Staff photo by Ari Selvey
New Ulm Cathedral’s Jake Finstad scrambles during a Section 2, Nine-Man Football semifinal game against Cedar Mountain Saturday at Cedar Mountain High School.
MORGAN — Needing a touchdown with 3:20 left in the game, No. 4-seeded New Ulm Cathedral put together a six-play, 56-yard drive that ended in a 6-yard rush from Jake Finstad to put Cathedral up 16-12 over No. 1-seeded Cedar Mountain.
One Rylan Koopmann interception later, and the Greyhounds sealed the victory Saturday in a Section 2, Nine-Man Football Tournament semifinal game at Cedar Mountain High School.
“It takes everybody [to win this game],” Koopmann said. “Granted, it was going to be our last game if we lost, so that helped a lot.”
Koopmann was able to jump a pass from Cedar Mountain’s Carson Schiller with just over a minute left in the game, helping his team score 16 unanswered in the fourth quarter to advance to the section championship against Renville County West, which takes place at 7 p.m. Friday at Lakeview High School in Cottonwood.
“I knew my guy was coming in,” Koopmann said. “And I saw him out of the corner of my eye. I’m like, ‘This is my play, I’ve got to get it.’”
Staff photo by Ari Selvey
New Ulm Cathedral’s Colin Anderson looks for running room Saturday in a Section 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 there was only 6:29 left to play. To get there, Finstad had convert on a 4th-and-long from his own side of the field, which he did with a 43-yard strike to Colin Anderson.
“[Cathedral head coach Denny Lux] was telling us to just keep the mind in the right place,” Anderson said. “We can’t get down on ourselves, we just need to keep pushing forward.”
Anderson caught the reception in stride, knowing he needed to make the catch if his team was to stay in the game.
“I was like, ‘I’ve got to catch this,’” he said. “It was a perfectly thrown ball by Jake. He couldn’t have placed it better.”
After the completion, Finstad threw another pass after being flushed out of the pocket to an open Koopmann for 15 yards. Five plays later, Alex Portner took a toss to the right 5 yards for a touchdown. Finstad had to scramble again on the 2-point conversion, reversing fields and finding Josh Forstner in the back of the end zone for a toe-tapping catch to cut the Cougar lead to 12-8.
Joey Schugel had a key tackle for loss and a sack on Cedar Mountain’s next drive, forcing a punt and setting up Cathedral’s game-winning drive.
Alex Portner led the ground game for Cathedral, rushing 21 times for 103 yards and a touchdown. Finstad had eight completions for 92 yards, along with 17 carries for 72 yards, excluding a time-wasting negative rush at the end of the game. Forstner had two catches for 22 yards and a 2 conversion, and Anderson had three catches for 45 yards and a 2-pont conversion. On the defense for Cathedral, Joe Gillis had 11 tackles, Lane Ruch had eight tackles, and Brock Carlson had six tackles. Schugel had a sack, and Anderson, Finstad and Koopmann each had an interception.
For Cedar Mountain, Schiller was 13 for 21 with 231 yards and three interceptions. Blake Steffl had six receptions for 128 yards, and Jackson Guetter had 17 rushes for 49 yards and a touchdown.
Lux said that the team had to focus on just winning the second half to get back into the game.
“It wasn’t an enormous, there was nothing enormous about it as far as trying to get to that point,” he said. “But we had to do everything perfect. You had Finstad running around, we’re throwing the ball but we’re not open on the routes that were intended. But he’s scrambling, and our guys are coming across and they’re able to get in the opening, and he’s hitting them.
“These guys, these seniors especially, you look at the captains and what they’re doing. Jake see’s stuff on the field, and that fourth quarter, he was telling them, ‘Hey, this is what you have to do.’ That’s what you have to have out of your quarterback, and that’s why he ranks with the other guys that we’ve had over the years.”
The game started scoreless for both teams, with Cedar Mountain and Cathedral both taking a single drive in the first quarter that ended on turnovers on downs deep in enemy territory. Schiller threw his first interception of the game under pressure to Finstad on the opening drive of the second quarter, but Cathedral was unable to make anything of the short field position, turning it over on downs. Schiller was picked off again on the third play of the Cougars’ next drive, with Anderson returning the ball 30 yards to Cedar Mountain’s 28, but Cathedral went four-and-out to give the ball back to Cedar Mountain at the 19.
The Cougars were finally able to string some pays together, marching 81 yards in 11 yards, with a 34-yard reception by Steffl setting up a 1-yard run by Guetter for the opening score of the game. Cedar Mountain’s 2-point attempt fell incomplete, however, limiting the lead to 6-0 with just 39 seconds left on the clock, which Cathedral took into halftime.
The Greyhounds were forced to punt to open the second half, despite a long drive aided by a roughing the kicker penalty on a punt to extend it. The Cougars again strung together a long possession, driving 87 yards, including another long reception by Steffl that was downed just short of the goal line, this time for 52 yards. Steffl was able to capitalize himself on a 1-yard rush, but again the 2-point conversion failed, putting Cedar Mountain up 12-0 just after the final quarter break.
The teams traded punts, and Cathedral set up to take possession on their own 37. After a few tackles for loss and a pass defended by Cedar Mountain’s Parker Kerkhoff, Finstad set up on 4th-and-long to begin the comeback that gave Cathedral the game.
Cedar Mountain finishes its season with a 4-5 record, falling short of its goal of a repeat state tournament trip. Cedar Mountain co-head coach Mike Freitag expressed his gratitude to all the seniors that made this season possible.
“It’s a tough group,” he said. “There’s 11 of them. Definitely going to miss them all. They’ve been a big part of the program. They’ve won 24 games since their freshman year, so they’ve had a really good career. They’ve been to two section championships they’ve won one. Came up a little short today, would have been nice to get to another one. But it wasn’t in the cards for us I guess.”
Cathedral improves to 7-3 and will take on No. 2-seeded RCW on Friday at Lakeview High School in Cottonwood.
“I think we’re going to have to be tough on the line,” Anderson said. “Defense and offense. We’re going to have to really stop the run and push the run forward.”