---

Hill Murray 49, Chisago Lakes 21

In the Class AAAA Section 3 football semifinal, played at Hill Murray High School, the fourth-seeded Wildcats tied the top-seeded Hill Murray Pioneers 7-7 early in the second quarter. But the Halloween day game turned into a nightmare for the Wildcats after that as the Pioneers turned up the heat and built a 35-7 halftime lead before cruising to a 49-21 win over the Wildcats. The loss ended the season for the Wildcats. The Pioneers moved on to the section championship game against the second-seeded Simley Spartans, which will be played a 6 p.m. tomorrow night at Hill Murray High School.

In the first quarter, Pioneer running back Grady Buettner scored the first of his two touchdowns to give Hill Murray a 7-0 lead. When Wildcat quarterback Kaiden Melquist took it in from the two-yard line just over a minute into the second quarter, it looked like the Wildcats would be able to make a game of it. But the Pioneers scored four touchdowns on their next four drives, with the longest drive going just five plays. They scored on the ground and though the air. Ultimately, Hill Murray scored 42 straight points in the second and third quarters, taking advantage of good field position throughout the game. The Wildcats tacked on two touchdowns in the fourth quarter against the Pioneer’s second and third string – on another two-yard touchdown run by Melquist and a two-yard run by Gus Strub - to make the final score more respectable.

The efficiency of the Pioneer passing game was impressive. Quarterbacks Brayden Hartmann and Nicholas Mauer combed to complete 14 of 16 passes for 180 yards and three touchdowns. Tristan Will was the offensive star for the Pioneers, with a combined 137 yards rushing and receiving and three touchdowns. The Wildcats managed 193 yards of offense in the game, with four running backs going over 30 yards each – Carter Anderson, Fisher Jorgensen, Gus Strub, and Mack Karpenko.

---