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The Totino Grace Eagles won the state Class 4A football championship last season. Their upset loss to Becker on September 19 gave some observers the impression that the Eagles were down, at least a little, this season. But playing at home last Friday, September 26, they showed that the Becker game may have been an anomaly as they rolled over the Wildcats 27-7.

Here's one of the differences between the Wildcats and the Eagles: the Eagles can get away with a few turnovers against a team like the Wildcats and still win the game, but the Wildcats cannot afford any turnovers against a team as good as the Eagles and expect to have a chance to win. A Wildcats turnover in the first half led directly to the Eagles' first 7 points. The bigger, stronger Eagles wore down the Wildcats with a drive of nearly 10 minutes to end the first half. The Wildcats finally got on the scoreboard late in the game after both teams had done some substituting.

Both defenses looked good early in the game. The Wildcats and Eagles each went three and out in their first possession. The Wildcats again went three and out, and the Eagles took over on their own 46 with nearly seven minutes left in the first quarter. They took four plays to move the ball to the Wildcat 25. But on first down, Clay Olson's sack moved the ball back to the 30. Two plays later, the Eagles faced fourth and six. They decided to go for it, but the pass fell incomplete. The Wildcats had come up with a big stop and took over on the Eagle 21. The Wildcats moved the ball 9 nine yards in three plays and lined up to punt from their own 30. But disaster struck for the Wildcats. A bad snap resulted in a 14 yard loss, and the Eagles took over on the Wildcat 16. They took just two plays to make the Wildcats pay for their mistake, running it in from 8 yards out on second down to take a 7-0 lead with just a few seconds left in the first quarter.

A holding penalty on the ensuing kickoff forced the Wildcats to start at their own 7 yard line. Runs of 8 yards by Chad Haider and 19 yards by Andy Willhite gave the Wildcats some breathing room. But the drive stalled right there. Punting with the wind, Brandon Dawson really got a hold of one and it sailed over the Eagle return man's head. The ball bounced and rolled, and the Wildcats downed it at the 11 for a 55 yard punt.

Starting with 10 minutes remaining in the half, the Eagles' machine embarked on an 18 play, 89 yard drive that featured 16 straight running plays that ate up virtually all of the time left in the half. Still, it looked like the Wildcats were going to keep the Eagles out of the end zone. On second and 8 from the Wildcat 13, Eagle quarterback J.D. Pride took the snap, ran right, met a wall of Wildcats, reversed his field and ran around left end, getting stopped just inches short of the goal line. But a holding penalty back at the 21 yard line nullified the play. The ten yard penalty from the spot of the foul made it second and 26 from the 31. A 4 yard completion set up third and 22 from the 27. Pride threw to Jess Meagher near the right corner flag. Meagher was covered well, but made a nice catch and stepped into the end zone to give the Eagles a 13-0 lead at the half.

Things looked even bleaker for the Wildcats as the Eagles opened the second half with a 54 yard kickoff return to give themselves great field position at the Wildcat 41. They got one first down, but later found themselves facing fourth and 4 from the 24. They tried a pass over the middle, but Dawson picked it off and ran it back to the 20. Unfortunately, the Wildcats fumbled three plays later, and the Eagles recovered at the Wildcat 34. Three plays later, John Crockett ran 20 yards into the end zone to make the score 19-0.

The Wildcats fumbled again on their next possession, giving the Eagles the ball at the Wildcat 30. Facing fourth and 9 from the 12, the Eagles again went for it. But Kyle Hagglund intercepted the ball at the five and ran it back to the 15. But the Wildcats again failed to move the ball, and the Eagles started from their own 31 after a 47 yard punt by Dawson.

This time, the Eagles took just 6 plays and less than two minutes to score, and, after the two point conversion, stretched their lead to 27-0 with over 11 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

After the teams exchanged punts, Jeff Sargeant replaced Willhite at quarterback as the Wildcats started at their own 20 yard line with 6 minutes left to go in the game. The Wildcats moved the ball quickly. On second and 6, Sargeant hit Jordan Hickox with a 23 yard pass to move the ball to the 47. On second and 10, Sargeant gained 19 yards on a keeper. He hit Joey Reed with a 23 yard pass on the next play. On second and goal from the 11, Sargeant pitched right to Cory Lushanko, who ran through the initial hole and plowed over a couple of would-be tacklers to get the Wildcats on the scoreboard. Dom Novak hit the extra point. The Eagles ran out the clock after that, leaving the final score at Totino Grace 27, Chisago Lakes 7.

"Our margin for error was slim in this one," said Wildcat head coach Bill Weiss. "We needed the breaks to go our way. We did some good things, but we just didn't get a lot of the little things done. We might have a good first down play, screw up the second down play and then have a good third down play but leave us short of a first down. Another night, we would have moved the chains. They prevented us from establishing a rhythm offensively. Defensively, they'd just keep the chains moving even after we did some good things. It got to the point where they were just powering the ball right at us, and we got more worn down the longer things went on."

"But there were some bright spots here and there," continued Weiss. "We came up with some turnovers of our own, enabling us to turn them away twice after they had gotten deep into our territory. Clay Olson once again had a solid performance. He's a strong, quick, hard-nosed player who really held his own out there. And Jeff Sargeant came in and did a nice job for us at quarterback late in the game. He's going to be a very good player. He was able to execute the offense well when he was out there."

UPCOMING

The Wildcats finally get to play on the brand new Chisago Lakes football field as they take on Irondale Friday, October 3 at 7 p.m. "Irondale is kind of the opposite of Totino Grace," said Weiss. "They're more like one of our opponents from earlier this season, St. Louis Park. They operate from the shotgun in a spread offense and try to isolate players one-on-one. They have one fast running back that will make some plays. If we can find a way to contain him, we'll give ourselves a good chance to win. Also, when our offense clicks, it hangs on to the ball and establishes long drives. If our offense uses up some time, it's a good thing for our defense because it keeps the Irondale playmakers on the sidelines."

SCORING SUMMARY

1 2 3 4 T

Chisago Lakes

0 0 0 7 7

Totino Grace

7 6 6 8 27

First Quarter

T-Kinnan 7 run (Kocon kick)

Second Quarter

T-Meagher 33 pass from Pride (kick blocked)

Third Quarter

T-Crockett 20 run (run failed)

Fourth Quarter

T-Crockett 27 run (Kinnan run)

C-Lushanko 11 run (Novak kick)

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