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The Wildcat football team dug a 28-7 hole for itself in the first half against the Princeton Tigers, and  never got closer than two touchdowns as the Tigers went on to beat the Wildcats 42-21 Friday, October 4 at Chisago Lakes High School.

The Tigers literally did all their damage on the ground, completing just one pass for 20 yards.   They piled up 434 yards rushing, nearly double the 224-yard output of the Wildcats.  Noah Wells had 15 carries for 160 yards and two touchdowns.  Quarterback Brody Kok carried the ball nine times for 112 yards and found the end zone twice.  And Cullen Drews had seven carries for 69 yards, and he also scored two touchdowns.

The Wildcats fell behind just 90 seconds into the game.  

After starting on the Wildcat 20, two runs by the Tigers set up a first down at the Princeton 30.  Kok took the snap, headed left and cut upfield when he got to the sideline, outracing the entire Wildcat defense on his way to the end zone and a 7-0 Princeton lead.  The Wildcats answered with a scoring drive of their own.  On second and five from the 36, the Wildcats set up in a spread formation.  Wildcat quarterback Kellen Meissner took the snap and headed up the middle through a nice hole.  After 10 yards, he cut to the left and was finally tackled at the Princeton 40, a run of 24 yards.  On second and eight from the 38, Meissner dropped back and lofted a pass toward the left sideline.  Cole Stilp made the catch at the 20 and headed toward the end zone as a Cardinal defensive back grabbed his jersey.  Stilp dragged the Cardinal defender down the field, and the defender finally hauled Stilp down at the one.  Fullback Braxton Bender-Ehlke went up the middle through a nice hole, untouched, for a touchdown and, after the Brycen Morley extra point, the game was tied 7-7.

The Tigers needed just seven plays to reach pay dirt again.  Drews scored in a 29-yard run, and the Wildcats trailed 14-7 with just under four minutes to go in the first quarter.  The Wildcats went three and out on the ensuing drive and set up to punt from their own 26.  The snap hit the ground, and the punter did a good job picking it up.  But the delay cost them, as the punt was partially blocked and only went three yards.  On the very next play, Drews ran for another 29-yard touchdown, and the Tigers now led 21-7 with 2:15 left in the first quarter.  Carson Langevin’s 30-yard kickoff return gave the Wildcats the ball in good field position at their own 40.  Three straight runs by Bender-Ehlke made it fourth and two at their own 48.  The Wildcats decided to not go for it on fourth down.  The punt bounced out of bounds at the Princeton 16.

Three plays later, the Tigers faced fourth and one at their own 25 and lined up to go for it.  The Wildcats were called for offsides, giving Princeton a first down.  Three plays later, a 19-yard run by Kok gave the Tigers a first down at the Wildcat 44.  Wells took the handoff, headed through a gaping hole in the middle and outraced the Wildcat defensive backs to the end zone to make it 28-7 with 7:20 left in the first half.  

Langevin returned the kickoff to the Wildcat 30.  After a ten-yard run for a first down by Langevin, Bender-Ehlke burst loose up the middle.  He was caught from behind at the 29.  The Wildcats showed off their punishing ground game, led by Bender-Ehlke, as they moved toward the goal line.  On third and goal from the one-foot line, Bender-Ehlke took a handoff, hit the line hard and fell about six inches into the end zone for a touchdown.  The Wildcats had cut the lead to 28-14.  The Wildcat defense finally stopped the Tigers on the ensuing drive, forcing a punt, and after the Wildcats were also forced to punt the half ended.

On the opening drive of the second half, the Wildcats faced fourth and nine at the Tiger 49 and punted.  The ball rolled dead at the 16.  The Tigers went on a 14-play drive that included two fourth down conversions and ate over seven minutes off the clock.  Wells scored on a 20-yard run, and the Tigers bumped their lead up to 35-14 with 1:53 left in the third quarter.  The Wildcats moved the ball well on the ensuing drive.  On second and eight from the Tiger 43, Meissner nearly broke loose, but was tackled from behind after an 11-yard gain.  But the game effectively ended two plays later, as Meissner fumbled on the 27 and Princton recovered.  They went on a nine play drive that ate five more minutes off the clock, and Kok scored from 18 yards out to make the score 42-14.  Meissner scored from two yards out with 3:52 left in the game to make the final score 42-21.

Wildcat head coach Ryan Anderson said, “Tonight was another night, unfortunately, of not playing very good complementary football.  When our offense could move the ball a little bit right away, we couldn’t get a stop on defense.  It puts a lot of pressure on one side of the ball when you’re not playing complementary football.  And then when we did get some defensive stops, we were not able to convert that into points.  At the end of the day, that’s a really good Princeton team.  They’ve already had a lot of success this year.  Hats off to them.  They controlled the line of scrimmage tonight, and we didn’t.  We need to refocus, regroup, and get better.”

Football Notes

The Wildcats (3-3) look to get back on track against the winless Willmar Cardinals (0-6) at home at Chisago Lakes High School tomorrow night at 7 p.m.  But Anderson won’t let his team take anything for granted.  He said “Willmar is always going to be a tough team, always going to be a physical team, so we’ve got to get back to work, shore up some things, clean up our game and get ready to go.”

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