Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm’s Jake Finstad scrambles during a Game 2 nine-man football semifinal against Cedar Mountain on Saturday at Cedar Mountain High School.
MORGAN — Needing a touchdown with 3:20 left in the game, No. 4 seed New Ulm put together a six-play, 56-yard drive that ended with a 6-yard rush by Jake Finstad. and led Cathedral to 16 points. They beat No. 1 seed Cedar Mountain by 12 points.
Rylan Koopman then made an interception, clinching the Greyhounds’ victory in the Game 2 Nine-Man Football Tournament semifinal game Saturday at Cedar Mountain High School.
“We need everyone (to win this game).” Koopman said. “Certainly, if we lost, it would have been our last match, so it was a big help.”
Koopman was able to jump on a pass from Cedar Mountain’s Carson Schiller with just over a minute left in the game, helping his team score 16 unanswered points in the fourth quarter against Renville County West on Friday at 7 p.m. He contributed to advancing to the section championship. at Lakeview High School in Cottonwood.
“I knew my boyfriend was coming in.” Koopman said. “And I saw him out of the corner of my eye. I’m like, ‘This is my play, I have to figure it out.’ ”
Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Cathedral’s Colin Anderson looks for running room during Saturday’s Game 2 Nine-Man Football semifinal game against Cedar Mountain at Cedar Mountain High School.
Cathedral didn’t score its first touchdown of the game until 6:29 left. To get there, Finstad converted a long and fourth from his own side for a 43-yard strike to Colin Anderson.
“(Cathedral head coach Denny Lux) told us to keep our minds in the right place.” Anderson said. “We can’t get down on ourselves, we just need to keep moving forward.”
Anderson knew he needed to make a catch for his team to stay in the game, and he took the reception in stride.
“I thought, ‘I have to catch this.’ he said. “It was a perfect ball thrown by Jake. He couldn’t have placed it any better.”
After the completion, Finstad threw another 15-yard pass to an open Koopman after being flushed out of the pocket. Five plays later, Alex Portner tossed it five yards to the right for a touchdown. Finstad was forced to scramble again for the two-point conversion, reversing the field and finding Josh Forsner in the back of the end zone for a Tonton catch that cut the Cougar lead to 12-8.
Joey Schugel made a key tackle on Cedar Mountain’s next drive with a run and a sack, forcing a punt and setting up Cathedral’s winning drive.
Alex Portner led Cathedral’s ground game, rushing 21 times for 103 yards and a touchdown. Finstad finished with eight completions for 92 yards and 72 yards on 17 carries, excluding a time-wasting negative rush late in the game. Forsner had two catches for 22 yards and two conversions, and Anderson had three catches for 45 yards and a two-pound conversion. On Cathedral’s defense, Joe Gillis had 11 tackles, Lane Ruesch eight tackles and Brock Carlson six tackles. Schugel had a sack, and Anderson, Finstad and Koopman each had interceptions.
At Cedar Mountain, Schiller was 13-for-21 for 231 yards and three interceptions. Blake Steffle had six receptions for 128 yards, and Jackson Geter had 17 rushes for 49 yards and a touchdown.
Lux said his team needed to focus on winning in the second half to get back into the game.
“It wasn’t monumental, there was nothing huge about it as far as trying to get there.” he said. “But we had to do everything perfectly. Finstad is running around and we’re throwing the ball, but he’s not getting open on the intended route. But he’s scrambling. And our guys are coming at us and they’re able to get in and he’s hitting them.
“These guys, especially the seniors, they’re watching the captains and what they’re doing. Jake sees what he’s doing on the field, and in that fourth quarter he told them, ‘Hey. This is what you have to do.” That’s what you look for in a quarterback, and that’s why he’s up there with other players we’ve had over the years. ”
The game started with neither team scoring, and in the first quarter Cedar Mountain and Cathedral both had single drives that ended in turnovers on downs deep in the opponent’s half. Schiller made his first interception of the game after being pressured by Finstad on a drive to start the second quarter, but Cathedral was unable to create any short field position and was turned over on downs. On the third play of the Cougars’ next drive, Schiller was picked off again and Anderson returned the ball 30 yards to Cedar Mountain’s 28, but Cathedral returned the ball to Cedar Mountain for 19 yards on a fourth-and-out.
The Cougars were finally able to get some money, going 11 of 81 for a 34-yard reception by Steffle and a 1-yard run by Getter to open the game. However, Cedar Mountain’s two-point shot fell incomplete, limiting the lead to 6-0 with 39 seconds left and Cathedral taking it into halftime.
The Greyhounds took a rough-the-kicker penalty on a punt to extend the period, but despite the long drive, they were forced to start the second half with a punt. The Cougars had another long possession, driving 87 yards, including a long reception by Steffle that went down just short of the goal line, this time for a 52-yard gain. Steffl was able to capitalize on the opportunity with a 1-yard rush, but again the two-point conversion failed, giving Cedar Mountain a 12-0 lead shortly after the final quarter break.
The teams traded punts, and Cathedral was poised to score 37 points on its own. After several lost tackles and a pass defended by Cedar Mountain’s Parker Kerkoff, Finstad set up four in a row to give Cathedral a comeback. game.
Cedar Mountain finished the season with a record of 4 wins and 5 losses, falling short of its goal of returning to the state tournament. Cedar Mountain co-head coach Mike Freitag thanked all the seniors for making this season possible.
“It’s a tough group.” he said. “We’ve got 11 guys. We’re definitely going to miss all of them. They’ve been a big part of the program. They’ve won 24 games since their freshman year and have had really good careers. They’ve been to the section championship twice and won one. We just fell a little short today, so it would have been nice to go for one more. But I don’t think that was in the cards for us.”
Cathedral improves to 7-3 and will play second-seeded RCW on Friday at Lakeview High School in Cottonwood.
“I think we will be forced into a tough battle.” Anderson said. “Defense and offense. We’re really going to have to stop the run and move the run forward.”
LEICESTER PRAIRIE — Top-seeded Leicester Prairie defeated fourth-seeded Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop 39-6 on Saturday afternoon.
WABASSO — The fourth-seeded Wabasso Rabbits lost to fifth-seeded Renville County West on Friday night.
