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Players, coaches, referees, concession workers, food trucks, and hundreds of fans braved a steady rain on Homecoming night last Friday, September 18 as the Wildcat football team final put it all together and beat the St. Anthony Village Huskies 28-14 for their first win of the season.  Quarterback Kellen Meissner led the way with 144 yards rushing and the Wildcats did not turn the ball over once while taking the ball away twice.  And we know this phrase is overused, but the game was not as close as the score indicated.  The Wildcats led 21-0 after three quarters, and Wildcat Wyatt Vitalis made a spectacular play to recover the ensuing onside kick with less than two minutes remaining to seal the 28-14 win.

The Huskies got one first down on their opening drive.  On second and eight from their own 32, quarterback Nathan Bentz took the shotgun snap, turned to his right, and fired a quick screen pass to Teddy Haas.  But Haas bobbled and dropped the ball.  Diesel Lundeen dove to intercept it before it hit the ground, and the Wildcats had the ball at the Husky 29.  After picking up one first down, the Wildcat drive stalled at the 16-yard line.  Owen Morley came in to attempt a 33-yard field goal.  But he pushed it a couple of feet outside of the right post, and the game remained scoreless. Starting at their own 20, the Huskies went on a 15-play drive that ate up a huge chunk of time.  On third and seven from the Wildcat nine-yard line, Bentz took the snap and was flushed to the left.  He threw back against his body to a receiver who looked open in the middle of the end zone, but Carter Anderson cut in front of the receiver and intercepted the ball, cradling it as he fell to the ground.

The Wildcats went on an eight-play scoring drive.  On first and ten from the 20, Meissner kept the ball, headed through a hole in the middle and cut toward the left sideline.  He stiff-armed a would-be tackler ten yards downfield, accelerated and was finally tackled after a 45-yard gain.  On third and seven from the St. Anthony 32, Meissner took the snap and headed left for 16 yards.  One play later, Meissner kept the ball and went through a huge hole on the right, waltzing into the end zone.  Morley’s extra point was good, and the Wildcats led 7-0 early in the second quarter.  The Huskies followed with an eleven-play drive.  They went for it on fourth and six from the Wildcat 45. Bentz rolled right, couldn’t find a receiver, and tried to head upfield.  But he was corralled for no gain, and the Wildcats took over at their own 45.  Three plays later, on first and ten from the Husky 35, Meissner dropped back to pass.  Jacob Grabow, who had been lined up on the far right, was downfield along the hashmarks.  The defensive back fell down about ten yards downfield, so Grabow was wide open as Meissner launched the best pass he has thrown this season.  It dropped right into Grabow’s hands in stride at the goal line, but he dropped it.  A few plays later, the half ended with the Wildcats up 7-0.

The Wildcats started from their own 40 on the first play of the second half.  Diesel Lundeen took a handoff up the middle, plowed through some would-be tacklers, and broke into the open.  He outran the entire St. Anthony defense, racing 60 yards for a touchdown to double the Wildcat lead to 14-0 just seconds into the second half.  On third and seven from the Wildcat 43, Meissner took the snap and headed through a giant hole on the right side of the line.  He headed upfield and toward the sideline.  A Husky player tried to wrap him up at the Husky 43, but Meissner broke free, and on film the would-be tackler can be seen pounding his fist on the ground a Meissner ripped off another 20 yards before he is finally hauled down at the 23.   A false start penalty on the Wildcats made it first and 15 from the 28.  On the next play, Meissner dropped  back and was flushed left.  He threw it against his body toward the back left corner of the end zone.  Logan Senske leaped to make the catch and held onto the ball as he crashed to the ground, giving the Wildcats a 21-0 lead midway through the third quarter.

St. Anthony followed with another very long, 15-play drive.  It was impressive, but it took way too much time off the clock for a team trailing by 21 points in the fourth quarter.  At least they got payoff on this drive as Will Karch took it over from the one-yard line to cut the Wildcat lead to 21-7.  The Wildcats responded with a nine-play drive of their own, again starting in great field position at their own 20. The first eight plays, all on the ground, gained from one to six yards each.  On second and five from the 30, Reese Nasvik took a handoff through a hole on the right, cut back though the middle and ran 30 yards for a touchdown to make the score 28-7.  The Huskies followed with their fourth drive of eleven or more plays before Clavin Urdahl scored from the one to cut the Wildcat lead to 28-14, but they ate up so much time that less than two minutes remained when they lined up for the onside kick.  St. Anthony kicker Elias Parson Timbo did about as perfect a job as you can with the kick.  Aiming to the right side, he kicked the top of the ball, it bounced once and then bounced high eleven yards downfield. Wildcat Wyatt Vitalis was racing in from the right wing.  He and the Huskies’ Sawyer Carr leaped for the ball, and both got their hands on it.  They crashed to the ground, and Vitalis ripped it out of Carr’s hands to give the Wildcats the ball at midfield.  Both teams got in a few plays before the clock ran out with the Wildcats on top 28-14.

What were the keys to the Wildcats’ convincing victory?  “Three things show why we were successful.” said Wildcat head coach Ryan Anderson.  “We won the turnover battle.  We didn’t turn the ball over at all, and St. Anthony turned it over to us twice.  We had eight chunk plays on offense, which are plays of 12 yards or more, and we held them to just three chunk plays. The third thing is that we cut way down on missed tackles.  Our surehanded tackling was the reason they didn’t have many chunk plays, and that helped to keep them out of the end zone for the first three quarters of the game.

Anderson talked about some of the game’s key players.  He said “Kellen had a great night running the ball.  Many of his runs were from the option, but we also had a few designed running plays for him so he could run freely without having to make an option decision, and he had some nice runs on those plays.  Diesel Lundeen gained almost 100 yards for us on the ground.  We had planned to use him mostly on offense during this game, but he ended up playing a lot of middle linebacker due to an injury there and performed admirably in that role.  And Carter Anderson once again did an excellent job for us at safety  He and Jacob Grabow had nine tackles each, and Anderson had an interception.”

Football Notes

The Wildcats (1-3) will travel to Polar Field to take on the North St. Paul Polars (1-3) this Saturday at noon.  “North St. Paul has a lot of great athletes on their team,” said Anderson.  “We will need to execute well on offense and continue to finish tackles on defense to come out on top in this one.”

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