Wildcats bury Vikings in Chisago County clash

Viking Maverick Pate intercepted Wildcat Mitch Berg’s pass on the first drive of the game. But the Wildcats stopped the Vikings on the subsequent drive and went on to score 31 straight points on their way to a 37-13 win over the Vikings. Wildcat Josh Parks made the most of his eight carries in the game, rushing for 122 yards and two touchdowns. Viking running back Eli Chouinard also rushed for 122 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries. The game was played at North Branch High School last Friday night in front of a pretty even mix of Chisago Lakes and North Branch spectators.

Wildcat head coach Bill Weiss said, “On the overthrown pass, there was a little confusion with the route. Pate was in a good position behind the receiver and made a nice move on the ball and they took over in decent field position.” After the Vikings failed to capitalize on Pate’s interception, the Wildcats took over on their own 46 yard line. Two plays later, on first and ten from the Viking 43, Wildcat Joe Virga went in motion to the left. Berg handed the ball off to Parks on a counter to the right. Parks hit the corner, blew around the Viking defense and ran straight down the sideline into the end zone untouched. Straight-ahead-style kicker Bryce Thompson, filling in for the injured Hunter Thompson (not related), kicked the extra point and the Wildcats led 7-0 with 7:35 left in the first quarter. The Vikings started their next drive from their own 25 yard line. On second and 10, the Vikings ran to the right. Virga describes what happened next.

He said, “The back ran in and I hit the hole and filled it. He bounced back out and I bounced out with him. He tried to cut back and I wrapped him up and stood him up. I reached under with my right arm, grabbed the ball and spun and ripped it out. Everyone else stopped because I think they thought he was down, so I took off. The quarterback saw me and I tried to stiff arm him to get in, but he caught me.” After Virga’s steal and run, the Wildcats had the ball on the Viking 11. On second down from the five, Berg kept the ball, hit a nice hole up the middle and dove into the end zone for the touchdown. Thompson’s extra point made it 14-0 with just over six minutes left in the first quarter. The Vikings moved the ball from their own 23 to the Wildcat 45 on their subsequent possession, but the drive stalled and they were forced to punt. Viking punter Trey Oday’s line drive punt rolled dead at the Viking eight. Five plays later, on third and 12 from the 20, Berg dropped back and zipped a pass up the middle. The ball went off the hands of Wildcat receiver Will Gillach and into the hands of Viking defensive back Riley Jacobson. Jacobson returned the ball to the Wildcat 19 yard line, giving the Vikings a good opportunity to cut the Wildcat lead in half.

Three plays later, on fourth and nine from the 19, the Vikings went for it. The ball was pitched right to Jack Tholen, who stopped and threw the ball back across the field to the left to Tony Denn, but the ball sailed just over the head of the Vikes’ quarterback as he slipped to the ground. It took the Wildcats just five plays to score again. Wildcat Kaleb Paehlke’s 21 yard beast mode run gave the Wildcats a first down just short of midfield. After a penalty moved the ball back five yards, Berg kept the ball, ran left, broke a tackle and motored down to the Viking 31. Parks took a handoff up the middle through a huge hole, cut to the left and ran untouched to the end zone for his second touchdown of the game and a 21-0 lead with 8:15 left in the first half. The Vikings ran a reverse on the next kickoff and Jack Tholen took off down the left sideline. It looked like he might go all the way, but Wildcat kicker Trevor Gervais made a touchdown-saving tackle at the Viking 40. After a nice first down run by Chouinard, the Vikings had the ball first down on the Wildcat 48.

 But on third and two from the 40, Wildcat Mike Dunne knifed through the line and hammered Denn in the backfield for a two yard loss, forcing a Viking punt. Oday again came through for the Vikings, as his punt rolled dead at the 11 yard line with 5:12 left in the first half. The Wildcats went on an 11 play drive. On second and six from the 15, Parks took a handoff up the middle and bounced left. A nice block by Dunne sealed off the corner and Parks ended up with a 20 yard gain. Later in the drive, on first down from the Viking 33, Berg hit Dutcher over the middle for a 14 yard gain to the 19. On second down from the 21, Parks took a pitch left and headed for the sideline. It looked like he might score his third touchdown of the game, but a swarm of Vikings forced him out at the six. Two plays later, Paehlke went over from the three and the Wildcats led 28-0 with just under a minute left in the half.

The Wildcats stopped the Vikings on the opening drive of the second half and took over on their own 40 after Oday’s punt. On first down, Berg hit Gillach for a 17 yard pickup. On the next play, Gillach took off down the left sideline. Berg lofted a perfectly thrown ball to a wide open Gillach in stride at the five, but Gillach dropped it. On fourth and four from the 37, Berg hit Dutcher 15 yards downfield on the left hash marks. Dutcher broke a tackle and ran all the way down to the 11. Three plays later, Gervais kicked a 23 yard field goal and the Wildcats led 31-0. On the subsequent kickoff, the Vikings ran a fake reverse. Tholen again broke free and Gervais had to make his second touchdown-saving tackle of the game.

Two plays later, from midfield, the speedy Chouinard took the ball to the right, found a hole and outraced the entire Wildcat defense to the end zone to cut the Wildcat lead, after the Oday extra point, to 31-7 with three minutes left in the third quarter. The Wildcats took just four plays to answer on their next drive. A 12 yard run by Virga and a 10 yard screen pass to Parks gave the Wildcats a first down at the Viking 39. Berg fired a pass over the middle to Gillach crossing at the 25. Gillach reached behind himself and leaped to make a great catch at the 25 and was tackled at the 21. On the next play, Berg rolled left and hit Gillach on a square in at the 10. Gillach scored untouched and the Wildcats led 37-7 with just over a minute left in the third quarter. Chouinard scored in the fourth quarter on a 30 yard run with just over two minutes left in the game to make the final score Chisago Lakes 37, North Branch 13.

Wildcat head coach Bill Weiss said, “Because of the early interception, we didn’t start off first drive the way we wanted to. I give our defense credit for rerouting things for us.” Weiss talked about another great performance from the Wildcat offensive backfield. He said “You see Parks a couple of times and you can tell he’s a natural at finding the seam. And on his first touchdown, it looked like they had an angle on him and he turned on the burners and outran them. Caleb again ran some hard yards inside. Joe and Mitch had some great runs, too. We had good balance in our rushing attack.” Virga’s strip and return was an unusual, exciting play, but it didn’t surprise Weiss. He said “Joe has a knack for taking the ball away. He had two interceptions returns for touchdowns and another fumble recovery earlier this year. Against North Branch, he was able to go in and take that ball right out of there.”

The Wildcats (5-1) will host Monticello (4-2) tomorrow night at Chisago Lakes High School at 7 p.m. Both teams are undefeated in the small school half of the Mississippi 8 Conference. Whichever team wins this game will win their half of the conference. Weiss said “Monticello is pretty typical of the teams in this conference. They are big and strong with a power running game led by a running back whose six-foot-two and 215 pounds. Their success on the ground has given them a pretty decent passing game, too. They’ve been pretty solid on defense all year, which will give us a challenge offensively. We came out of last week’s game with no new injuries. Gabe Gustafson came back and played a few snaps and we should get Jake Klein, Sam Birkholz and Garrett Rhoden back this week. It’s a good time to get everybody back as we get near the playoffs.” Because of MEA, the Wildcats will play their last regular season game next Wednesday, October 16 away at St. Francis (3-3) at 7 p.m.

North Branch goes on the road for their last two games of the year after two home contests in a row. They’ll travel to Princeton on Friday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. The Tigers are 4-2 on the year. On the MEA shortened week, the Vikings will go west for a showdown with the Big Lake Hornets. The Hornets are 1-5 on the year.