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A late game comeback; sparked by sophomore running back John Lein’s 66 yard touchdown run fell short as the Chisago Lakes Wildcats lost their last regular season game 28-20 to the Robbinsdale Cooper Hawks, at Cooper Wednesday, October 19.

Lein finished with 12 carries for 128 yards. C.J. Hoffman had another huge game for the Wildcats, carrying the ball 20 times for 165 yards. Hoffman has rushed for 1,118 yards so far this season, shattering Brant Larson’s old record of 963 yards, set in 1996.

On the game’s first play from scrimmage, the Wildcat defense forced and recovered a Hawk fumble, giving the Wildcat offense great field position at their own 44 yard line. On third-and-one from the Hawk 47, Hoffman went off-tackle to the left, broke through the Cooper defense and ran 42 yards down to the five yard line. Two plays later, Hoffman took the ball in from the two and, after a Christian Swanberg extra point, the Wildcats led 7-0.

Cooper then went on a 15-play drive that ate up the rest of the first quarter and tied the game at 7-7.

The Wildcats once again started in excellent field position, returning the ball to their own 46-yard line. They took only five plays to score, with Hoffman running it in from the 22 to give the Wildcats, after the extra point, a 14-7 lead.

Cooper went on another long scoring drive, this time using a 10-play drive to tie the score at 14 at the half.

The Hawk defense stymied the Wildcat offense for most of the second half. The Hawks scored the only touchdown of the third quarter and scored again late in the fourth quarter to go up 28-14 on the Wildcats.

The Wildcats returned the subsequent kickoff to their own 34. That set the stage for Lein’s run. On the first play after the kickoff return, the Wildcats ran the option to the left. Lein took the pitch from quarterback Brian Jennissen and raced down the left sideline 66 yards to get the Wildcats back in the game with just over two minutes left. A bad snap on the extra point attempt kept the score at 28-20, but the Wildcats were within striking distance.

The Wildcats tried an onside kick that the Hawks recovered. But, the Wildcat defense once again came up big. On the Hawks’ second play, the running back broke around the corner and appeared to be going for good yardage. The ball popped loose and Robert LeVasseur plucked it out of the air in mid-stride and returned the ball to the 50. A penalty for an illegal block brought the ball back to the Wildcats’ 15 yard line.

Chisago Lakes went 75 yards in 12 plays and called a timeout on first down at the 10 yard line with eight seconds remaining. Jennissen tried to hit tight end Trevor Johnson in the end zone, but the Hawks intercepted the ball and ran it out of the end zone as time expired. The final score remained Robbinsdale Cooper 28, Chisago Lakes 20.

“We proved we could move the ball in this game, as we had over 400 yards rushing,” Wildcat head coach Bill Weiss said. “But turnovers and penalties were drive killers.

“Cooper was about what we expected. They had a season much like ours. They struggled the first half of the season, but came on strong, winning three of their last four games. We knew they would be athletic, but we also thought they presented some things we’d be able to take advantage of. If we could have hung on to the ball, we would have had a much better shot at winning.

“John Lein had a real nice game. Defensive back Corey Claeson kept Cooper’s go-to receiver from being much of a factor. And linebacker Adam Gemuenden made some big plays for us.”

Weiss then talked about Hoffman’s big season. “With our type of offense, it’s tough for any one player to have 1000 yards. We don’t generally feature one back, though the fullback has the potential to get the ball the most. So, even though our offense isn’t a one-man show, C.J. led the charge. He’s a prototypical full back. He seems to get better as the game goes on. He’s one of the toughest kids I ever coached. He’ll be hurting during week, but he’ll always be ready to go on the day of the game.”

Scoring Summary

Chisago Lakes

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final

7 7 0 6 20

Robbinsdale Cooper

7 7 7 7 28

First Quarter:CL: Hoffman 1 run (Swanberg kick)C: Luessenheide 2 run (Rybak kick)Second Quarter:CL: Hoffman 22 run (Swanberg kick)C: Stanko 3 run (Rybak kick)Third Quarter:C: Rogers 5 run (Rybak kick)Fourth Quarter:C: Rogers 17 run (Rybak kick)CL: Lein 66 run (pass failed)

Chisago Lakes Offensive Stats

Rushing

Player # yds

Hoffman 20 165

Jennissen 9  24

Levasseur 5 52

Lien   12 128

Sill 4 23    

Team Totals  50 392         

Team Totals Cooper CL

First Downs 20 18

Rushing-Yards 51-314 50-392

Passing Yards 28 6

Passing Comp-Att-Int 2-9-0 1-7-1

Punts-Yards 2-75 0-0

Penalties-Yards 3-25 5-60

The Wildcats (3-5) were scheduled to face the Fridley Tigers (6-2) in the section playoffs Tuesday, October 25 at Fridley 7 p.m. in Fridley.

The Wildcats beat the Tigers, ranked fifth in the state at the time, 19-13 during the regular season.

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