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North St. Paul 33, Chisago Lakes 28

After Wildcat quarterback Kelen Meissner scored with just seconds left in the fourth quarter to cut the North St. Paul Polar lead to 33-28, Polar quarterback Eijah Adzmahe - the star of the game for North St. Paul – recovered the Wildcats’ last ditch onside kick attempt to seal the win for the Polars.  The game was played at Polar Field in North St. Paul on Saturday, September 27.

The game started well for the Wildcats.  Starting on their own 40, Logan Senske ran for 18 yards to open a nine-play drive.  Eight plays later, the Wildcats faced fourth and four on the Polar 10-yard line.  Zack Karst took a handoff from Meissner and cut up the middle through a huge hole, cruising into the end zone for a touchdown.  With regular kicker Owen Morley not available for the game, Cullen Alling kicked the extra point to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead.  The Polars answered the Wildcat scoring drive with an eight-play drive of their own. Matt Bono went in from the four for a touchdown.  The Polar kicker doinked the extra point try off the left upright, and the Wildcats led by one with 2:09 left in the first quarter.

The Wildcats started the next drive eon their own 38 and needed  just seven plays to score.  A 15-yard run by Meissner, a 13-yard pass over middle to Carter Anderson and a nine-yard run by Reese Nasvik on a pitch right gave the Wildcats second and one at the North St. Paul 26.  Diesel Lundeen took the handoff  and raced untouched up the middle. It looked like he was going to score, but he was hauled down from behind at the three.  One play later, Meissner plowed up the middle and into the end zone for a touchdown, and the Wildcats led 14-6.

The Wildcats forced the Polars into a three and out and, after a short punt, took over at their own 27.  Seven plays into the drive, they went for it on fourth and three from the Polar 39.  Meissner handed off to Karst.  After a couple of steps, the ball was knocked loose.  Meissner fell on it midfield, and the Polars took over.  Seven plays later, Bono took a handoff up the middle, was hit at the two and spun into the end zone for a touchdown.  The Polars passed successfully for the two-point conversion, and the game was tied 14-14.  After a short kickoff and return, the Wildcats started at their own 43 with time winding down in the first half.  For the fourth consecutive drive, they moved the ball well but ran out of time as the half ended.

On the ninth play of the opening drive of the second half, the Polars faced second and goal from the 17.  Adzmahe’s pass over the middle was picked off by Quinn LeVasseur at the two, and LeVasseur ran it back to the 15.  The Wildcats went three and out and set up to punt from the 18.  Jacob Grabow shanked the punt, and it went out of bounds at Wildcat 27, giving the Polars a short field.  And they took advantage of it.  On the second play of drive, first and goal from the eight, Adzmahe dropped bac to pass, and almost immediately took off to the right.  He dived into the front right corner of the end zone for a touchdown with 4:32 left in the third quarter.  The Polars missed another extra point and led 20-14.

After starting the ensuing drive from their own 44, the Wildcats took just four plays to get to the North St. Paul 33.  But the drive stalled, and they were forced to punt on fourth and 17 from the Polar 40.  Grabow’s punt was fielded by Adzmahe at the two.  He returned it to the Polar 45-yard line.  On the twelfth play of the drive, Adzmahe scrambled for thee yards and a touchdown.  He tried the same thing on the two-point conversion attempt, but was hauled down at the two, and North St. Paul led 26-14.  The Wildcats followed up with a ten play, 65-yard drive topped off by an easy two-yard run for Meissner that cut the Polar lead to 26-21.  With time running out in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats tried an onside kick.  The Polars recovered it at their own 45.  On second and eight, Adzmahe pitched left to Duke King, who headed up the left hashmark.  About ten yards downfield, King cut diagonally to the right and outraced the Wildcats defense to the end zone for a touchdown.  After the extra point, the Polars led 33-21.

Starting from the 22 on their next drive, Meissner hit Logan Fenske for a 24-yard gain.  During a nine-yard gain by Lundeen, a personal foul penalty on the Polars moved the ball to the North St. Paul 30.  After an incomplete pass, Karst gained 14 yards.  Meissner kept the ball on the next play, ran right, and stepped out of bounds at the four-yard line, stopping the clock with 43 seconds left in the game.  Lundeen was stopped at the one on the next play, but Meissner took it in from the one to cut the Polar lead to 33-28.  With just a few seconds left in the game, the Wildcats tried another onside kick that was fittingly recovered by Adzmahe.  After a couple of kneel downs, the game was over.

The Wildcats didn’t turn the ball over for the second game in a row.  But a turning point in the game was the nine-yard punt that gave the Polars the ball on the Wildcat 27-yard line, from where they scored in two plays. Wildcat head coach Ryan Anderson said “One of our goals as an offense is to score four touchdowns, and we did that.  But we just didn’t play the best complementary football.”

Meissner led the Wildcats in rushing, with 17 carries for 117 yards and three touchdowns.  Lundeen was close behind, with 14 carries for 103 yards.

Football Notes

The Wildcats (1-4) will play their last home game of the season against a familiar foe, the Princeton Tigers (0-5), tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at Chisago Lakes High School.  Anderson said [Princeton] is definitely a better team that their record shows.  They graduated a lot of guys  like we did last year, but they are aggressive on defense and can move the ball pretty well.  They’re going to run the ball right at us, so they are definitely a team that we have to prepare well for.”

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