McLeod West moves on to Finals

By BOB VARMETTE

Journal Sports Writer

MINNEAPOLIS -- All season long, McLeod West senior tailback Tyler Evans has been quick to credit his offensive line and blocking backs. All season long, though, much of the attention has been focused on Minnesota's all-time career high school rushing leader.

Count Goodhue coach Clair Austin among those who think the Falcons who make the holes for Evans deserve some attention.

"Their offensive line deserves a lot of credit," Austin said. "(Jeremy Gettel) deserves a lot of credit. He's a man, he's what makes (Evans) go."

And now the Wildcats are gone. Evans rushed for 272 yards on 40 carries, scoring all five McLeod West touchdowns in the top-ranked Falcons' 40-12 pounding of unranked Goodhue Friday afternoon in a Class 1A semifinal at the Metrodome. McLeod West will meet the winner of today's Osakis-Pillager semifinal in the Class 1A championship game at 11 a.m. Friday at the Metrodome.

It was a typical game for Evans, who now has 3,513 yards and 45 touchdowns for the season, and 7,336 yards in his career. Evans scored on touchdown runs of 3, 32, 41, 54 and 1 yard.

"We called the right play at the right time and our offensive line made key blocks," Evans said. "Our blocking backs made key blocks and it just all clicked."

Earlier this week, Austin called Evans "the real deal." Friday afternoon, he made some additions to that list -- the Falcons' offensive line, Gettel and Evans' other blocking back, junior fullback Brent Pichotta.

"I tip my hat to them, they're good," Austin said. "We're a good defensive team. We've stopped the run all year long. I'm not going to take anything away from my guys. I tip my hat to them. They deserve it."

McLeod West (13-0) rushed for 346 yards on 62 attempts and held a 26:35 to 21:25 edge in time of possession. The Falcons only threw the ball once.

Typical McLeod West.

The Falcons went 65 yards in 12 plays on the opening drive of the game to take an 8-0 lead. Evans carried the ball seven times for 27 yards, finishing the march with a 3-yard run with 8:18 left in the first quarter.

Evans needed only two plays on McLeod West's second drive. After gaining two yards on the first play of the 34-yard drive, Evans blasted through a hole on the left side of the Falcons' offensive line opened up by 350-pound tackle Nathan Benson and 265-pound guard Reggie Vacek. Evans sprinted 32 yards for a touchdown for a 16-0 Falcon lead with 5:50 in the first quarter.

Typical McLeod West.

Evans gave the Falcons a 24-0 margin with 12 seconds left in the opening quarter on a 41-yard run. Evans added a 54-yard scoring run in the third quarter and a 1-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter before leaving the game when the McLeod West reserves entered en masse.

"As good of defense as I heard they had, yeah, I'm pleased," McLeod West co-coach Curt Strand said. "We got a second wind on offense and we started moving the ball again, that was the key."

The Falcons' offensive second wind was accompanied by a similar surge by the defense. McLeod West's 24-0 lead was trimmed by six early in the second quarter when the ground-based Wildcats (10-3) were forced to the air after making little headway on the ground.

After picking up only one first down on its first two drives, Goodhue needed only five plays to go 64 yards. On the first play of the drive, Wildcats quarterback Brett Voth found Jeremiah Majerus for 31 yards to the Falcons 33; four plays later Voth and Majerus hooked up again, this time on a 29-yard touchdown pass with 10:15 in the first half.

After a 40-yard Matt Maiers punt pinned the Wildcats at their own 1 on their next drive, Voth found running back Chet Lexvold for 39 yards over the middle. Falcons safety Ryan Hansch made the touchdown-saving tackle, but it looked as if the Wildcats had located a possibly fatal weakness.

But that was it for catching the Falcons defense napping. Four plays later, Maiers picked off Voth to end the drive.

Goodhue's next drive ended with four straight incompletions. The drive after that ended after two plays when Hansch picked off Voth, the first of his two interceptions on the day.

Voth, who was 10 of 25 for 175 yards and a touchdown, was intercepted five times. The senior had thrown only four interceptions in 12 games.

Overall, the Falcons picked off six passes. Gettel, Maiers, Nick Pichotta and Nathan Strand each intercepted one pass for McLeod West.

"Basically, we weren't getting set," Curt Strand said. "If they start running the play before we're set, we don't see what they're doing. So we told them, 'Get out and get set.' That helped."

Added Hansch: "We weren't recognizing their sets so we were caught a little off-guard. But coach (Doug) Schuette made a couple of adjustments and we picked it up pretty well. The second quarter was a little shaky, but you just realize it wasn't over yet and we had to play 24 more minutes."

McLeod West's offense also had to overcome a shaky second quarter. After scoring on all three of their drives in the first quarter, the Falcons' three second-quarter drives ended in a pair of punts and a fumble.

The Wildcats cut the lead to 24-12 in the third quarter with a 76-yard drive capped by senior running back Nate Ryan's 5-yard run. The Falcons responded with more Evans. He needed just three plays to cover 63 yards, scoring from 54 yards to give McLeod West a 32-12 lead.

"We had a mental lapse in the second quarter," Evans said. "We were up 24-0 and we thought we could just coast. And it showed in that second quarter because we played horrible football. ... But we stepped it up."

GOODHUE 0 6 6 0--12

MCLEOD WEST 24 0 8 8--40

1st Quarter

MW--Evans 3 run (M.Maiers pass from Strand), 8:18

MW--Evans 32 run (Strand run), 5:50

MW--Evans 41 run (Brugman pass from Strand), :12

2nd Quarter

GHS--J.Majerus 29 pass from Voth (run failed), 10:15

3rd Quarter

GHS--N.Ryan 5 run (run failed), 5:18

MW--Evans 54 run (Gettel run), 4:04

4th Quarter

MW--Evans 1 run (Gettel pass from Strand), 10:52