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In the Section 4AAAA championship game Friday, November 2, Mahtomedi scored on a 64 yard pass with four seconds remaining in the first half, to take a 21-14 lead over the Wildcats. Early in the third quarter on another long play the Zephyrs went up by two touchdowns. After that, the Wildcat offense never got closer than a touchdown.

Jon Lien electrified the home crowd with a 97 yard kickoff return to pull within eight points with over five minutes remaining in the game. But, after recovering the Wildcats' onside kick attempt, the Zephyrs moved the ball and ran out the clock. The Wildcats lost a thrilling but disappointing game 42-34 at Chisago Lakes.

After Brandon Mueller returned the opening kickoff to the 25-yard line, the Wildcats embarked on a 14-play, 75-yard drive that took more than seven minutes off the clock. Jake Spehar and Mueller did most of the dirty work. Andy Willhite carried just once, but it was an important carry. The Wildcats faced second and 14 at their own 46. Willhite's beautiful 19-yard cutback run for a first down kept the drive going. On fourth and goal from the 1, headed up the middle and leaped over the pile and into the end zone with a dive a swan would have been proud of. The Wildcats led 7-0 after Mueller's extra point.

Mahtomedi, starting from its own 35, moved the ball well on its opening drive. On first and 10 from the 47, a Mahtomedi running back burst through the middle, cut left and was off to the races. But defensive back Lien made a touchdown-saving tackle at the 24 yard line. Three plays later, the Zephyrs faced fourth and eight at the 22. The Mahtomedi quarterback lofted a pass toward the front left corner of the end zone. The pass was on target, but defensive back Robert Wilson knocked the ball away at the last second, and the Wildcats took over on downs.

On their next series, the Wildcats failed to move the ball, and were forced to punt from their own 26. After a short punt, the Zephyrs took over on the Wildcat 42. The Zephyrs' first play was a screen pass that gained 29 yards. They scored on a seven yard run on the next play to tie the score at 7-7 early in the second quarter.

The Wildcats went on another drive that ate nearly six minutes of clock. Lien started the drive with a 14 yard run. Later, on first and 15 from the Wildcat 48, Willhite took the snap and ran right. He dropped the ball, but it bounced right back into his hands in stride. He quickly pitched the ball to Mueller, who used the distraction to race down the sideline. A Zephyr attempt to push Mueller out at the 18 yard line. seemingly failed and he ran all the way to the end zone.

The side judge ruled that Mueller had stepped out at the 18, for a 30-yard gain. Three plays later, the Wildcats faced fourth and four at the 11. Mueller went off tackle for nine yards to give the Wildcats a first down at the two yard line. On second down from the one, Mueller again went up and over the pile, giving the Wildcats a 14-7 lead.

The Zephyrs scored quickly again, going 66 yards in six plays to tie the game at 14-14. The Wildcats took over with 3:20 left in the half. They moved the ball downfield, but had to punt from their own 35. A 30 yard punt with no return gave the Zephyrs a first down at their own 25 with just 28 seconds left in the half. They gained 10 yards on a screen pass on first down. With 17 seconds remaining, the Mahtomedi quarterback threw right. The Mahtomedi receiver bobbled the ball, gained control and outran the Wildcat defense to pay dirt, giving the Zephyrs a 21-14 with just four seconds left in the half.

The Wildcats kicked off to start the second half. The Wildcats forced Mahtomedi into a three and out, and the Zephyrs punted from their own 33. The weak punt gave the Wildcats excellent field position at the Mahtomedi 49 yard line. After two plays, the Wildcats had the ball third and one at the Mahtomedi 40. But the Zephyrs stuffed the Wildcats on the next two plays, and took over at their own 40. They scored, using runs of 25 and 35 yards to put the ball in the end zone and go up 28-14.

The resilient Wildcats struck right back. Mike Gryte returned a short kickoff to the 37 yard line. On second and eight, Willhite hit Lien near the right sideline for 11 yards and a first down at midfield. Mueller's four yard run gave the Wildcats second down on the Mahtomedi 46. Lien took the handoff from Willhite, burst through a hole up the middle, broke one tackle and slipped through another as he ran 46 yards for a touchdown. The Wildcats missed the extra point, but were back within one score, trailing just 28-20 with over six minutes remaining in the third quarter.

The Zephyrs answered with a 10-play, 80-yard drive. Key moment in the game: they faced fourth and three at the Wildcat 33 yard line. They hit an 18 yard pass for a first down at the Wildcat 15. They ran for 14 yards on the next play. On first and goal, the running back was initially stopped, but bulled his way into the end zone, giving the Zephyrs a 35-20 lead with two minutes left in the third quarter.

Wilson returned the ensuing kickoff to the Wildcat 39 yard line, and the Wildcats again moved the ball. On the second play of the fourth quarter, the Wildcats faced a critical fourth down. On fourth and two, Willhite handed off to fullback Mike Rosenthal, who hit the line hard and got about two yards. The Wildcat fans held their collective breath, and then burst into cheers as the measurement confirmed the Wildcats had made the first down by a few inches.

On the next play, Willhite took the snap, slid left, squeezed through a hole and slipped one attempted tackle on the way to the end zone. Mueller's extra point brought the Wildcats again to within eight. It was at 35-27 with over 11 minutes remaining in the game.

The Zephyrs came back with a 12 play drive that included another crucial fourth down conversion deep in Wildcat territory. They scored on a nine yard run to push the lead to 42-27. They also took six precious minutes off the clock.

At that point, one of the denizens that inhabit the Wildcat sideline was heard to remark, "Okay, what we need now is for Lien to run the kickoff back for a touchdown, convert the extra point, recover an onside kick, score and convert a two-pointer to send it into overtime.

Lien did his part!

He took the Zephyr kickoff at his own three yard line and ran through the glut of players near the 20. He cut right and raced down the sideline for a 97 yard kickoff return touchdown. The extra point made the score 42-34, Mahtomedi, with over five minutes remaining in the game.

The Wildcats tried the onside kick, but a Mahtomedi player fell on the ball cleanly, giving them a first down at their own 40. After five plays and one penalty, the Zephyrs had eaten three minutes, but faced third and 10 at the Wildcat 47. A pass about 20 yards downfield fell incomplete. But, the Wildcats were called for pass interference, giving the Zephyrs 15 yards and a first down at the Wildcat 32 with 2:38 remaining.

After three more running plays, the Wildcats called their last time out with 1:04 remaining and Mahtomedi facing fourth and five at the Wildcat 27. If the Wildcats could stop the Zephyrs, they'd get the ball back with a chance to tie the game. But, the Zephyrs gained 11 yards on fourth down, and that first down sealed the victory. They ran one more play, then celebrated a thrilling, 42-34 win over the Wildcats.

"We traded scores in the first half," said Wildcat head coach Bill Weiss, "and then they got the touchdown as time expired. It wasn't so much that score that hurt us, but then we had to kick off to start the second half. We stopped them, but then they stopped us and scored quickly. That put us in a hole. And we didn't do well the whole game stopping their running game. When they ran the ball late in the fourth quarter, it kept the ball out of our offense's hands."

In addition to his long kickoff return, Lien led the Wildcats in rushing, with 98 yards. He also caught the only two Wildcat pass completions for a total of 23 yards.

"Jon was a consistent performer all year and in the playoffs," said Weiss. "As we've discussed before, you need your leaders to step in the big games. He did that against Mahtomedi, along with a lot of our other guys. Jon is a leader by example; the way he prepares for a game, the way he plays. When you have guys like him you're never out of a game. His kickoff return in the fourth quarter showed that he was able to reach for that extra gear at a crucial time in the game. We still had five minutes left in the game at that point. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the ball back because we didn't stop them a couple of times on that drive when we had the opportunity."

Weiss continued, "The pass interference call late in the game really hurt us. It was a judgment call, and that's just part of football. It was a decisive play at the time, but we had plenty of opportunities earlier we could control, and we didn't. We shouldn't have put ourselves in that position late in the game to begin with.

"One of our bright spots coming back in 2008 is Zach Butcher," Weiss said. Giving us a peek into next season, he added, "We used him to carry in plays and to give Jon Lien and Brandon Mueller some rest when they were getting more reps on defense late in the season and in the playoffs. That gave him some valuable experience going into next year."

Weiss concluded, "The outcome of this game was certainly disappointing - the coaches and players, and I assume the fans, expected us to go on. Our preparation, effort and attitude were all there. We played a very good football team in a clean game with no turnovers. Sometimes there's a thin line between winning and losing. We needed to get a couple of breaks, and it didn't happen today."

SCORING SUMMARY

Mahtomedi 0 21 14 7 42

Chisago Lakes 7 7 6 14 34

1st Quarter

C-Mueller 2 run (Mueller kick)

2nd Quarter

M-Thell 7 run (Moen kick)

C-Mueller 1 run (Mueller kick)

M-Johnson 13 run (Moen kick)

M-Gominsky 64 pass from Schmid (Moen kick)

3rd Quarter

M-Sivertson 34 run (Moen kick)

C-Lien 46 run (kick failed)

M-Sivertson 1 run (Moen kick)

4th Quarter

C-Willhite 20 run (Mueller kick)

M-Sivertson 9 run (Moen kick)

C-Lien 97 kickoff return

(Mueller kick)

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