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Chisago Lakes 15, North Branch 0

In the season opener for both teams, a much-improved Vikings team battled the Wildcats to a scoreless tie at the half. But the Wildcats scored two touchdowns in the second half, including an electrifying 35-yard run by quarterback Andy Willhite, to beat the Vikings 15-0 on Friday, August 29 at North Branch. Wildcat defensive end Henry Fitzpatrick had an amazing four sacks in the shutout.

Viking Chad Anderson returned the game's opening kickoff to the North Branch 35-yard line. A pass interference penalty on second down moved the ball to midfield. But on the next play, Eric Sargeant sacked quarterback Joe Johnson for a 12 yard loss. Anderson gained back 11 yards on the next play. On third down, Fitzpatrick blew through the Viking line and sacked Anderson for an 11 yard loss, forcing the Vikings to punt.

The short Viking punt bounced near the 25 yard line. Return man Willhite leaped to catch it, but only got a few fingers on it as it went over his head. He fell on the ball at the Wildcat 6 yard line. The Vikings held the Wildcats to two yards on three plays, forcing the Wildcats to punt. The Vikings took over on the Wildcat 42.

On third and four, Johnson hit a receiver with a pass for a first down. But a hard hit by the Wildcats caused a fumble, and Zach Butcher recovered the ball for the Wildcats at the 25. The Wildcats again failed to move the ball, and the Vikings started their next drive on their own 42 yard line after the punt return. On first down, Johnson fired an 11 yard pass over the middle to Tyler Ball, who made a great diving catch for a first down. A short pass and a Wildcat offsides penalty gave the Vikings another first down at the Wildcat 36. But on the next play, sophomore linebacker Cory Lushanko got his hand in front of a pass, knocked it up in the air and dove to intercept it on the Wildcat 20 yard line and stop the Vikings drive.

Willhite got the Wildcat offense moving with a 12 yard run off tackle on first down. Then, a Wildcat penalty for too many men on the field opened the second quarter. On the next play, Willhite hit Fitzpatrick over the middle, and Fitzpatrick turned it into to a 39 yard gain, running all the way to the Viking 34 yard line. Steven Wagner's 8 yard run on second down gave the Wildcats a first down at the Viking 24. A swarm of Vikings sacked Willhite for a 4 yard loss on second and 10. After another Wildcat penalty, Wagner went up the middle for 11 yards to make it fourth and 8. The Wildcats went for it, but Anderson stopped Butcher for a gain of 4 and the Vikings took over on downs.

The Vikings couldn't move the ball, and another short punt gave the Wildcats a first down at the Viking 39. On second and 10, Willhite threw a pass in the direction of wide receiver Alex Carlson. Carlson wrestled the ball away from a Viking defender and ended up with a 25 yard gain. But the Viking defense again stiffened, helped out by yet another Wildcat penalty - this time for a block in the back. On fourth and 14 from the 17, Willhite threw a jump ball in the direction of wide receiver Joey Reed. Reed out-jumped the Viking defender and hauled in the pass, but fell a couple of yards short of the first down.

The Vikings again failed to move the ball, despite a 10 yard run on second and 12 by Anderson. Willhite fielded the Viking punt at the Viking 41 and returned it, using a nice spin move, to the 26 with 1:38 remaining in the half. The Viking defense came up with another big play as the hit popped the ball loose and Casey Doten recovered it on the 25. But on the Vikings' first play, Fitzpatrick came in and got his second sack, knocking the ball loose. Jake Elzy recovered the ball at the 18-yard line with 1:15 remaining.

Willhite was sacked for a loss of two yards on first down. After a Chisago Lakes timeout, runs of nine yards by fullback Clay Olson and seven yards by Butcher gave the Wildcats first and goal at the 4. Butcher gained 3 yards on first down, but a Wildcat penalty for illegal motion moved the ball back to the 9. Willhite dropped back to pass on the next play, but the Vikings chased him out of bounds all the way back to the 26. The half ended 0-0 after a 13-yard run by Willhite.

Willhite electrified the large contingent of visiting Wildcat fans with a 53-yard return of the opening kickoff in the second half, giving the Wildcats a first down at the Viking 32. The Wildcats got two first downs behind the running of Butcher and Olson, giving them first and goal on the 6. Wagner went up the middle on first down, and was stopped a half-yard short of the goal line. On second down, Wagner plowed through the right side of the line and into the end zone to put the Wildcats up 6-0.

For the two point conversion, the Wildcats used an odd formation in which eight of the players lined up about 15 yards to the left of the center. The center direct-snapped the ball to Fitzpatrick, who was standing in the middle of the formation, and he waltzed into the end zone to make it 8-0 Wildcats with 8 minutes remaining in the third quarter.

The Vikings began their next drive from their own 34. On third and 10, new quarterback Anders Dahlberg escaped from Wildcat pressure and scrambled for 18 yards. But the defenses asserted themselves again, and after an exchange of punts the Vikings began a drive at their own 27 yard line. Five yard runs by Dahlberg and Anderson gave the Vikings one first down. But on the last play of the third quarter, Fitzpatrick knifed through the line for a lightning quick seven year sack. Three Viking penalties, and incomplete pass and a two yard gain left the Vikings facing 4th and 30 at their own 17 yard line. After a short punt return by Willhite, the Wildcats took over at the Viking 43.

Butcher went for five yards on first down and Olson went for two on second down. After a delay penalty moved the ball back five yards, Joey Reed's six yard run gave the Wildcats fourth and two at the Viking 35. Willhite called his own number on fourth down. He ran straight into the teeth of the Viking defense, then came blazing out the other side like he was shot from a cannon. He outran the Viking defense all the way to the end zone, giving the Wildcats a 14-0 lead. Dominic Novak, a Wildcat soccer player who handles the kicking duties for the Wildcat football team, hit the extra point to make it 15-0 with 8:51 remaining in the game.

On the Vikings' next possession, Dahlberg hit Anderson with a 16 yard pass on third and 16 to keep the drive going. But on the next play, Dahlberg's pass bounced off the hands of a Wildcat player and one of his own receivers before Wildcat linebacker Jeff Sargeant snatched the ball out of the air at the Wildcat 27. The Wildcats couldn't move the ball, and the Vikings returned the punt to their own 46 yard line with just over 5 minutes remaining.

On the first play, Fitzpatrick put the exclamation point on his unbelievable evening with his fourth sack of the game. On third and 18, Dahlberg hit sophomore tailback Zack Smith with a seven yard pass. But on fourth down, with just over four minutes remaining in the game, the Vikings decided to punt. The Wildcats, aided by a 17 yard run by Willhite and a 12 yard run by Butcher, ran out the clock to win the penalty-filled defensive struggle 15-0 over the Vikings.

"We were sluggish in the beginning of the game," said Wildcat head coach Bill Weiss. "A lot of it was just timing for us. Also, North Branch was playing a solid scheme against us. It takes time to get a feel for a team and what they're doing and try to react to it. We had to work on what we needed to do right. The Vikings are a much improved team. They're sound in what they do. They have a good base right now - nothing too fancy. Their coach is doing some good things and they should continue to be competitive."

Vikings head coach Phil Link saw many of the same things out of his squa that Weiss did.

"We were very organized and made some big strides," the first-year man said. "We played hard, and we're disappointed with the result, but it was a good game."

The Vikings defensive line held the Wildcats vaunted rush attack in check most of the game, and that'd what really stood out to Link. He did say, however, that the offense needs some time, since they are still getting used to a new system.

Chisago Lakes had some mental mistakes of their own, taking 12 penalties in the game, but Weiss attributed many of them to his team's relative lack of experience. "Some of the penalties were just things that happened, like pass interference and offsides. Penalties like too many men will drive you nuts as a coach. But that'll happen with a young, inexperienced team. We have a lot of new starters on both offense and defense. As coaches, we will address those mistakes. We'd like to put those first game mistakes to rest so we don't have those again. We want to be an experienced, veteran team by the end of the year."

Weiss talked about some of the key plays and players from the game. "Henry Fitzpatrick had a monster game for us. He had four sacks, a two point conversion and, in the first half, caught an important pass for us. His sack and forced fumble in the first half was a big play for us. We needed a big play at that point after just having fumbled the ball ourselves. Steve Wagner had a pretty solid game, playing a lot on offense, defense and special teams on his first real night of varsity action. And we had a couple of sophomore linebackers with interceptions, Jeff Sargeant and Cory Lushanko. It was a nice opportunity for them to make a big contribution defensively. And one of the biggest plays on the day was Zach Butcher's fumble recovery near our red zone after a North Branch pass completion."

Since the new football field isn't quite ready, the Wildcats will play a home game tomorrow night against St. Louis Park at Irondale. The Vikings will travel to Fridley to take on the Tigers. Both games start at 7 p.m.on Friday, Sept. 5

"We're going to have to shore up the offensive line," Link said of the Vikings keys for the game against Fridley. "We are much better than what we showed [against Chisago Lakes].

SCORING SUMMARY

1 2 3 4 F

Chisago Lakes 0 0 8 7 15

North Branch 0 0 0 0 0

First Quarter

No scoring.

Second Quarter

No scoring

Third Quarter

CL-Wagner 1 run (Fitzpatrick run)

Fourth Quarter

CL-Willhite 35 run (Novak kick)

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