Caledonia stomps Moose Lake, crowned Class 2A champions yet again

Nearly out of breath, Caledonia running back Connor McCormick savored the moment and dished out the praise after his team’s Class 2A championship victory Friday night at the Metrodome.

“It was like I was dreaming,” McCormick said, referring to his team’s key fourth quarter drive. “I see Teddy [Barthel, Caledonia’s hefty lineman] downfield and think, 'geez he’s fast.' It’s because of that heart and how they were able to keep going that I could keep going.”

The drive resulted in McCormick bursting his way to a 12-yard touchdown run to put fifth-ranked Caledonia up 20-0. The team tacked on seven more en route to an impressive 27-0 blanking of the mighty Moose Lake/Willow River Rebels.

It was the Warriors’ fourth state title in five years.

“It’s about gap control defense and 11 kids out there believing they can stop anything,” head coach Brent Schroeder said.

Schroeder could not say enough of his defense. The No. 2-ranked Rebels entered the game scoring a Class 2A-best 51.7 points per game. ML/WR features a fierce rushing attack, led by junior running back Jake Disterhaupt.

Disterhaupt rushed 2,242 yards this season, including 244 in his team’s state semifinal win last week. Yesterday, Caledonia defenders stifled Disterhaupt, bottling him up for 49 yards on 15 carries.

“It’s the best offense I’ve seen,” Schroeder said about Moose Lake. “They’ve been killing everybody, I haven’t slept for a week and a half.”

Led by senior linemen Travis Frank and Ted Barthel, the Warriors were up to the task. Beside Disterhaupt, ML/WR has two other 1,000-yard rushers – Josh Cisar and Chris Gassert. But none of the Rebels runners had much success Friday.

Instead, it was McCormick and Caledonia quarterback Kennan Bruening who dominated the ground game today.

The first half began rather slowly on both sides. Until, that is, Bruening fumbled on his own 37-yard line – one of three fumbles on the day for him. This set up ML/WR with an excellent opportunity to strike first.

But the Warriors defense stood strong as, with the Rebels facing third-and-six at the Caledonia 14, linebacker Austin Goergen stuffed Disterhaupt and teammate Alex Betz followed with a stop of Gassert on fourth down.

On the ensuing possession, Bruening redeemed himself – leading his team on a nine-play, 87-yard touchdown drive.

“We have some stud seniors on the right side, and our stud fullback and running back just went through the holes and I’d follow them,” said Bruening, who carried the ball six times for 65 yards on the drive.

Bruening then capitalized on his running prowess by lofting a 10-yard strike to WR Adam Drenckhahn, who easily beat his defender for the game’s first score.

The drive consumed 4:21 of game clock and finished one minute into the second quarter. From there, the Caledonia defense was at it again.

Disterhaupt rushed for nine yards on first down. But the Warriors stuffed ML/WR for no-gains on consecutive plays and followed the three-and-out with a blocked punt.

Senior Houston Halverson rejected the Rebels boot and Caledonia recovered on their opponents’ 13-yard line. However, the scoring opportunity went for naught, as a Goergen 30-yard field goal attempt went wide left.

Caledonia would tally another score five minutes later, when Drenckhahn made the offensive play of the game.

Bruening looked downfield to his left and lofted a pass for his senior receiver. The pass may have been a tad long, but Drenckhahn was able to extend his hands, tip the ball up and haul in the reception before tumbling toward the goal line.

McCormick followed with a one-yard plunge to make it 13-0 at halftime.

The second half featured more Caledonia defense. All game long the Warriors harassed ML/WR quarterback Tony Adamczak and his stable of running backs.

Adamczack completed just one pass, finishing 1-for-5 with two interceptions – he entered the game with only three interceptions all season.

On offense, it was a whole lot of McCormick, rushing behind his dominating offensive line that eventually wore out the Moose Lake defense.

“It’s our O Line getting a drive every single play,” McCormick said. “They don’t get tired, they keep

pushing and so do our fullbacks.”

Before long, Caledonia found itself crowned 2011 state champs.

After a raucous celebration with the team trophy, Schroeder spoke of what this year’s title meant to him and his team.

“Awesome,” he said. “It’s just a tribute to our kids, our coaches, how they work in the offseason, in the weight room and what a great community that we have behind us. I just want to thank everybody for all of that.”

** This game, the 2011 Class 2A Prep Bowl, occurred Friday, Nov. 26. I wrote this story for the Rochester Post-Bulletin. The photos used in this blog posting are AP photos provided by the Post-Bulletin. Descriptions of the photos, from top-to-bottom, are as follows: Caledonia RB Matt Peterson (30) leads his team in a post-game celebration. Caledonia QB Kennan Bruening carries the ball by a pair of Moose Lake-Willow River defenders on a first half run. Caledonia RB Connor McCormick rushes past a ML-WR defender en route to one of this three touchdowns in the game.

Eastview goes down in a blaze of Eden Prairie red

Eastview goes down in a blaze of Eden Prairie red

November 21, 2007

Eastview goes down in a blaze of Eden Prairie red
by Jeff Barthel


The Eastview Lightning football team was excited for its chance at exacting revenge on its mighty Lake Conference foe last Friday night.

Lightning fans flocked to the Minneapolis Metrodome in droves to support their team. Among the spectators included the Eastview pep band, its cheerleaders, and a 350-plus-student section united in white displaying its large banners of hope to inspire its football squad’s determination.

Then, roughly two and a half hours later, these faithful followers stood proud despite watching their Lighting get trampled 30-0 for its 11th straight loss to the Class 5A, No. 1-ranked Eden Prairie Eagles in the state semifinals.

“We’ve got nothing to be ashamed of, only to be proud of,” said Eastview head coach Kelly Sherwin.

Sherwin was especially proud of the defense, which limited Eden Prairie’s mighty offense to nine points on its first three possessions. Playing a major role in Eastview’s early defensive success was defensive back Erik Klefsaas.

Following an Eastview turnover, Eden Prairie’s rushing game placed the Eagles in a second-and-10 situation at Eastview’s 25-yard line. Eden Prairie quarterback Ryan Grant attempted a quick pass to wide receiver Ben Heuper only to be clobbered by Klefsass for a 2-yard loss.

“It felt great,” Klefsaas said of the hit. “The score was 0-0 at the time, so I felt I made a big play, it just didn’t happen for us.”

The play set up a 45-yard field goal attempt for Eden Prairie’s seldom-used kicker, Erik Soderberg. Entering the game, Soderberg had only four attempts on the season, making true on all four with a longest of 43 yards.

The kick was up, and, not only did it clear the Dome’s goal posts, it was dead-center and had an extra 10-12 yards to spare.

Following the field goal came two more Eden Prairie field goals.

The first came after a turnover, when Eastview quarterback Corey Eul threw a pass toward wide receiver Erik Fabry that wound up five yards short and in an Eagle defender’s hands.

The other field goal came after a third-and-eight situation went awry. Eul backed up to pass, but had no protection. Mere seconds elapsed as the Eastview quarterback was bombarded by a two-man sack attack.

The sack was registered as a 14-yard loss.

Despite the offensive struggles, the score was only 9-0 with 6:07 remaining on the first half game clock.

Then, less than one minute later, Eul fumbled a missed hand-off attempt. Eden Prairie recovered and took advantage of the Eastview turnover immediately, as the Eagles Matt Swanson rushed to the left side and slipped by Lightning defenders virtually untouched en route to an 11-yard touchdown run.

“That last touchdown (before the half) just killed us,” said Klefsaas. “We still felt we were in the game, in the second half, it just didn’t work out in our favor.”

After surrendering four first-half turnovers to Eden Prairie’s 429.8 yards-per-game and 42.1 points-per-game offense, 16-0 was a modest deficit.

However, things eventually became worse for a worn-out Lightning defense.

Eden Prairie opened up the second half with drives of 5:13, 6:59 and 1:27.

The latter two drives included a dropped punt by Eastview’s Patrick O’Neil that led to a Scott Lindner touchdown to make the score 30-0 with 8:33 remaining in the fourth quarter.

“We just killed the clock,” said Eden Prairie quarterback Ryan Grant. “In the second half, our offensive line did a tremendous job pushing off defenders and keeping them (Eastview) off the ball.”

From there, Soderberg (who also handles the punting for Eden Prairie) launched a punt that pinned Eastview on its own 3-yard-line with 5:27 remaining in the game.

Eden Prairie controlled possession for 28 minutes and 49 seconds, while Eastview managed the clock for 19:11. The Eagles rushed the ball 46 times for 227 yards, while the Lightning combined for 86 yards on 28 carries.

The loss marked the 11th straight for Eastview at the hands of Eden Prairie. Sherwin has witnessed all 11.

Entering Friday’s tilt the Lightning were 10-1, the lone loss being a 21-0 home defeat to Eden Prairie. The Eagles have beaten Eastview by a collective score of 275-59 over the 10-year rivalry.

In the 11 years of Eastview football existence, the Lightning have won 75 games and lost 43. The record includes 59-31 in Lake Conference play; or, 59-23 versus its Lake foes if you exclude Eastview’s 0-9 inaugural season.

After this most recent defeat, the Eagles gathered in celebration while Sherwin gave his Lightning an inspirational talk. Minutes later, Sherwin was ask about his team’s fan support, which still stood near its team while players were mourning in tears of frustration, but also pride.

“I mean, it’s just outstanding, it’s a credit to our school,” said Sherwin, clearing his throat while looking to the Lightning faithful. “I think we’re lucky, and it’s a credit to these guys that therein so many people here.”

“We hope we got beat by the state champion,” added Sherwin. “That’s our goal, if Eden Prairie wins the state championship and keeps it (first place) in the Lake Conference, that’s the way it should be.”

With Grant, Soderberg and Mobley graduating in 2008, Sherwin will re-group with a new batch of black, blue, silver and white as next year’s Lightning hopes to finally extinguish the blazing red fury that is Eden Prairie Eagles football.




**This article was published in the Apple Valley edition of Thisweek newspapers. It may also be viewed at:

http://www.thisweek-online.com/2007/november/21evfb.html