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Trailing 14-7 at halftime against South St. Paul, the Wildcats appeared poised to tie the game after a nice kickoff return by Carter Anderson and a 15-yard penalty for a late hit out of bounds gave the Wildcats the ball at the South St. Paul 40.  But the Wildcats managed only four yards on four plays.  The Packers’ Jake “Mini-Me” Baldus ran 64 yards for a touchdown on the next play, and the Packers never looked back as they went on to beat the Wildcats 36-20 last Friday, October 10 at Ettinger Field in South St. Paul.

The Packers needed just five plays to score on their 65-yard opening drive.  On second and three from the Wildcat 42, Baldus took a handoff around right end and ran 32 yards down the sideline before being knocked out of bounds at the ten-yard line.  On the next play, Donovyn O’Donnell took a took the ball through a hole on the right side of the line.  Jacob Grabow wrapped him up after five yards, but O’Donnell dragged Grabow into the end zone for a touchdown.  The two point conversion attempt was stuffed, and the Packers led 6-0.  The Wildcats answered quickly.  On the second play of their opening drive, they faced second and seven from their own 43.  Wildcat quarterback Kellen Meissner took a shotgun snap, slid sight to buy himself a little extra time and lofted a ball deep downfield.  Reese Nasvik and a South St. Paul defender leaped for the 50/50 ball.  Nasvik came down with it.  The defender dove for Nasvik’s legs, but Nasvik was already gone, sprinting to the end zone for a touchdown.  Owen Morley blasted the ball down the middle for the extra point, and the Wildcats led 7-6.

The Packers responded with a nine-play drive.  On third and one from the ten-yard line, Ben Thrun took a handoff up the middle and appeared to be stopped by half a dozen Wildcats at the five.  But he spun away from all the would-be tacklers and ran standing up into the end zone for a touchdown.  Thrun also ran for the two-point conversion and South St. Paul led 14-7.  The Wildcats marched down the field on the succeeding drive.  On fourth and 11 from the Packer 26, Meissner dropped back to pass.  He scrambled to the right and headed toward the sideline.  It looked like he would get the first down, but Daniel Fitzgerald-Rosa caught him from behind and hauled him down five yards short of the first down.  It was the first stop for either defense on the day, and it proved critical as the game went on.

  On the final play of the half, the Packers faced fourth and 10 from the Wildcat 46.  Quarterback Sincere Casarez-McCampbell dropped back to pass, rolled left, and heaved the ball downfield.  Anderson cut in front of the receiver from the right and picked the ball off before he sailed out of bounds to end the half with the Packers leading 14-7.

Anderson fielded the opening kickoff of the second half at the Wildcat ten along the left hashmarks.  He ran diagonally toward the right sideline, cut up the sideline, and was pushed out of bonds at the Wildcat 45.  An extra shove from a defender added 15 yards to the return, and the Wildcats were in excellent field position at the Packer 40.  On fourth and six from the 36, Meissner dropped back to pass and was chased to the left.  He showed off some impressive arm strength as he heaved the ball on the run against his body, and it was knocked down at the goal line, turning the ball over on downs.  On the next play, Baldus took a handoff up the middle for a 64-yard touchdown.  O’Donnell ran for the two-point conversion, and the Packers led 22-7.

On the ensuing kickoff  Wildcat blockers opened up a huge hole in the middle of the field and Anderson ran straight up the middle.  He cut to his right at midfield to avoid a tackler.  Nasvik then blocked another would be tackler and Anderson kept running until he was hauled down by several Packers at the ten-yard line.  But the Wildcats failed to move the ball and settled for a 30-yard field goal attempt by Morley.  Morley pushed it wide right, and the score stayed at 22-7.  ON the fifth play of the ensuing drive, O’Donnell took a handoff, shimmied his way through the Wildcat defense and headed down the right sideline.  Wyatt Vitalis tried to wrap him up at the 15, but O’Donnell shook him off and finished the run in the end zone.  Thrun ran for the two-pointer, and the Packers led 30-7.

On the first play of the ensuing drive, from their own 33, Meissner faked a pitch left and headed upfield.  A tacker grabbed a hold of him at the South St. Paul 30, but Meissner was in beast mode and dragged the tackler all the way down to the 14.  On second and goal from the three, Meissner loped into the end zone through a huge hole for a touchdown, and the Wildcats trail 30-14 with 2:19 left in the third quarter.  On the second play of the Packer drive, Luke Leadholm ripped the ball loose from Thrun while he was being tackled and Leadholm fell on the ball at the Packer 43.  On second and seven from the 40, Meissner went up the middle for 18 yards, and a penalty moved the ball down to the seven.  On second and goal from the one, Diesel Lundeen carried the ball up the middle and crossed the goal line standing up for a touchdown.  The two-point attempt failed, and the Wildcats trailed 30-20.

The Packers responded with a nine-play drive ate up a lot of time on the clock.   Ben LaBrosse scored from ten yards out and, after the two-point conversion attempt failed, the Wildcats trials 36-20 with 5:32 remaining in the game.  The Wildcats responded with an impressive 13-play drive, but it took most of the remaining time off the clock. 

Wildcat head coach Ryan Anderson said “We were living and dying on offense by the big play.  We weren’t as consistent as I’d like us to be on offense and that kind of hurt us.  It meant the defense was out there a long time.  We had our chances, but we weren’t consistent enough to get those touchdowns that we needed.  And we only turned the ball over once, on an interception at the end of the game.  But we put the ball on the ground five times.  And when you’re doing that, it makes it a lot harder to move forward.”

Anderson talked about the most impactful Wildcats in the game.  He said “Kellen Meissner had a big game running the ball.  He’s a force to be reckoned with.  He had some nice big runs. Outside of that, we just didn’t gain a ton of yards.  Defensively, Cole Stilp has continued to play a nice inside linebacker for us this year.  I think he had 12 tackles in this one, along with a sack and a tackle for loss.  Luke Leadholm caused two fumbles.  He had a nice game for us, as well.”

Football Notes

The Wildcats (1-6) lost to the Zimmerman Thunder (5-2) at Zimmerman High School last night.  The results came too late to appear in this week’s paper.

Section seeding takes place tonight, and Section 3AAAA will seed the playoffs by coaches’ vote, at the request of Wildcat head coach Ryan Anderson.  If the playoffs were seeded by QRF rankings, the Wildcats would be playing the St. Paul Johnson Governors at St. Paul Johnson High School next Tuesday evening.  Whoever they end up playing, the Wildcats will likely be playing an away game on Tuesday.

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