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The tough start continued for the Wildcat football team as they lost 24-16 to the Simley Spartans Friday, September 12 at Chisago Lakes High School.  The Wildcats have now dropped to 0-3 for the season.

The Wildcats forced the Spartans into a three-and-out on the game’s opening drive and took over at their own 42 after a 33-yard punt.  On the Wildcats’ first play from scrimmage, Ryan Vitalis took a handoff up the middle and burst through a big hole for a 41-yard gain.  On the next play, quarterback Kellen Meissner gained seven yards on a keeper, and the Wildcat had it second-and-three on the ten.  But two holding penalties pushed the ball back to the 28-yard line, and, on fourth down, Owen Morley nailed a 45-yard field goal to give the Wildcats a 3-0 lead.  On the ensuing drive, the Spartans had the ball second and one at their own 40.  The ball fell to the ground after a bad exchange between the quarterback and running back, and Jacob Grabow fell on the ball to give the Wildcats the ball on the Simley 38-yard line.  On the first play of the drive, Reese Nasvik took a pitch to the right, raced around a well blocked right edge, and raced down the numbers.  He was tackled just as he crossed the goal line for the touchdown and, after the Morley extra point, the Wildcats had a 10-0 lead.

The teams exchanged short possessions twice, and the Spartans took over at the Wildcat 49 after a three-yard punt.  They went on an 11-play drive.  A pass on third and eight from the 18 was overthrown, and Simley had to settle for a field goal attempt.  The attempt sailed wide right, and the Wildcats still led 10-0.  The Wildcats went three and out on the ensuing drive.  Grabow’s punt hit one of the Spartan players in the back of the leg at midfield, and the Wildcats recovered it at their own 45.  They went for it on fourth and five from midfield, but Meissner was stuffed after a one-yard gain, and the Spartans took over at their own 49.  Eight plays later, quarterback Christian Urbina took it in from the five, and the Wildcats lead was cut to 10-7.  The Wildcats went three and out on their next drive, and Simley followed with a six-play drive that ended with a 35-yard field goal with seven seconds left in the second quarter, and the game was tied 10-10 going into halftime.

After a touchback, the Wildcats started from their own 20-yard line to begin the third quarter.  They fumbled on the first play, and Simley recovered at the 24.  On the next play, Urbina hit a wide open Vincent Yang in the middle of the field, and Yang waltzed into the end zone untouched to give Simley its first lead at 17-10.  The Wildcats followed with a ten-play drive, capped off by a five-yard touchdown run to the left side by Meissner.  On the two-point conversion attempt, Meissner was stopped inches from the end zone, and the Wildcats trailed 17-16 with 6:04 left in the third quarter.  The Spartans followed with a 13-play drive that took over five minutes off the clock, and Carter Bungue scored from two yards out, giving the Spartans a 24-16 lead with 30 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Wildcats went three and out on their ensuing possession.  SImley took over and ran thirteen plays.  The Wildcats stopped them on fourth down at the Wildcat 25, but the Spartans had taken over six minutes off the clock.  The Wildcats were again forced into a three and out and punted from their own 29.  Jacob Grabow’s line drive punt hit the ground and rolled downfield, stopping at the Simley ten-yard line with 4:22 left in the game.  If the Wildcats could come up with a quick stop, they would likely get the ball back in good field position with a chance to tie the game late.  But they never got the chance, as Simley moved the ball 85 yards in eight plays and knelt the ball down with 30 seconds left.  The clock ticked down to zero and the Spartans came away with a 24-16 win.

Head coach Ryan Anderson talked about some of the key factors in Friday’s loss.  “We had an early drive,” he said. “We got three points out of it.  But we had second and three on the ten-yard line and ended up with third and 22 at the 29.  We came out after halftime and got the ball at the 20-yard line.  But we put the ball on the ground and gave them a short field.  And that’s a tough situation to put the defense in.  So, it is just kind of a recurring theme of self-inflicted wounds that keep us from winning.”

He continued, “We took some big steps forward on defense in this one, aligning well and executing our assignments. Cole Stilp is getting healthy again and we moved him into a linebacker position.  He has done a really nice job the last couple of weeks and continues to get better every week. He is the guy out there who directs traffic for us and his presence has certainly made a big difference on the defense.  We had a couple of other guys out, so we had two sophomores step up big time – Quinn LeVasseur at a linebacker spot and Carter Anderson.  Carter had been playing some offense and a little cornerback, but because of injuries he had to play at free safety, and he did a nice job.  We’ve got some young guys who are chomping at the bit and ready to go.  They answered the bell when we said, ‘make it hard for us to keep you off the field,’ and they certainly are doing so.  Our offensive line is starting to put things together.  But we’re still making that one little mistake, that penalty, that backs us up and makes things a whole lot more difficult.  And we put the ball on the ground, and sometimes I think it’s a matter of we just try to do too much.  We have to realize that we just have to do our job, like the first time we touched the ball in the game and ripped off a 41-yard gain.  We have it in us.  It’s just a matter of finding that consistency.”

Quarterback Kellen Meissner was three for nine for 53 yards through the air.  Wyatt Vitalis was the Wildcats’ leading rusher, carrying the ball ten times for 68 yards.

Football Notes

The Wildcats will welcome that St. Anthony Village Huskies for homecoming this Friday at 6 p.m. at Chisago Lakes High School.  Anderson said “St. Anthony is a pretty solid team.  It will be the fourth week in a row that we will face a spread team with a 3-4 defense.  We’ve got an opportunity to do well if we take care of the ball on offense and continue to improve on defense.  We will make our wrinkles and adjustments, and we will be ready to go.  I think we will find ourselves on the better side of things as far as the win-loss column goes.”

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