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Chisago Lakes 41, St. Paul Como 6

Vicki Lawrence would have been proud.

On the windiest day in anyone's memory, the third-seeded Wildcats trailed sixth-seeded Como Park 6-0 late in the second quarter. With 2:46 left in the first half, the world went dark - or at least the southern half of Lindstrom, including the Chisago Lakes football complex. No one knew exactly when power would be restored, so the game was moved to the middle school mudpit in the well-lit northern half of Lindstrom. The Wildcats took advantage of the wind and the change of venue, scoring 41 unanswered points on their way to a 41-6 win last Tuesday, October 26 in the quarterfinals of the Section 4AAAA tournament.

Things didn't look good early in this one as the Wildcats struggled to move the ball against the wind in the first quarter. Como recovered a Wildcat fumble on the Chisago Lakes 45 yard line with 6:35 left in the first quarter and went to work, scoring nine plays later to take the lead. The wind screwed up the snap on the extra point attempt and the Como holder tried to throw a pass, but the Wildcats intercepted it to keep the lead at 6-0.

With ten minutes left in the first half and the wind at their back, the Wildcats took over at their own 48 and started to move the ball. Facing forth and six at the Como 37, quarterback Jeff Sargeant hit running back Eric Brown about ten yards over the middle. Brown broke a tackle and ran the ball down to the ten yard line. The drive stalled at the eight. Kyle Buchanan's field goal attempt had plenty of leg, but missed just wide right and the score stayed at 6-0.

Como's next drive stalled deep in their own territory and a three yard punt into the wind gave the Wildcats excellent field position at the Como 31. But on second and five from the 26, Sargeant's pass over the middle bounced off the receiver's hands and into the arms of a Como defensive back, who returned the ball to the 21. Three plays later, the world went dark.

When play resumed, Como faced fourth and three, still into the wind, at their own 28. At this point, the wind was gusting to over 50 miles per hour. Como tried a fake punt, and were stopped a yard short of the first down. The Wildcats took advantage of their excellent field position and the wind at their backs, with 11 yard runs by Cory Lushanko and Josh Wilson helping to move the ball inside the ten. On third down from the two yard line, Brown took a pitch left and waltzed into the end zone. Buchanan's extra point gave the Wildcats a 7-6 lead going into halftime.

Como started to move the ball a little against the wind on their first drive of the third quarter. But the Wildcats fell on a botched lateral at the Como 38 and went to work. Four plays later, Sargeant hit Lushanko over the middle for 19 yards and a touchdown. The extra point was blocked, but the Wildcats led 13-6. And the pattern kept repeating itself. Como punted in the wind and the Wildcats took over at the Como 42. On a drive highlighted by a 16 yard run by Trevor Thurnbeck, Sargeant scored from eight yards out. The next Como punt went to their own 25. After a 12 yard completion to Wilson, Brown ran left for his second touchdown of the game. Joe Davis scored on the two point conversion from the Wildcats' offset formation and the Wildcats led 28-6.

The Wildcats got the ball back on Como 40 with just over a minute remaining in the third quarter. Nate Gilman burst up the middle for 17 yards on first down. A ten yard completion to Wilson brought another first down. Wildcat head coach Bill Weiss used his timeouts wisely to make sure the Wildcats took advantage of the scoring opportunity with the wind. Gilman ran for another ten yards. After an incompletion, ten seconds remained in the quarter. Gilman finished it off, going into the end zone from the three with three seconds left in the quarter. Buchanan's extra point made it 35-6.

The wind didn't help Como much in the fourth quarter against the stalwart Wildcat defense. The Wildcats even tacked on another score against the wind. Brown scored his third touchdown of the game on a 21 yard run after a nice spin move at the ten to put the finishing touches on the strangest night in Chisago Lakes football history.

"How about that game?" said Weiss. "That wind was something else. I have never been in a situation where weather was that much of a factor. After the power outage, it seemed to make sense to move over to the middle school field even though we didn't have a press box or any stands. We needed to get the game in and it was nice to have a field available.

"The wind gave us a huge advantage in what was left of the second quarter and the whole third quarter. As long as we kept them near their own 20, it was next to impossible for them to change field position punting into the wind. Passing into the wind was nonexistent, but we were still able to move the ball on the ground in the fourth quarter."

Sargeant finished the game 5 for 14 for 72 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Gilman led the Wildcat rushing attack with six carries for 49 yards. And Buchanan looked like Jan Stenerud, as the wind helped most of his kickoffs sail into the end zone for touchbacks.

Mahtomedi 56, Chisago Lakes 29

Second-seeded Mahtomedi blew open a close game with 35 unanswered points in the first half and went on to a 56-29 win over the third-seeded Wildcats in the Section 4AAAA semifinal game played at Mahtomedi last Saturday, October 30. The loss knocked the Wildcats out of the section playoffs. Mahtomedi will host fourth-seeded Hill-Murray in the section championship game tomorrow night at 7 p.m.

The Wildcats took an early 7-0 lead against Mahtomedi, but the Zephyrs came roaring back to lead 35-7 at halftime. Wildcat Cory Lushanko returned the opening kickoff of the second half 95 yards for a touchdown. The Wildcats played well throughout the second half, but the deficit proved too big to overcome.

After an early turnover by the Zephyrs, the Wildcats took over on the Mahtomedi 34 yard line. On second and seven, Sargeant hit Lushanko with a 30 yard pass for a first down at the one. Joe Davis scored on the next play. Kyle Buchanan's extra point was good, and the Wildcats led 7-0. But the Zephyrs, who rushed for nearly 400 yards on the day, scored on their next five possessions.

Lushanko took the opening kickoff of the second half straight up the middle. "He found a seam and turned on the jets," said Wildcat head coach Bill Weiss. Lushanko didn't stop till he reached the Mahtomedi end zone, and the Wildcats had cut the deficit to 35-14. Weiss said "Cory really made something out of it and gave us a good spark." On the ensuing kickoff, the Wildcats pinned the Zephyrs back at their own 14 yard line. But on the next play. Zephyr quarterback Dan Ferrazzo ran for 48 yards. Seven plays later, he went over from the one and Mahtomedi was again up by 28.

Sargeant hit Jordan Hickcox with a 33 yard touchdown pass on the Wildcats' next possession. But Mahtomedi answered with scores on their next two possessions to go up by 35. Sargeant was 4 for 5 for 50 yards on the Wildcats next scoring drive, finishing it off with a five yard touchdown run. He passed to Hickcox for a two-pointer, making the final score Mahtomedi 56, Chisago Lakes 29.

"We came out first quarter and played well," said Weiss. "We forced a turnover that led to a touchdown and were sitting good at the end of the quarter. The second quarter wasn't ours, to say the least. All three phases didn't execute. We couldn't get a stop on defense or get a drive going on offense and took they advantage of that and really put us in a tough situation. We regrouped at half and took the game for what it was. Returning the opening kickoff helped, but we still had a long way to go. We still had a tough time stopping them the rest of the afternoon, but were able to get some things going offensively. The result was what it was. The fact that we came back and had a solid second half performance when we knew the game was over, the season was likely over, is something to hang our hat on at least. Our guys never quit."

Sargeant had another good day passing, going 9 of 14 for 159 yards, one touchdown and one interception. The Wildcats outpassed Mahtomedi 159-120 for the day, but the difference was in the running game. The Zephyrs outran the Wildcats 383-88 and had two runners go over 100 yards. Weiss said "In the 14 years I have been here, that's the most passing yards and most touchdown passes we have had in a season. That's a phase of our game that was pretty solid, to say the least. It was a point of emphasis in the offseason. We thought we had the skill players to make the passing game work."

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