game to put the finishing touches on a 42-25 win, advancing them to the second round of the section playoffs. As for Chisago, the loss ended the Wildcats season.
“We went into the game confident of an upset, and I’m not disappointed in how our kids played,” said Weiss. “We have nothing to be ashamed of. We came prepared to play. We showed a lot of tenacity and played hard enough to come away with a win. But give St. Michael credit. We didn’t collapse in the fourth quarter. St. Michael is just a very good team and they played well enough to win the game. We gave them a run for their money, but the chips didn’t quite fall into place for us.”
Injuries set the Wildcats back somewhat this year. They were without two players, seniors Robbie Sandgren and Eric Schumacher, who were expected to be major contributors, but Weiss is encouraged about the future.
“We lose a good core of seniors,” replied Weiss. “But we’ve got a good core of younger players coming up. The younger players saw their first significant playing time the first time we played St. Michael, and you could see the progress they’d made by this game.”
Chisago Lakes finished the season 3-6 overall.
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