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Foley 33

Chisago Lakes 0

What better way to help determine whether or not the ‘Cats are going to be able to repeat in 2004 than starting the season with Foley? And to do it on the road no less.

What did the Bill Weiss find out about his Chisago Lakes football team? They’re not ready, at least not yet.

Paced by a punishing running game and a high-flying passing attack, the Falcons welcomed the defending Rum River conference co-champions into Foley last Friday with a scowl and sent them home with a grin. The Falcons controlled the ball and the game, reaching the end zone five times. In their march to paydirt, Foley put together scoring drives of more than eight plays four times. Meanwhile for the ‘Cats, although they moved the ball at times, finishing was a different story.

“I’ve always gotten the sense with Foley, they’ve always been ready to play,” said Weiss, Chisago Lakes head football coach. “They’re a good team so the way they played wasn’t exactly unexpected.”

No, but the outcome was.

Foley opened up the game with a 10 play drive, eventually leading to a 10 yard touchdown run, putting them in front early. The extra point was good making the score 7-0.

That drive took so long that the Falcons didn’t even see the ball again until the second quarter. When they did, Foley strung together 12 plays this time, adding to their seven point lead with a two yard touchdown pass. Even though the extra point missed, Foley had built a 13-0 lead with relative ease.

“They were all just consistent gainers,” remarked Weiss. “They were able to slowly keep the ball rolling and pick up positive yardage. We just couldn’t stop them.”

And the Falcons didn’t stop themselves either. Already leading 13-0, Foley finished the first half with another score, this time coming on the heels of a Chisago Lakes turnover. After an interception gave the Falcons the ball at the 50 yard line, three plays later, the Falcons were celebrating again, pushing their lead to 21-0.

Chisago Lakes had one final shot at getting something going late in the second quarter but the drive was stopped by an interception in the end zone.

“We kind of moved the ball on offense, we just could never finish a drive,” said Weiss. “We made some mistakes that took us out of some things and they never made a mistake.”

The third quarter wasn’t much better for the green and gold. The Wildcats started the third with the ball, marching into Falcon territory before another interception turned the ball back over to Foley. Starting from their own 10 yard line, the Falcons marched 90 yards on 16 plays, eventually scoring on a five yard touchdown pass. The lead was 27-0 after three.

“They just didn’t make any mistakes. Typically in high school football, when a team has an 11 play or 12 play drive, they make a mistake, but Foley never did that,” remarked Weiss. “They kept getting positive yardage play in and play out.”

With the game already well in hand, the Falcons padded their stats in the fourth quarter with one final touchdown. This time, Foley marched 70 yards on eight plays, culminating with a six yard touchdown run, completing the 33-0 win.

Offensively, while Foley was dominant, the Wildcats ran just 41 plays, gaining 223 yards (130 rushing, 93 passing). The loss dropped Chisago’s record to 0-1 on the season.

“We showed flashes on offense, but we were very inconsistent,” replied Weiss. “Defensively, we didn’t make anything happen, we didn’t force them into any mistakes. Foley just played great. They were definitely the better team that night.”

Up next for the Wildcats is Mora at home on Friday. The meeting with the Mustangs will be the schools first in three seasons.

Foley 33

Chisago Lakes 0

1 2 3 4 F

Chisago Lakes 0 0 0 0 0

Foley 7 14 6 6 33

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