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| (image from Facebook) |
Our weather to date has been pretty standard. Remember the Halloween blizzard of 30 years ago? Hard to believe it was that long ago. We're well past Halloween now. So it's Thanksgiving-time including "Black Friday."
Have you ever liked the "Black Friday" term? I was writing about this several years ago and groping to find the words to express my dislike. To the rescue came John Stone, the newspaper guy from Minnewaska territory. Stone wrote a column in which he described "Black Friday" as having a "somber" tone, not in line with an occasion that is supposed to be bright.
But why the hoopla for "Black Friday" in the first place? Common sense has always suggested that the day after Thanksgiving is a convenient time to get out and about, make purchases. The Viking Plaza in Alexandria would be abuzz, for sure. I wonder how the mall has come out of the pandemic year. It went through some hard times even before that. Of course we're not out of the pandemic anyway.
The Thanksgiving weekend is the time for Minnesota high school football to reach its apex. Realistically, I think many people need reminding it's still going on. If your own team had a brief playoff appearance, it's easy to put football aside and then, if you wish, start thinking about the winter stuff. That's if you're attuned to high school sports at all. Of course, many of us are not.
There were no playoffs for football when I was in high school. Teams just played for their conference championship. I know that when the playoff format began, former Tiger coach Stan Kent was not approving: He thought that playing for your conference title was meaningful enough. I had Stan as a teacher in school. Nice guy, thoughtful, relaxed.
At present in the fall of 2021, we should be aware that the Knights of West Central Area-Ashby remain in action. Let's all cheer for the Knights as they prepare for their final challenge: a November 26 game against Chatfield for all the AA marbles!
Game will be played at the "big-time" site of U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. It's the home of the Minnesota Vikings.
Let's review the 2021 WC Area road. The coach is Nate Wood. The Knights reeled off win after win beginning with the Barnesville game. After that they disposed of Staples-Motley, Pillager, Hawley, Crookston and Breckenridge. Then came the Knights' lone loss which was to the Silverstreaks of Osakis. The Knights polished off their regular season with a win over Underwood.
Next: the section playoffs. So the Knights took care of business with a 20-7 win over Sauk Centre, then a 19-14 triumph over Osakis at the Fargodome. Moving on from sections, the Knights took care of business by beating Moose Lake-Willow River 14-6, and then Maple River 8-7. The Maple River game was at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Kickoff-time this Friday is 1 p.m. Let's cross fingers to have a pleasant weather day.
As the 8-7 score suggests, defense was big for the Knights in the Maple River game. Maple River is known as the "Eagles." The Eagles' first possession was critical: they threatened, driving to the West Central Area five yard line. The stout defense then took over for the Knights. No dice for the Eagles as they tried on fourth-and-two.
The Knights were hampered with failures on fourth down plays early-on. But that pattern was broken nicely midway in quarter No. 2. Facing fourth-and-one, a halfback pass netted success. The thrower was Anthony Sykora. The catcher was Cole Anderson. This success was to the tune of a touchdown. It went into the books as a 16-yard touchdown pass. How precious that TD would end up being.
The Knights certainly had mixed success with the halfback pass on this day. Rather an exotic play, it backfired on the Knights in later attempts. Throws got intercepted, and one of those pickoffs set the stage for Maple River's only touchdown. Boden Simon carried the football into the end zone for the Eagles from the two. Simon was effective with his ballcarrying as he tallied 96 yards on 20 carries.
I made no mention of the conversion play in connection with WC Area's touchdown. Was it a two-point conversion play? The Knights did not tack on two that way, rather this came with a subsequent two-point safety, quite essential as it turned out.
The WCA defense was stubborn as the Eagles sought to convert fourth down situations. It was linebacker Hunter Norby who gets credit for the safety which happened in the third quarter. Norby racked up seven tackles and two sacks in addition to the safety. Mattson Hoff came through with five tackles and an interception. Colten Lindquist bore down to get a sack. Carson Spangler broke up two passes.
Sykora carried the football 17 times for 88 yards. Evan Paulson completed two passes for 42 yards.
The Knights own an 11-1 record as they prepare for Friday's big championship game vs. Chatfield in Minneapolis.
The Chatfield story
Chatfield goes by the "Gophers" name. They had to survive a potentially costly player ejection on their way to the title game.
Thursday in the AA semis, star Gopher Sam Backer was ejected in the third quarter. But the Gophers were able to rally to defeat Barnesville 22-18. Backer is the junior quarterback. My, what happened? This talented young man was ejected early in the third quarter after he got his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of the game.
Things got worse before they got better for the Gophers. The Gophers fumbled on a punt attempt. Barnesville then executed just one play to net six points. This put Barnesville up 18-8.
The defensive unit for Chatfield became resolved.
The quarterback reins were taken by Parker Delaney, sophomore. Delaney put the ball in the air with confidence. And the Gophers scored two consecutive touchdowns. The Rochester Post-Bulletin termed this a "wild victory." Post-game, Chatfield players were quoted saying they had become tired of hearing about how dependent they were on Backer.
Sophomore Delaney threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Erding with 4:29 left in the third quarter. Delaney would throw an even longer TD strike to Luke Carrier, 47 yards, with 2:26 left in the game. Delaney finished with 7-for-17 passing stats, 175 yards and two touchdowns.
The Post-Bulletin tells us that the game-winning TD was on a play not even in Chatfield's playbook! It was an out-and-up play. Chatfield coaches "noticed that Barnesville defenders were jumping short routes, so they tweaked the play and it worked to perfection." The Chatfield head coach is Jeff Johnson.
Chatfield had its back to the wall when trailing 18-14, as they fumbled and Barnesville recovered and had an apparent return to the five. However, Barnesville lost the handle on the football and Chatfield recovered.
Barnesville had another fumble on the kickoff following Chatfield's go-ahead score. Delaney then broke loose for a 47-yard run, coming within an eyelash of scoring. But he fumbled at the Barnesville one yard line. The Trojans of Barnesville thus got one last chance. This was snuffed out when Eli Hopp made an interception.
What a game! It was at U.S. Bank Stadium.
You might be curious: Will Backer be back in action Friday? Maybe not. The situation sounds unsure and an appeal could be involved. Both of the unsportsmanlike calls on him were when he was advancing the football. Coach Johnson said the officials did not supply an explanation. Reportedly, defenders were "wrapping up" Backer's leg.
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| (Photo of WC Area-Ashby football team from Ashby school site) |
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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