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The Wildcat offense ran just twelve plays against the Willmar Cardinals in the first half last Friday night, and, obviously, it’s hard to score much when you don’t have the ball.  Willmar scored twice in the last four minutes of the first half and beat the Wildcats 21-14 in the final home game of the year for the Wildcats.  The Wildcats will almost certainly start the upcoming section playoffs on the road.

The Cardinals went on a 16-play drive to open the game.  On fourth and 12 from the Wildcat 28, Cardinal quarterback Jordan Ellingson missed a wide-open receiver about 15 yards downfield, and the Wildcats took over on downs.  On the fifth play of the drive, with the Wildcats facing 3rd and nine from their own 45, Carson Langevin took a pitch to the right from quarterback Brayden Anderson.  He made the first man miss in the backfield.  As he approached the sideline, a block by fullback Braxton Bender-Ehlke sprung him loose.  He cut upfield and outraced the Cardinal defense down the right sideline for a 55-yard touchdown.  After the Brycen Morley extra point, the Wildcats led 7-0.  Willmar followed with an epic 20-play drive that took up most of the second quarter.  Running back Conlan Carlson scored on fourth and goal from the one, tying the score at 7-7 with 3:56 left in the first half.

The Wildcats went three and out on the ensuing drive, and that proved crucial.  On fourth and three from the Wildcat 35, a short punt gave the Cardinals great field position at their own 49-yard line.  On third and ten, Ellingson threw a bomb to a wide-open Jackson Schnichels, and he made a diving catch for a first down at the Wildcat 16.  On fourth and two from the eight, Carlson took a handoff around left end, squeezed down the sideline and dove through the pylon for a touchdown and a 14-7 Cardinal lead going into halftime.

The teams exchanged three and outs to open the third quarter.  The Wildcats then went on a 16-play drive pounding their way downfield.  On fourth and goal from the six, the Wildcats attempted a field goal.  The snap and hold were good, but Morley hooked the ball to the left.  The field goal attempt was no good, and the Cardinals took over at their own 20 with 2:03 left in the third quarter.  The Cardinals followed with a 10-play scoring drive, highlighted by two chunk plays. – a leaping 25-yard catch by Schnichels and a 32-yard completion to Hudson Sjoberg.  On second and goal from the seven, Carlson took a handoff around left end and waltzed into the endzone for a touchdown.  Willmar led 21-7 with 8:18 to go in the game.  The Wildcats responded with an eight-play scoring drive of their own.  On second and five from the Cardinal 21, Anderson took the snap and a giant hole opened up on the left side.  Anderson ran through the hole and ran straight for the left front corner of the end zone.  A would-be tackler came from across the field to try to thwart a touchdown,  but just as he made contact Anderson dove over the goal line and into the end zone, cutting the Cardinal lead to 21-14.

After a touchback on the ensuing kickoff with under three minutes to go in the game, the Cardinals faced third and 12 from their own 18. If the Wildcats could make a stop, they would likely get the ball in good field position with time to for a game tying drive.  But Ellingson unleashed a 33-yard bomb, and Schnichels made a diving catch at the Wildcat 44-yard line.  The Cardinals converted a fourth down play and needed just a couple of kneel downs to run out the clock, sealing their 21-14 victory.                               

Wildcat head coach Ryan Anderson said “It was a one score game, and it was just a matter of the defense trying to get off the field.  The offense struggled to sustain drives.  Once again, we weren’t playing good complementary football.  We didn’t turn the ball over.  What hurt us was that we pretty much stopped their run game, but on several third and longs they were able to complete long passes to keep drives going.  People looked at their 0-6 record before the game and assumed they were not a good team.  But they played a lot of the top teams in Class 4A this season  They are a team that is well coached and better than their record.”

With regular starting quarterback Kellen Meissner out for the game, Braden Anderson took over as the signal-caller.  Anderson said “Braden Anderson did a nice job at QB in his first varsity start.  We are pretty proud of how he handled himself and how composed he was out there.  And our offensive line once again did what we expect of them every week.  A couple of them were pretty banged up, but they got out there and got after it.  We could talk about them every week.  Riley Estes had a nice game on defense, with a tackle for loss and just generally being a force to reckon with.”

Football Notes

The Wildcats (3-4) played the undefeated Becker Bulldogs (7-0) - ranked first in the state in Class AAAA - last night, but the results came past the deadline for this week’s Press.

The Wildcats will open the section playoffs this coming Tuesday, October 22, likely at 7 p.m.  Section 3AAAA uses QRF rankings to seed teams for the playoffs.  The final QRF rankings will come out this morning after last night’s final games were played.  Currently, the Wildcats are seeded fifth in Section 3AAAA and, if nothing changes, they will play the fourth-seeded St. Paul Johnson Governors (2-4) in a section quarterfinal game at Simley High School on Tuesday.  You can head to mshsl.org to confirm the opponent and time of the Wildcats’ opening playoff game, which will be posted at some point today.

If the Wildcats win on Tuesday, they will play in a section semifinal game against the top-seeded Hill-Murray Pioneers (6-1), ranked third in the state in the QRF rankings and ninth in the state in the coaches’ poll, on Saturday, October 26 at Hill-Murray High School.  The Pioneers would certainly provide a formidable challenge for the Wildcats.

Anderson said “The good thing about our tough schedule is that we will be battle-tested when the playoffs roll around.  When playing tough opponents, the margin of error is pretty small, and every mistake gets amplified.  We need to continue to learn from our mistakes.  As we head into the playoffs, we will be ready to rock and roll.”  

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