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Monticello 28, Chisago Lakes 21
Playing at home against the Monticello Magic in their final regular season game, the Wildcat football team found themselves trailing 28-7 entering the fourth quarter.  The Wildcat offense came alive late and closed the score to 28-21 with 1:28 left in the game.  But the Wildcat attempt at an onside kick was unsuccessful and the Wildcats lost 28-21.  The game was played last Wednesday, October 16 at Chisago Lakes High School.

Wildcat starting quarterback David Kimlinger suffered a knee injury on the Wildcats’ third offensive play of the game and did not return.  Backup Austin Seifert showed off some nice moves, running 15 times for 173 yards and three touchdowns.

After the teams traded punts on their initial possessions, the Magic went on an eleven-play drive.  But on fourth and five from the Wildcat 15, linebacker Mason Molde tackled the running back after a two-yard gain and the Wildcats took over.  But they again failed to move the ball and the Magic took over on their own 35 after a punt.  Magic quarterback Ethan Bosacker threw a threw a beautiful 35-yard touchdown pass on the sixth play of the next drive and the Magic led 7-0.  The Wildcats answered with a quick six play drive of their own.  On first and ten from the Magic 48, Seifert kept the ball, started left, cut back right and took off.  He broke a tackle at the 23 and a Magic defensive back dove for Seifert’s ankles to make a touchdown saving tackle at the 11.  Two plays later, from the six, Seifert kept the ball and waltzed through a huge hole into the end zone.  After Reece Lawlor’s extra point, the game was tied 7-7.

The Wildcats forced a punt on the next Magic drive and, after a touchback, the Wildcats took over at their own 20 with two minutes to go in the half.  But on third and four from the 16, the Wildcats fumbled and the Magic recovered on the Wildcat 20.  They scored four plays later and led 14-7 with 50 seconds left in the half.  On their ensuing possession, the Wildcats quickly drove down the field, mostly using the legs of Seifert, who rushed for 43 yards on three carries.  With six seconds left in the half, Lawlor came out to try a 43-yard field goal.  The kick was straight, but it landed about five yards short and the Wildcats went into halftime training 14-7.

The Magic scored on their first two possessions of the third quarter to go up 28-7.  The Wildcats did little with their first three possessions of the half.  But they got the ball back at their own 41 with 8:22 left in the fourth quarter.  Later in the drive, on fourth and four from the Monticello 39, Seifert kept the ball, ran through a hole to the right and gained five yards for the first down to keep the drive alive.  On third and seven from the ten, Seifert kept the ball, headed up the middle, blasted through a tackle at the five and another one at the goal line, going into the end zone for a touchdown that cut the Magic lead to 28-14 with 4:20 left in the game.

The Wildcat defense forced a three and out and the Wildcats took over at midfield after the punt.  On third and six from the Magic 47, Seifert ran through a nice hole up the middle and took off, finally being pulled down at the four-yard line.  Seifert kept it again on the next play.  He was hit after getting inside the one and reached the ball over the goal line for the touchdown.  The Wildcats now trailed 28-21.  But the Magic recovered the onside kick.  The Wildcat defense held and the Wildcats used their two remaining timeouts, forcing Monticello to punt with 38 seconds remaining.    The punt bounced into the end zone and the Wildcats took over at their own 20 with 30 seconds left.  They picked up one first down, but the game ended four plays later at their own 30.

Chisago Lakes 48, Coon Rapids 20
In this past Tuesday’s Section 7AAAAA quarterfinal game against third-seeded Coon Rapids, the Wildcat offense scored on its first three possessions and never looked back.  Led by sophomore quarterback Austin Siefert and senior fullback Manny Rosario, the Wildcat offense continued to rack up points seemingly at will and the Wildcat defense never let the Cardinals even think about getting back into the game.  The Wildcats eventually took their foot off the accelerator and Coon Rapids scored a couple of late touchdowns to make the final score Chisago Lakes 48, Coon Rapids 20.

The win for the sixth-seeded Wildcats sends them to this weekend’s Section 7AAAAA semifinal game against the second-seeded Cambridge-Isanti Bluejackets.  The game will be played this Saturday at 1 p.m. at Cambridge-Isanti High School.  The Bluejackets had a bye in the first round of the playoffs. The teams have already clashed once this year.  In the second week of the season, the Wildcats took a 28-21 lead into halftime.  But the Bluejackets scored as time expired in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 28-28 and won 34-28 in overtime.

Coon Rapids fans didn’t seem particularly interested in their football team on Tuesday night.  There were more Wildcat fans that Cardinal fans at Tuesday night’s game.  The Wildcat student section was larger than the Coon Rapids student section and it looked like not even all of the Coon Rapids parents came out to watch their sons play, much less any other fans.  And the Cardinal side of the stadium looked even more empty after dozens of players from the Cambridge-Isanti – who were there to scout their next opponent, which was going to be the winner of Tuesday’s game – left at halftime with the outcome of the game clearly in doubt.

David Kimlinger, the Wildcats’ starting quarterback for all eight games of the regular season, is done for the year after suffering a knee injury in last week’s loss to Monticello.  But Siefert stepped in and had the Wildcat offense operating smoothly on all cylinders.  On second and two from the Cardinal 30, on the Wildcats’ opening drive, Siefert rolled left and dropped a beautiful pass into the arms of Tim Gregory at the eight-yard line.  On the next play, Beau Stiller took a handoff to the left, cut up the middle and dove into the end one from the two for a touchdown.  The extra point was no good and the Wildcats led 6-0.  On the Wildcats’ next drive, Manny Rosario scored on a seven-yard run up the middle.  Early in the second quarter, Rosario scored on a four-yard run to make the score 20-0.  The smell of a blowout was in the air.

The Cardinal fans got a little hope when their team scored just two minutes later, with help from a 41-yard run by junior quarterback Jake VanHulzen, to cut the Wildcat lead to 20-7.  But the Wildcats scored twice more before halftime.  Beau Stiller scored on a 14-yard run in which he started up the middle, cut left and beat several Cardinals to the pylon in the left front corner of the end zone.  Siefert hit Will Tinjum with another nice pass in the right front corner of the end zone for the other score, and the Wildcats led 34-7.

The Wildcats added touchdowns by junior Cole Peterson and senior Brandon Benson in the third quarter to push their lead to 48-7, which meant running time in the fourth quarter.  And while all this offense was going on, the defense was playing its best game of the year.  Other than the touchdown drive, the other six possessions in the first half for the Cardinals went like this:  one first down, three-and-out, three-and-out, three-and-out, three-and-out, forced fumble recovered by the Wildcats.  And on special teams, Wildcat kicker Reece Lawlor converted six of seven extra point attempts. 

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