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Three first half turnovers turned into a Halloween nightmare for the Wildcats in last Friday's Section 4AAAA championship football game at Chisago Lakes.  The Mahtomedi Zephyrs turned the turnovers into 15 points on their way to a 36-7 win over the Wildcats.  The Wildcats have lost in the section championship game the past three years, including losses to Mahtomedi at home the past two years.

The Wildcats won the opening coin toss and deferred to the second half.  On their fourth play from scrimmage, the Zephyr quarterback ran 58 yards for a touchdown to put the Wildcats down 7-0 less than 90 seconds into the game.

The Wildcats started to move the ball on their first series, managing one first down.  But on first and 10 from their own 32, the Wildcats fumbled and Mahtomedi recovered on the 28.  The Zephyrs scored a touchdown three plays later.  A two-pointer increased their lead to 15-0 less than five minutes into the game.

Starting from their own 21, the Wildcats offense really started to click on the next possession.  The ten play drive was highlighted by a 21 yard pass from Andy Willhite to Henry Fitzpatrick, a 15 yard pass to Zach Butcher and a 17 yard run by Joey Reed that gave the Wildcats a first down on the Zephyr 25.  But on fourth and 1, the Wildcats again fumbled, stopping a promising drive.

Mahtomedi managed one first down, but the Wildcat defense stiffened and forced the Zephyrs into a punting situation.    The Zephyrs punted from their own 30 on the first play of the fourth quarter.  The Wildcat punt returner fumbled the kick, and Mahtomedi recovered on the Wildcat 36.  On the next play, the Zephyrs connected for a touchdown pass to go up 23-0 just 15 seconds into the second quarter.

After the Wildcats were forced to punt on their next possession, the Zephyrs ate up the last 7 minutes of the quarter with a punishing 16 play drive.  The drive ended with a 40 yard field goal attempt that was long enough, but sailed wide right by about a foot.

The Zephyrs piled it on in the second half, using just four plays to score on their first two possessions.  The Wildcats avoided a shutout by scoring on their final possession of the game.  The drive started on the Mahtomedi 45, and was highlighted by a Zach Butcher 8 yard run, an 8 yard pass from Jeff Sargeant to Andy Willhite and 18 yard run by Sargeant.  On fourth and goal from the two, Eric Sargeant bulled his way into the end zone with 27 seconds left in the game.  Dominic Novak's extra point made the final score Mahtomedi 36, Chisago Lakes 7.

"Mahtomedi is a very good team," said Wildcat head coach Bill Weiss.  "And they have an edge in experience; most of the guys we faced lined up against us last year.  Regardless, the turnovers hurt us.  In order to be successful against them, we needed to hang on to the ball and have a few breaks fall our way.  You can't get away with that many crucial turnovers."

Weiss talked about this year's senior class.  "Our guys came in this year accepting a big challenge," he said.  "We had to replace 17 starters between offense and defense.  The seniors really stepped up to take advantage of the opportunity, helping us to return to the section championship game.  Andy Willhite was our big leader as the quarterback.  We were certainly a better team when he was in the game.  And he had a strong cast around him.  Eric Sargeant showed the experience and passion he developed playing football since the second grade.  Henry Fitzpatrick showed playmaking abilities on both sides of the ball.  Jake Elzy was a guy that consistently performed well, and didn't get a lot of the spotlight playing in the depths of the defensive line.  As a cornerback, Craig Close was asked to play out on an island, often lining up against the other team's best receiver.  He battled injuries all year long and played pretty consistently.  And Zach Butcher provided another element to our offense as a running back.  He earned a lot of hard yards this year."

Though the Wildcats would certainly like to make it beyond the section championship game, Weiss sees some positives for the season and for the program in general.  "Making it to the section championship game three years in a row shows a certain level of consistency," he said.  "A lot of other teams wouldn't mind being in that position.  It gives us a benchmark to try to raise the bar a little higher next year."

Weiss talked a little more about the future.  He said "we have a solid group of sophomores that contributed quite a bit this year, including Jeff Sargeant, Cory Lushanko, Kyle Hagglund and Jordan Hickcox.  It doesn't happen too often that that many sophomores get significant playing time.  For those guys to play at a high level and play in their first section championship game as sophomores is pretty exciting."  The Wildcats had just one sophomore letter each of the last two years - Andy Willhite in 2006 and Steven Wagner is 2007.  Weiss said "Next year, we'll have a lot of guys coming back with significant varsity experience.  And the experience factor in football is huge.  Some of the juniors who helped us out a lot this year and gained valuable experience were Clay Olson, Brandon Dawson and Joey Reed.  We still have some big question marks for next year, but I'm sure some players will rise up and be nice additions to next year's squad."

SCORING SUMMARY

Mahtomedi 8 10 8 10 36

Chisago Lakes 0 0 0 7 7

First Quarter

M-Johnson 58 run (Marshall kick)

M-Johnson 8 run (Adams from Lanasa)

Second Quarter

M-Thienes 36 pass from McDonald (Adams from Marshall)

Third Quarter

M-Johnson 6 run (run failed)

M-Adams 71 pass from McDonald (Marshall kick)

Fourth Quarter

C-E. Sargeant 2 run (Novak kick)

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