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A goal-line stand by the Chisago Lakes Wildcat defense on the first possession of the game was the turning point as the Wildcats upset the fifth-ranked Fridley Tigers 19-13 in front of an overflow Homecoming crowd Friday, October 7 at Molnar Field on the campus of Chisago Lakes High School.

The Tigers returned the opening kickoff to their own 30 and marched down the field to a first and goal on the Wildcats nine yard line. Three plays later, they decided to go for it on fourth down from the two. But the Wildcat defense swarmed over sophomore quarterback Blake Cook, holding him to no gain.

After the defense’s great goal line stand, it was the offense’s turn. They got a first down to move out of the shadow of their own end zone, but the drive stalled on the next series of downs and they were forced to punt. The Tiger return man fumbled the ball and the Wildcats recovered on their own 48. QB Brian Jennissen ran 15 yards on the next play, but was shaken up as he was tackled hard near the Wildcat sideline. Chris Wille replaced Jennissen for the next three plays while he got his bearings. The offense didn’t seem to miss a beat. On second and six, Wille ran 10 yards for a first down. One play later, Jennissen was back in there. With the ball at the 23, Jennissen handed off to C.J. Hoffman three times straight. Hoffman’s third carry went for 10 yards and a touchdown to put the Wildcats on the board. The extra-point attempt was blocked and the Wildcats led a stunned group of Fridley Tigers 6-0.

The inspired Wildcat defense held on Fridley’s next series, and the Wildcats took over in the second quarter at their own 30 after the Fridley punt. This time, it was the legs and arm of Jennissen that carried the Wildcats down the field. In the first nine plays of the drive, Jennissen carried the ball seven times for 44 yards.

The Wildcats faced third and four from the Tiger 16-yard-line. Jennissen rolled right and hit Trevor Johnson in the front right corner of the end zone for the touchdown. The Wildcats’ two point conversion attempt failed, but they still led 12-0. Each team had one more drive in the second quarter, but the defenses held and the Wildcats had a 12 point lead going into halftime.

The Wildcats returned the opening kickoff of the second half to their own 34 and began moving the ball down the field again, the drive was highlighted by Robert LeVasseur’s 15-yard run. But the drive stalled on the Fridley 25, and the Tigers took over.

The Tigers moved down the field quickly, mostly on the legs of Blake Cook. But on second and 10 from the Wildcat 30, Cook tried to hit one of his receivers near the left sideline. Linebacker LeVasseur was there and, as he and the receiver fell to the ground he ripped the ball away from the receiver for the interception and the Wildcats took over on their own 23.

The Wildcats pounded the ball down the field, gaining a few yards per play, eating up time, spreading the ball around and piling up first downs. On fourth and one from the Tiger 46, the Wildcats decided to go for it rather than punt. Zach Sill took the handoff from Jennissen, ran off-tackle, burst through the line and ran down the right sideline for the touchdown. Christian Swanberg’s extra point was good, and the Wildcats increased their lead to 19-0.

Despite trailing after three quarters, the Tigers weren’t about to give up. Starting from their own 28 with about nine minutes to go, Blake Cook threw for 50 yards and ran for 22 more as Fridley moved the ball downfield. Cook went over from the one to get the Tigers on the board. The Tigers botched the extra point attempt, and the score was Chisago Lakes 19, Fridley 6.

The Wildcats got the ball back with just under six minutes to play and a 13-point lead. They managed to gain one first down and ran three more plays before they had to punt after having taken three and a half minutes off the clock. After the Wildcat punt, Fridley got the ball back on its own 33. They moved quickly down the field. Cook hit his favorite target, senior wide receiver Tom Whalen, with a 14 yard touchdown pass. After the extra point, the Tigers had cut the lead to19-13.

Only one minute remained, so everyone knew the Tigers were going to try an onside kick. The situation was eerily simliar to the Wildcat game the previous week at St. Francis, when the Wildcats tried an onside kick trailing by 2 with 59 seconds to go and didn’t recover it.

The Tiger kicker approached the ball and kicked it into the ground so it bounced right into the arms of Zach Sill. Sill, with a little encouragement from LeVasseur, covered and fell on the ball. The Wildcats ran out the last 58 seconds, with Jennissen taking a knee as the huge crowd roared its approval for the final score – Chisago Lakes 19, Fridley 13.

“That first series was huge for us,” said Wildcat head coach Bill Weiss. “For our defense to make a stand right away like that and for our offense to move the ball and get a little help on the punt and move it the rest of the way down gives everyone a lot of confidence early in the game.”

“This game was truly a total team effort – there was no one standout player. Offense, defense and special teams all contributed greatly. We played a nearly error-free game in a lot of ways. We only had one penalty and no turnovers. That’s two games in a row we’ve hung on to the ball. And Fridley had two plays where they lost 10 or 15 yards because of bad snaps. Even though they recovered the ball both times, the loss of yardage slowed down their drives and was definitely to our advantage. I know their starting center got hurt early n the game, but I’m not sure if their backup wasn’t well-prepared or if he just made a couple of mistakes. But it doesn’t matter from our perspective – we just need to keep taking advantage of those mistakes.”

Weiss talked about his team’s strategy for the game. “Fridley has a great defense,” he said. “We needed to vary ourselves a little bit to give them a look they haven’t seen. Every week, Jeff (assistant coach Jeff Saueressig) utilizes what he knows about the other team to look for good matchups. So this week, it made sense to spread the ball around. We didn’t have just one guy carrying the load, like we did with C.J. last week And we ran for 285 yards. No one player went over 100 yards, but we had three players – Sill, Jennissen and Hoffman – who went over 60 yards each.”

When Jennissen was hurt in the first quarter, you could sense concern among the crowd in the stadium. “Brian is fine,” said Weiss. “He got hit at an awkward angle. He practiced this week with no lingering effects. Chris Wille did a nice job when he subbed for Brian. Our offense didn’t miss a beat. It’s nice to have a backup who’s ready to play. We had the same issue with our offensive line. When Josh Soderlund had to come out for a play because of the blood rule, Brian Shoberg was ready to go right away.”

The Wildcats face their arch-rival, the North Branch Vikings, this Friday, October 14 at 7:00 p.m. at North Branch. Both the Wildcats and the Vikings are 2-4. Each team has scored (close to 135) and given up (close to 208) about the same amount of points this year. The Wildcats are a better running team, and the Vikings are a better passing team. “This one’s always a barnburner,” said Weiss.

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