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Simley 42, Chisago Lakes 23
After two long drives by the Wildcat football team ate up most of the first half, the Wildcats led 10-7 at the half against the Simley Spartans. But Simley’s pass-happy offense exploded for 34 points in the second half and the Spartans beat the Wildcats 42-23 Friday, September 18 at Simley High School. Carter Anderson led the way offensively and defensively for the Wildcats. He touched the ball just eight times on offense. He ran the ball five times for 84 yards and two touchdowns. Anderson also caught three passes for 27 yards. On defense, he had seven tackles and two assists. Quarterback Kaden Melquist completed six passes in 12 attempts for 56 yards, one touchdown and one interception. For the Spartans, quarterback Christian Urbina was 14 for 19 for 270 yards and five touchdowns. His favorite receiver was Vincent Yang, who caught six passes for 105 yards and a touchdown.

The Wildcats opened the game with 15-play, 72-yard drive that took over nine minutes off the clock, highlighted by Mack Karpenko’s ten-yard run and a Kaiden Melquist 14-yard keeper. The biggest play came on a fake punt on fourth and two from the Wildccat 45.  The punter jumped as if the snap was going over his head, but the snap went to upback Melquist. Melquist hit Logan Senske over the middle for a 17-yard gain to keep the drive alive. On third and 19 from the 22, Melquist pitched left to Anderson. Anderson made a nice early move, and Emmitt Lawrence pushed a tackler to the outside at the 15, clearing a path to the end zone. Anderson’s touchdown and Blake Trupe’s extra point made the score 7-0. The Spartans responded with a ten-play drive of their own, culminating in an 11-yard touchdown pass from Urbina to Mason Streiff to tie the score at 7-7. The Wildcats responded with a 13-play drive that ate up the rest of the second quarter. After penalties made it second and 21 at the Simley 46, Gus Strub took a handoff and headed toward the right sideline. The blocking sealed off the edge and Strub ran down the sideline until he was shoved out of bounds at the 25.  Two plays later, Trupe nailed a 37-yard field goal, and the Wildcat led 10-7 going into halftime.

On the opening drive of the second half, the Spartans went on a ten-play, 57-yard drive that ended with a one-yard touchdown run by Derrick Montgomery to give Simley a 14-10 lead. The Spartans stopped the Wildcats on the next drive and, after a nice punt return, took over on the Wildcat 44. On the first play of the drive, Urbina showed off his arm, throwing a deep pass that dropped right into the arms of receiver Justin Runge as he crossed the goal line to give the Spartans a 21-10 lead.

The Wildcats moved the ball well on the ensuing drive, but on forth and two from the 32, Strub was stopped for a one-yard loss, and the Spartans took over on downs. They ate up most of the field with pass plays of 20 and 31 yards, and Streiff scored on an 8-yard screen pass to stretch the Simley lead to 28-10 early in the fourth quarter. The game was slipping away from the Wildcats. But on the ensuing kickoff return, Rowen Schimke caught the ball at the ten, shifted to the right at the 20 and broke clear. He headed down the right sideline and was caught from behind at the Spartan 20-yard line. On the next play, Anderson took a handoff, burst through a nice hole up the middle and, as he was grabbed from behind, dove across the goal line for a touchdown, cutting the Simley lead to 28-17. But the Spartans came right back with a 51-yard drive, ending in a 12-yard touchdown pass from Urbina to Yang, and the Spartans led 35-17.

As time ticked away in the fourth quarter, the Wildcat offense moved the ball quickly downfield. On fourth and one from the Simley 46, on what looked like the same play he had scored on earlier, Anderson took the handoff, raced through a big hole on the left side and was finally talked at the 13-yard line, a gain of33 yards. After a screen pass lost eight yards, Melquist hit a wide open Brannick Malchow in the front of the end zone for a touchdown, cutting the Simley lead to 35-23 after the failed two-point attempt. But time was the enemy of the Wildcats. With time running out, Urbina hit Jaelon Larson-Adams with a screen pass and Larson-Adams did the rest of the work, outrunning the Wildcat defense for a 69-yard touchdown to make the final score Simley 42, Wildcats 23.

Wildcat head coach Ryan Anderson said “We sustained drives on offense in the first half. From start to finish, our first drive was nine minutes coming off the clock. At the start, they were just not getting the ball. We really limited their possessions in the first half. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do that in the second half. We had guys getting banged up, and our consistency lapsed in the second half and Simley was able to get their hands on the ball more.”

Anderson talked about some of the players who stood out for the Wildcats in the game. He said “Carter Anderson was a busy guy for us on Friday night, leading us in rushing, receiving and tackling. With some injuries, we had to move some guys around. Offensively, Matt Karpenko got moved to the tailback spot, I thought he did a heck of a job there. On defense, he played corner, so he didn’t get a lot of plays off. Defensively, Logan Senske and Fisher Jorgenson are our two interior linebackers. This is the fourth year in a row we have had new inside linebackers, and those two just keep getting better every week. They made some nice plays. Brannick Malchow is kind of a Swiss Army Knife. He’s a guy that plays a little tight end on offense for us, and he really does a nice job on defense. He’s one of our outside safeties. Towards the end of the game, Carter got a little banged up and Brannick had to go out there and play some free safety. He’s gives you all he’s got. That kid has one speed and it’s 100 miles an hour and it’s a lot of fun to watch.”

Football Notes
The Wildcats (0-3) will head to Dennison Field at St. Anthony High School tomorrow night to take on the St. Anthony Huskies (1-2) at 7 p.m. Anderson said “They’ve got some good athletes down there. They like to spread the ball around on offense. Their quarterback is a pretty darn good athlete. They’ve got a nice receiver on their who’s got some speed.  They’ve got a guy on defense who lines up all over the place and he’s definitely a guy who we’re going to have to keep an eye on. Defensively, they do some things a little bit different than what we’re used to seeing, and when he sees what the defense is showing our quarterback is going to have to be ready to check out of plays into something that is more advantageous for us.”

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