"Friday was a perfect fall night for high school football," said Cardinals head coach Matt Walter. "It had all of the elements: a rival game, on the road, great crowd, pep band playing, student section in the end zone. I know our kids had a lot of fun with the atmosphere at the game."
The Cardinal football team traveled to Dassel-Cokato High School for the second game of the 2018 season. The Cards lost 29-26 to the Chargers in a very close game. The Cards are now 1-1 overall and 0-1 in the East Central South District.
The DC team is considered to be one of the top football teams in the East South Central South District. Besides Annandale and DC, other teams in the district include Delano, Glencoe-Silver Lake, Holy Family, Litchfield and Watertown-Mayer.
"They have a lot of talent in the skill positions and they have a fast, strong, and athletic defense," Walter said. "Unlike Albany from the week before, DC makes your defense play in space. You have to be disciplined in your assignments and tackle well."
Walter also has a great deal of respect for the Chargers defense.
"DC’s defense is difficult to run the ball against," Walter said. "They’re physical and fast up front and they are tough on the edges, making it very difficult to get outside on them.
"Their defensive scheme allows them to out number you in the running game, but in doing so they have to play man to man coverage in the secondary. Your skill kids have to beat their skill kids one-on-one to move the ball against them."
Dassel-Cokato 29, Annandale 26
The game started with the Cardinals kicking off to the Chargers. Annandale received a break when Logan Jones and Kolbe Pastian jarred the ball out from the returner and Nick Moe recovered the fumble at the 40 yard line.
"This was a great way to start the game but we couldn’t take advantage of it," Walter said. "On second down we hit a bubble screen and Boyd Rassatt scampered 22 yards down to the 12 yard line."
Unfortunately, the Cardinals were unable to score on the first three downs and were sacked on fourth down.
"Our defense had a good week of practice and had a good understanding of what DC was going to try and do," Walter said. "We had a feeling they were going to run some no huddle offense so our kids weren’t surprised by it.
"Our defense came out playing really well and forced a three and out, giving us good field position"
Scored on second series
The Cardinals broke through on their second series with good field position.
"We hit a couple of short passes and quarterback Peyton Fobbe scored on a 22-yard draw play," Walter said. "The offensive line really blocked well and Peyton picked up a couple of blocks downfield."
Lauren Meininger hit the extra point giving the Cards an early 7-0 lead.
On the Chargers next possession, linebacker Jordan Picka intercepted a Charger pass, but the Cardinal offense was unable to get any points on the board.
"We had great field position the entire first quarter and three or four possessions to score, but were only able to get seven points on the board," Walter said.
"That just can’t happen when playing really good teams, especially on the road. We could of been up 14-0 or 21-0 early and D-C would of had to change their game plan, we weren’t able to do that and that ended up hurting us in the end."
Outscored 21-7 in
the second quarter
The Cardinals were outscored 21-7 in the second quarter.
"I think DC gained confidence by surviving poor play early on in the game and we were a little deflated," Walter said. "Their offense got rolling behind the running of Blake Johnson and the passing of their 6-foot, 5-inch quarterback Paul Raisanen.
Johnson scored on two touchdown runs and Raisanen threw a touchdown pass.
"I thought for the most part, we did an excellent job against Johnson and the run game, Walter said. "He’s the most explosive back in our district."
The Cardinal offense in the second quarter seemed to struggle running the ball and also to protect quarterback Fobbe.
"The DC defensive line was really taking it to us. Their speed coming off the ball was really hurting us," Walter said. "Our offensive line needs to get off the ball faster and play more physical up front.
"We struggled to move them all night long and to keep them in front of us in pass protection. We were trying different things to sure up the pass protection, but their speed off the ball was an issue all game long."
In the second quarter the Cards seemed to be losing the field position battle
"We just couldn’t keep our offense on the field long enough and DC took advantage of it, Walter said. "The first quarter was all ours, and we only scored seven points, DC flipped the script the second quarter and took advantage, scoring 21 points."
Defense did good
Despite the fact that the Cardinal defense gave up 21 points in the first half, Walter thought the defense was playing well.
"Our defensive line of Carter Lano, Logan Purcell, Daniel Luna and Cole Patch did an excellent job of containing their running game," Walter said. "With the D-line, sitting on the run to slow Johnson down, it made it difficult to get a pass rush on Raisanen.
"That’s what makes DC’s offense so good, they have multiple kids that can really hurt you and you can’t stop everything."
Walter wanted to control the running game and play coverage in the secondary to take away the big plays in the passing game.
"I thought our defense did a good job with this," Walter said. "Our coverage was good all night behind the play of Cam Howard, Andrew Bowman, Logan Jones and Mitchell Sullivan."
Walter pointed out that defense is tough when the opposing quarterback at six-five and can easily see over the defense. Raisanen also runs the ball really well.
"He really hurt us when he broke outside the pocket," Walter said. "Raisanen throws well on the run and it puts a ton of pressure on your coverage. I think that was the one thing that hurt us all night long was not being able to keep him in the pocket allowing him to extend plays. He’s an excellent athlete and he was making plays for his team."
21-14 at the half
With one minute left in the half and down 21-7, the Cardinal offense came through with a nice drive and five-yard touchdown run by Fobbe.
"The drive was huge to keep us in the game," Walter said. "The game was getting away from us, but that touchdown stopped the bleeding and gave us some confidence going into the second half."
Two TDs for Alan Luna
Despite giving up 21 points in the second quarter, the Cards found a way to compete in the second half. The team scored with under a minute left in the third quarter on an eight yard touchdown pass to Alan Luna. Meininger’s extra point was blocked and the Chargers were able to keep the lead at 21-20.
The Cardinals came right back in the middle of the fourth quarter when Fobbe found Alan Luna again for a 13-yard touchdown. The Cards were now up 26-21.
"We went for the two point conversion and seven point lead," Walter said. "We ran the perfect play against their man coverage, but our receiver tripped over a defensive end’s foot and couldn’t regain his balance to get in position to catch the ball.
"It was unfortunate, he was wide open and that would of put us up by seven."
Chargers get needed TD
Down by five, the Chargers only needed a touchdown to win the game and they had six minutes left to do it.
The Cardinal defense had the Chargers on the ropes, it was fourth and six.
"One stop and we get the ball," Walter said. "We had the coverage, their quarterback rolled out of the pocket to buy some extra time and we weren’t able to contain him fast enough. He was able to find a receiver for the first down to keep the drive alive."
The Cardinals got one more chance to stop them. The Chargers were on the 30 yard line, fourth and one, with about three minutes left in the game. The Cardinal’s had a player cramp up on the field and that gave the Chargers some extra time to come up with a perfect fourth down play.
"They went with their power formation, and they knew we would have to sell out to get the stop," Walter said. "Raisanen faked to Johnson off the left tackle and hid the ball in his belly going to the right. Our outside contain guy ran right by him, and Raisanen ran the ball down to the 1-yard line and pretty much ended the game right there."
"D-C rolled the dice and won," Walter said. "It’s a great play when it works and you will second guess yourself forever if it doesn’t.
"We had two unblocked players right there, but both of them fell for the fake. We didn’t do our assignments, but I also give D-C credit, it was a great call and play."
Good game for Fobbe
"Peyton threw 51 times in the game, we took what the defense was giving us and he threw the ball great," Walter said. "He got rid of the ball quickly on short passes and bought extra time with his legs to get the ball out."
Walter was happy with the performances of receivers Cam Howard, Boyd Rassatt, Paul Meyer and Allen Luna.
"They all played well and made great catches for us," Walter said.
Walter pointed out that the team is missing the ‘big play’ in our offense.
"We had a couple of chances to hit long plays with open wide receivers down field but the pressure didn’t allow us the time to see them," Walter said. "Our wide receivers have struggled to separate from the coverage going down field so far this season."
Clean up the little things
Walter believes the team needs to clean up all the little things.
"We had a couple of penalties that hurt us in the fourth quarter," Walter said. "We hurt ourselves sometimes and it’s pretty tough to win when you do that.
" We are still learning that we have to compete every play of the game.
"Hopefully we learn from it and not make the same mistakes next week. That’s what this is all about, trying to get better each and every week."
"It was a fun and exciting high school game," Walter said. "We didn’t play our best game, but I was happy with the way we competed in the second half."
Statistics
Annandale 7 7 6 6 – 26
D-C 0 21 0 8 – 29
First quarter
Ann – 22 yard touchdown run Fobbe, Meidinger extra point good.
Second quarter
DC – touchdown run Johnson kick good
DC – touchdown run Johnson, kick good
DC – Raisanen touchdown pass, kick good
Ann- Fobbe 5 yard touchdown run 1:00, Meidinger kick good
Third quarter
Ann – Fobbe 8 yard touchdown pass to Alan Luna :59 Meidinger extra point blocked.
Fourth quarter
Ann - 13 yard Fobbe touchdown pass to Alan Luna. Conversion failed.
DC – Touchdown and conversion good.
Total offense
Annandale: 29 carries for 79 yards, 110 passing yards for 245 total yards
DC: 25 carries for 126 yards and 119 yards passing. 245 total yards
Cardinal individual offense statistics
Passing: Fobbe 27-51, 255 yards; 2 TD and 1 interception.
Receiving: Howard 10-83 yards; Meyer 7-60 yards; Luna 6-61 yards; 2 TD; Rassatt 4-51 yards.
Rushing: Fobbe 22-64 yards; 2 TD; Picka 5-12 yards; Howard 1-9 yards; Bowman 1-(-6 yards)
Point after touchdown: Meidinger 2-3
Cardinal individual defense statistics
Tackles: Picka 8, Purcell 7, Karter Pastian 7, Howard 5, Bowman 5, Logan Jones 5, Kolbe Pastian 5, Sullivan 5, Honsey 3, Magrum 2, Lano 2, Moe 2, Daniel Luna 2, Patch 2, Alan Luna 1.
Interceptions: Picka 1, Bowman 1,
Forced fumbles: Logan Jones 1
Fumble recovery: Moe 1
Sacks: Daniel Luna 1
Up next
The Cardinals travel to Foley Friday, Sept. 14, for a 7 p.m. non-district game.
The Cardinals defeated the Falcons 44-21 in the second game of the 2017 season.
The Falcons are 0-2 so far this season losing to Glencoe-Silver Lake 20-17 and to Zimmerman 32-0.
Thanks
"The football team would give a big thank you to the parents and businesses that provided the sandwiches for the ride home from the Dassel-Cokato game," Walter said. The players and coaches really appreciated it."
The coaches and players also wants to send thanks to Jeff Weinzetl, Wayne Jacobson, parents and the community members that bought water softener salt. "Your efforts in supporting the fundraiser made it another success," Walter said.