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Chisago Lakes 48, Willmar 42 (2 O.T.)
With the score tied 42-42 in the second overtime against the Willmar Cardinals, Wildcat defensive end Stephen Weiss intercepted a  pass at the ten-yard yard line to stop the Cardinals’  overtime series.  The game ended two pays later when fullback Evan LaValle scored on a nine-yard run to give the Wildcats a 48-42 win on Friday, October 14 at Chisago Lakes High School.

On the game’s opening possession, Willmar used a long run to get deep into Wildcat territory, inside the 20-yard line.  But the Wildcat forced a fumble and Josh Byrne recovered it for the Wildcats at the 21.  On the first play from scrimmage, quarterback Gavin Lewis threw a quick pass to Carson Langevin on the right side.  Langevin raced down the right sideline and was knocked out of bounds at the Willmar 44.  Runs of nine yards each by Langevin and Lewis help to move the ball deep into Cardinal territory.  On fourth and four from the 25, LaValle plowed up the middle for four yards and a first down.  LaValle went up the middle again on the next play, going 17 yards down to the four-yard line.  On second down, Lewis kept the ball and scored from the one.  Bryce Morley made the extra pint and the Wildcats led 7-0 with 4:47 left in the first quarter.

Led by Byrne swatting away a first down pass attempt by Willmar quarterback Cullen Gregory on the Cardinals’ next drive, the Wildcats forced a three and out and took over at their own 38 after a short punt.  Using the legs of Langevin and Lewis, the Wildcats took just four plays to move the ball down to the Cardinal 25, forcing Willmar to call a time out to slow things down.  Runs of 12 yards and seven yards by Lewis moved the ball to the six.  On first and goal from the two, Lewis waltzed through a big hole up the middle into the end zone, and the Wildcats led 14-0 with 36 seconds left in the first quarter.  On the ensuing drive, Willmar moved the ball downfield easily, slowed down by a touchdown-saving tackle by Reed Bleymeyer.  Willmar’s workhorse running back Ramero Trevino scored from the two to cut the Wildcat lead to 14-7 with 9:43 left in the second quarter.

Byrne gave the Wildcats great field position with a kickoff return to the Wildcat 47, with only a touchdown-saving tackle by the Willmar kicker preventing him from going all the way.  Blake Schmidt and LaValle did most of the backfield work on the drive, with a nine-yard pass to tight end Nat Bluhm thrown in for good measure.  On second and three from the 20, LaValle plowed up the middle, dragging tacklers with him all the way down to the nine-yard line, with stadium announcer Dieter Dietz saying, “it looked like a tractor pull.”  The unstoppable LaValle blew up the middle and into the end zone on the next play to make it 21-7 with 4:41 left in the second quarter.  Morley made a touchdown-saving tackle on the ensuing kickoff return and Willmar began the drive on the Wildcat 41.  It took the Cardinals seven plays to move the ball down to the Wildcats six.  A chop block penalty moved the ball back to the 21-yard line.  On the next play, Gregory dropped back to pass and was flushed to the right.  He threw on the run to the right side of the end zone.  A Wildcat defensive back had grabbed on to Cardinal receiver Sam Raitz, but Raitz shook himself loose in time to make a nice catch for the touchdown, cutting the Wildcat lead to 21-14 at the end of the first half.

At the start of the third quarter, another nice kickoff return by Byrne was nullified by a penalty, and the Wildcats started the opening drive of the third quarter at their own 20.  Langevin ran for 14 yards on first down, but the drive stalled there, and the Wildcats punted.  Starting from their own 40, Wilmar used mostly the legs of Trevino to move the ball downfield.  Trevino took it into the end zone from the one with 6:15 left in the third quarter.  But a high snap spoiled the extra point attempt for the Cardinals, and the Wildcats still led 21-20.  Byrne had yet another nice return and the Wildcat started the ensuing drive  on their own 38.  The Wildcats moved the ball into Willmar territory with the help of a personal foul penalty.   But on first down from the 40, the Wildcats fumbled, and Willmar recovered at their own 35.  They picked up a couple of first downs, but a snap over Gregory’s head resulted in a loss of 17 yards.  The Cardinals punted on fourth and 20 and, after a muffed fair catch attempt, the Wildcats took over at their own 10-yard line at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

The Wildcats then began their longest drive of the game.  After getting one first down at their own 23, back-to-back runs of 13 yards each by Mason Mehsikomer and Jacob Showers, and back-to-back seven yard runs by Showers and LaValle move the ball to the Willmar 39.  On second and five from the 34, the ninth play of the drive, Lewis rolled right, and threw a perfect pass to Blake Schmidt.  Schmidt caught it in stride at about the 25, broke a tackle at the 15 and ran into the end zone for a touchdown.  A high snap spoiled the Wildcat extra point attempt, and they led 27-20 with 6:49 left in the fourth quarter.

Morley’s  line drive kickoff slid through the legs of the Willmar return man at the ten, and he fell on it at the one.  The Cardinals answered the Wildcats long drive with an even longer drive of their own.  On second and seven from the four, Trevino burst up the middle and Josh Byrne made a touchdown-saving tackle at the Willmar 40.  The Cardinals continued to move the ball and eat up clock.  Trevino went over from the one for his third touchdown of the game to cut the Wildcat lead to 27-26 with 1:53 remaining.  The Wildcats blocked the extra point attempt and still led 27-26, so an onside kick attempt would be coming.    The Willmar kicker bounced the ball to the right.  Showers caught the ball on a bounce at midfield, squeezed between two Cardinals and ran all the way down to the 20-yard line before he was tackled.    On the next play, Schmidt got the ball on a misdirection play to the left and ran around left end untouched into the end zone.  After the extra point by Morley, the Wildcats led 34-26 with 1:37 left. ’But, of course, the game was not over.    When Morley’s kickoff went out of bounds at the five, Willmar started the ensuing drive on their own 35.  After a six-play drive helped out by a personal foul penalty on the Wildcats, Trevino went over from the two  for his fourth touchdown of the day to cut the Wildcat lead t0 34-32 .  Trevino also ran in the two-point conversion attempt, tying the score at 34-34 and sending the game into overtime.

The Cardinals won the toss and the Wildcats had to go first in the overtime.  In high school, each team gets one set of downs from the ten-yard line, and whoever is ahead wins.  If they remain tied after the first overtime, they go to a second overtime with the same rules, and they keep playing until there is a winner.  On the Wildcats’ first play, Schmidt took a handoff left, the line sealed off the edge and Schmidt ran into the end zone untouched to make it 40-34.  On the two-point conversion attempt, LaValle ran untouched up the middle into the end zone to make it 42-34.  It was Willmar’s turn. 

On third down from the four, Gregory ran up the middle untouched for the score.
 
On the two-point attempt, the Cardinals gave the ball to – who else? – Trevino.  He went up the middle, was hit at the two and fell across the goal line to tie the game at 42-42.

Willmar got the ball first in the second overtime.  On the first play, Gregory threw a short pass to the left.  But he didn’t see Wiess, who had dropped into coverage, and Weiss stepped in front of the Willmar receiver and picked off the ball, ending the Willmar overtime attempt.  On the Wildcats’ first play, Lewis picked up one yard on a keeper.   On second down – who else? – LaValle went through a nice hole up the middle, was hit at the two and dove just over the goal line for the game-winning touchdown.

We aske d Stephen Weiss if, on the interception, it was designed for him to drop back into coverage.  He said “I noticed it was a screen pass because the tight end stopped blocking me after about half a second on a pass play, so I usually drop back when I recognize a screen.  Usually, they just throw it into the ground, but the quarterback kind of lobbed it up and tried to throw it over me, but he didn’t realize I have a really long wingspan and I just jumped up and grabbed it and made a play.  I give credit to our offense because they’re the reason we stayed in that game.   LaValle had a great game.  Gavin Lewis had a great game.  The offensive line kicked butt tonight.  It was a great team win and it feels great right now.”

Wildcat head coach Bill Weiss said “That was a great game.  Willmar is one of the heavy hitters in our district and we rose to the challenge.  We worked hard, believed in ourselves, and came out ahead.  We didn’t do it in our other tight games against Becker and Cambridge this year, so to make it happen in this one was pretty cool.

“Willmar is very explosive offensively, so the more we could hang on to the ball with long drives that ended in scores, the less time that gave them on offense.  Getting the two-score lead early gave us huge momentum and build some early confidence.  But we certainly didn’t think we were going to shut them out.”

Weiss talked about a few of the players who stood out in this game.   He said “Gavin Lewis has gotten a little better each week since practice started in the summer.  He’s getting more and more confident at quarterback and made some good decisions.  Our offensive production tonight speaks for itself, and Gavin was a big part of that.  Evan LaValle is just a hard-working, task-oriented, productive kid and being a fullback suits his personality.  He has been consistent all year for us.  Carson Langevin, a sophomore, has a good deal of speed and is taking advantage of the opportunity to get some varsity playing time.  He has a lot of upside.  He is still learning, and with his raw talent and speed it will be very beneficial for us down the road.  And he did some nice things for us in this game.”

As for Stephen Weiss, who had the biggest play of the game, Bill Weiss said “He’s always been a pretty smart football player.  He’s probably the best guy we have at reading screen passes.  Earlier in the game, he read another screen and dropped the receiver as soon as he caught the ball.  After he made the interception in overtime, all we had to do was convert on our opportunity to win the game.”  And as for Jacob Showers, Weiss said “Jacob played a really nice game for us at free safety and came in and took some halfback reps for us, as well.  And he made a big play on the onside kick.  He was really dialed in and made plays for us in all three phases of the game.

So how does Weiss explain the fact that Willmar beat Rocori earlier this season and the Wildcat swere crushed by Rocori a few weeks ago, but the Wildcats beat Willmar in this game?  Weiss said “Go figure.  I can’t explain it,  I have been around high school football for a long time, and it doesn’t always go by the script.    As competitive as our district is, it makes it very interesting, that’s for sure.”

Football Notes
The Wildcats (2-5) played last year’s state champs, the Hutchinson Tigers (6-1), at home last night.  Results were not available in time for publication in this week’s Press.  The Wildcats will open the Section 4AAAA playoffs nest Tuesday, October 25.   There are four teams bunched within half a point of each other from second through fifth in the QRF rankings, so the results of last night’s games and the section coaches’ vote could put the Wildcats anywhere from second to fifth in the seedings.  Any seeding but fifth will give them a home game on Tuesday.  Check out mshsl.org for seedings and game locations and times.

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