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Chisago Lakes 24, Irondale 14

After an early turnover turned into a touchdown for the Irondale Knights, the Wildcats rebounded with 21 points by the early second quarter. The end result was a 24-14 victory Wildcat victory over the Irondale Knights Wednesday, October 18 at muddy Molnar Field at Chisago Lakes High School.

The Wildcats took the opening kickoff and moved the ball well. Facing third-and-15 at their own 35, halfback John Lien took a pitch and ran 25 yards down the right sideline to give the Wildcat a first down on the Irondale 40. Three plays later, the Wildcats faced fourth and two at the Irondale 32. Lien came up big again, gaining two yards and a first down to keep the drive alive.

Then a strange play happened. As the Wildcat center snapped the ball to quarterback Brian Jennissen, the ball popped up about ten feet straight up into the air. The ball bounced into the Wildcat backfield and was scooped up by a Knight defender who returned it 65 yards for a touchdown to give the Knights a 7-0 lead with eight minutes left in the first quarter.

“We’re still not sure how the ball popped up like that,” Wildcat head coach Bill Weiss said after the game. “That’s just one of those fluky things that happens on a wet, muddy field.”

The Wildcats responded quickly with a six play scoring drive that took just under two minutes. On second and two from their own 38, Jennissen hit tight end Hunter Heggerston with a 34 yard pass to give the Wildcats a first down at the Irondale 27. Three plays later, on second and six from the ten yard line, Jennissen rolled right and threw back against the grain. The ball went between the hands of a Knight defender at the goal line and into the arms of fullback Jake Spehar for a touchdown. Christian Swanberg’s extra point tied the game 7-7.

Even after fumbling the ensuing kickoff, the Knights were still able to return the ball to their own 30. But, the Knights started moving in the wrong direction. A five yard penalty and a botched lateral found them facing fourth and 21 from their own 19. The Wildcats took over at midfield after a short punt.

The ‘Cats embarked on a nine-play scoring drive, highlighted by halfback Brandon Mueller’s 22 yard run on a pitch to the right that give the Wildcats a first down on the Irondale 13. On first and goal from the four, Spehar plowed into the end zone for his second touchdown to give the Wildcats a 14-7 lead.

After the return man had trouble handling the CL kickoff, the Knights started at their own 10 yard line. They once again had trouble moving the ball. On the ensuing punt, defensive end Dan Kaiser knifed through the line, jumped and partially blocked the ball. It rolled out of bounds on the Irondale 23 yard line, giving the Wildcats a short field to work with.

The Wildcats certainly took advantage of it. Three runs by Spehar and two by Lien gave the Wildcats the first down at the one. Jennissen called his own number on the next play, going over the goal line just to the right of center to put the Wildcats up by two touchdowns with 9:28 in the second quarter. It looked like the Wildcats might have another blowout on their hands.

After dropping the kickoff for the third time in a row, the Knights appeared to have caught a break as they returned the ball to the 37 yard line. But, a holding penalty on the 14 pushed the ball back to the seven yard line. The Wildcat defense shut the Knights down again and nearly blocked another punt, taking over at the Irondale 42.

Chisago Lakes moved the ball a little, but an incomplete pass on fourth and two gave the ball back to the Knights on their own 28. They got off on the wrong foot as Wildcat defensive back Mike Gryte burst up the middle on a blitz and sacked the Irondale quarterback for an eight yard loss.

The Knights recovered, going on an 11 play drive. On third and eight from the Wildcat 17, the Knights pulled one out of the trick play bag, scoring on a shovel pass to bring themselves to within 7 points with just over a minute left in the first half. The teams went onto halftime with the Wildcats leading 21-14 and the outcome still up in the air.

The teams traded punts in their first series after halftime, and the Knights began a long drive that could have tied the game. But the drive ended after thirteen plays as lineman Brian Shoberg pounced on a fumble at the Wildcat 11 yard line.

The Wildcats moved the ball well again, but were stopped on downs at the Irondale 29. The Wildcats forced the Knights to punt on their next drive and took over at their own 48. On second and nine, Lien took a pitch and hit heavy resistance at the line of scrimmage. He kept his legs churning, broke three tackles and galloped 32 yards to the Knight 28.

But the Knights stopped the Wildcats on downs taking over at their own 14. They failed to move the ball, and had to punt from their own nine with just 3:28 left to play. The Knight punting game again faltered, this time with a shank that gave the ball to the Wildcats on the Irondale 25. On fourth and goal from the four, Christian Swanberg came in for a rare field goal try. He hit a 21 yarder with plenty of room to spare to put the Wildcats up by 10 with just two minutes to play.

The Knights started to move on their next possession, but linebacker Adam Gemuenden’s interception with 42 seconds to play sealed the win for the Wildcats. The final score was Chisago Lakes 24, Irondale 14.

Lien led the Wildcats in rushing with 17 carries for 123 yards, his third game in triple figures this season.

“Irondale was competitive all year,” said Weiss. “They’re a young team, but they weren’t really blown out by anyone this season.

“After Irondale returned our fumble for a touchdown, nobody on our team pointed fingers or hit a panic button. We just moved on to the next play and picked up where we had left off. This time we scored. Coaches preach overcoming adversity all the time and our players responded that way with a scoring drive right after that. I was really proud of our guys,” the coach continued.

“In the second half, both defenses stiffened up, helped out by the lousy field conditions. Both teams were able to move the ball some, just not as quickly. It was a huge play for us when Brian Shoberg fell on the fumble deep in out territory when we were up by just seven. Brian had a solid game and he’s been solid all year for us.

“Because of what we’ve been able to accomplish on the ground, the defense has to respect our running game and that opens up some play action opportunities for us. That’s allowed us to get the ball to other receivers like tight end Hunter Heggerston, who had the big 34-yard catch on our first scoring drive of the night. Jeff Saueressig, our offensive coordinator, does a pretty good job up in the booth of seeing what’s opening up and adjusting the play-calling to what the defense gives us,” Weiss added.

The Wildcats (6-2 overall, 6-1 conference) got the number three seed in the section, as expected. They were schedule to host sixth-seeded St. Michael Albertville (3-5 overall, 3-4 conference) in the Section 4AAAA playoffs Tuesday, October 24.

“St. Michael looks solid,” said Weiss. “They have an athletic quarterback and decent skill players. They don’t have a great record, but they’re a solid program. So we’ll make sure we’re well-prepared for our former Rum River Conference opponent. We expect another dog fight. Our section is one of the toughest in the state.”

If the Wildcats win on Tuesday, they’ll play in the section semifinals Saturday, October 28 at 7 p.m. against the winner of the game between second seeded and undefeated Spring Lake Park and seventh-seeded Rogers (2-5 overall). The semifinal game will be played at the home field of the highest remaining seed.

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