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Fullback Braxton Bender-Ehlke rushed 19 times for 162 yards and a touchdown to lead the Wildcat football team to a 28-8 win over the Foley Falcons in the season opener last Friday, August 29 at Foley High School.  Quarterback Kellen Meissner added 68 yards on 18 carries and scored twice as the Wildcats piled up 312 yards rushing, controlling the ball for most of the game.

The Wildcats took the opening kickoff and went 74 yards in 19 plays to take the lead, eating up 9 and a half minutes on the clock.  They needed three fourth down conversions to keep the drive alive.  On fourth and two from the 50, Meissner took a keeper left for four yards and a first down. On fourth and four from the Foley 40, Meissner pitched right to running back Jadon Greene, who ran for six yards and a first down.  On third and 13 from the 28, running back Cole Stilp picked up 11 yards.  And on 4th and three from the 18, several Falcons jumped offsides on Meissner’s cadence, giving the Wildcats a first down.  Bender-Ehlke went up the middle for eight yards on the next play.  Meissner then scored easily on a keeper to the left.  Brycen Morley’s extra point attempt was blocked, and the Wildcats led 6-0.

Foley took the ensuing kickoff and ran it back all the way to the Wildcat 37-yard line.  On fourth and nine from the 24, a wide open Falcon receiver dropped a ten yard pass that would have given Foley a first down, and the Wildcats took over on downs.  They were forced to punt from their own 38.  The Foley receiver called for a fair catch but muffed it and the Wildcats recovered at the Falcon 39 yard line.  Seven plays later, the Wildcats faced fourth and one at the eight-yard line.  They put a heavy package in the backfield, with two offensive linemen lining up as running backs.  Fullback Michael Houle took the handoff.  Houle hit the line and looked like he was stopped, but Houle churned his legs to keep a large scrum of players from both teams moving toward the goal line.  Houle stayed on his feet until he and a large pile of humanity hit the goal line and fell into the end zone for a touchdown.  The Wildcats used the heavy package on the two point conversion attempt, and Houle went right up the middle and into the end zone to make it 14-0 with 3:15 left in the second quarter.  The Falcons moved the ball to midfield on their final drive of the half, but an eight-yard sack and a seven-yard tackle for loss ended the half.

Foley had another long kickoff return to open the second half, with kicker Morley making a touchdown saving tackle at the Wildcat 40.  On fourth and four from the 34, the Wildcats stopped a run up the middle a half-yard short of a first down and took over on downs.  On second and ten from the 45, Bender-Ehlke plowed up the middle, broke loose and raced down the field to the right.  He nearly scored, getting tackled at the three-yard line after a 52-yard gain.  On second and goal from the one, Meissner scored on a quarterback sneak.  On the extra point attempt, holder Blake Siefert fumbled the snap, picked the ball up and tried to throw a pass that was intercepted, ending the play.  The Wildcat led 20-0 with 8:06 left in the third quarter.

On the ensuing drive, completions of 14 yards and 25 yards helped the Falcons move the ball deep into Wildcat territory.  On third and four from the 19, the Falcon quarterback lofted a high pass into the front left corner of the end zone.  It looked like two Wildcat defenders had a chance at it, but the ball made it through to the receiver, who bobbled it for a second before completing the catch.  The pass for the two point conversion was good, and the Wildcat lead was cut to 20-8.

The Wildcats were again able to move the ball on the ensuing drive.  On third and nine from their own 35, Messner hit Stilp with the Wildcats’ only completion of the game for ten yards, keeping the drive alive.  Runs of 16 yards and 20 yards by Bender-Ehlke helped to move the ball down to the Falcon 14 yard line.  On third and one from the five, Bender-Ehlke took the handoff up the middle and appeared to be stopped at the two.  But he popped backwards out of the pile, shuffled left and waltzed into the end zone for a touchdown.  On the two point conversion, Meissner kept the ball, cut left and leaped over a pile at the goal line and stayed on his feet for the two point conversion to make the score 28-8 early in the fourth quarter.

The Falcons passed their way quickly down the field with three completions of ten yards or more and a first down on the Wildcat 24.  But four straight incompletions turned the ball over to the Wildcats.  The Wildcats went on another long drive, and got down the five-yard line with under a minute to go in the game.  Meissner took a knee twice to run out the clock as the Wildcats started the season with a win.

“The biggest thing we did against Foley was to sustain drives,” said Wildcat head coach Ryan Anderson.  “The offense put itself in a position to convert and converted to stay on the field.  Sustaining long drives helped keep the defense fresh.  On defense, we were shedding blocks and forcing tackles. Our pursuit was really good.  Our goal on defense is to minimize big plays and to miss six or fewer tackles in a game.  We only missed five tackles in this game, which is a heck of a first game.  In all aspects of the game, we took care of business and did a lot of little things right.  We played a very good first game and we know it’s still not our best.  We should continue to get better throughout the season.”

With fullback Evan LaValle graduating last year, the Wildcats went into the first game not sure what to expect out of the backfield.  Anderson said “We installed Braxton Bender-Ehlke in at fullback and his 161 yards rushing were not always easy yards.  He had to grind for a lot of them.  But he was turning what looked like two or three yard gains into four or five yard gains.  If we can get four or five yards a play we can keep a lot of drives going.  On defense, our inside linebacker led the way.  Michael Houle had eight tackles and Matt Schlender was the leader on the field, getting everybody where they needed to be,

Brycen Morley played some outside safety down the stretch last year.  We had him there against Foley.  He was flying around, taking on blocks, and shedding blocks to make tackles.  The fact that he was able to do some nice things showed up quite a bit on the game film.”

Football Notes

The Wildcats will open their home season against the Cambridge-Isanti Bluejackets Friday (tomorrow) night at 7 p.m. at Chisago Lakes High School.  The Bluejackets lost their opener 38-6 to St. Cloud Tech.  Last year, the Wildcat and Bluejackets played in the second game of the season at Cambridge-Isanti High School and the Wildcats beat the Bluejackets 35-28.

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