1 week Ago By Conrad Engstrom
MINNEAPOLIS — Desire. That was the first word out of Staples-Motley head coach Drew Potter’s mouth after his Cardinals beat the Chatfield Gophers 36-24 in the Class 2A State Semifinals Friday, Nov. 15, at US Bank Stadium.
ADVERTISEMENT The Cardinals' victory advances them to the Prep Bowl for the first time since 1988. S-M’s program has never won a state title. “We use the word desire a lot,” Potter said.
“It’s one of the pillars of our program and we wanted it badly tonight. I think they’ve proven that all year and they make it happen.” It was a wire-to-wire victory as the Cardinals scored touchdowns on their first four offensive possessions.
Colbe Tappe ran in a 1-yard touchdown for his first of four touchdowns and quarterback Eli Rutten found Conner Kuhns on a 7-yard touchdown pass to give the Cardinals a 16-0 lead in the first quarter. It was the antithesis of the S-M’s state quarterfinal game against Barnesville, which saw them behind 14-0 in the first quarter. “We have always been a second-half team,” S-M running back Ben Tyrrell said.
“Everyone saw that with the Barnesville game, but this game we wanted to start on top and when we did that it really gave us the momentum.” Tappe ran for 170 yards on 25 carries. He caught a 14-yard touchdown pass at the beginning of the second quarter to give the Cardinals a 22-6 lead.
Later in the quarter, he broke three tackles on his way to a 51-yard touchdown run to put S-M ahead 30-14. ADVERTISEMENT “Colbe is the type of back that can make you miss in space and then will run you over up front,” S-M’s offensive lineman and 2024 All-Star Steven Petrich said. “It’s amazing to watch.
” Chatfield’s offense stayed with S-M’s offense in the first half. After a turnover on downs on their first possession, the Gophers scored touchdowns on their next three possessions. Ben Carrier got the Gophers on the board with a 26-yard touchdown run at the end of the first quarter to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 16-6.
Carrier rushed for 103 yards on 11 carries. He also caught two receptions for 85 yards. Chatfield quarterback Carson Rowland found Tobin McMahon for a 21-yard touchdown with 7:16 left in the second quarter to make it 22-14 Cardinals.
Then after Tappe’s 51-yard touchdown, Rowland found Carrier for a 54-yard touchdown to make it 30-22. With under two minutes to play in the first half, Rutten hit Schultz for a 36-yard completion down to Chatfield’s 1-yard line. Rutten then lost a fumble on the next play squandering a scoring chance at the end of the half.
The Gophers marched down to S-M’s 21-yard line with 10 seconds left before Rowland threw one of his two interceptions to Turner Beachy and the Cardinals held a 30-22 halftime advantage. ADVERTISEMENT “The turnovers are something that we don’t usually do,” Chatfield head coach Jeff Johnson said. “They were huge.
We probably had less than five turnovers on the year coming into tonight. But when you face a good team you try to press a little bit and throw the ball in tight spots.” In the second half, the Cardinals' defense shut down the Gophers’ offense for 69 total yards and zero points.
Both teams turned it over twice in the third quarter. Rutten threw his only interception on the Cardinals’ first second-half drive. The Gophers fumbled it back to the Cardinals just for S-M to fumble it right back three plays later.
Schultz picked off Rowland for the second time at Chatfield’s 13-yard line, which set up Tappe’s fourth touchdown from 1 yard away to give the Cardinals a 36-22 lead with 39 seconds left in the third quarter. With seven minutes remaining, the Cardinals lined up for their only punt of the game and the snap went over Schultz’s head for a safety. It was Chatfield’s only points in the second half.
After the Gophers turned it over on downs at S-M’s 9, the Cardinals ran out the last 4:23 to advance to the Prep Bowl. Rutten threw for 195 yards and two touchdowns on 13-19 passing. Schultz caught five passes for 126 yards and Beachy caught four passes for 42 yards.
Beachy also led the Cardinals in tackles with six. ADVERTISEMENT “As an offensive guy it’s a lot of fun to design stuff for these guys,” Potter said. “I’ll put things in and we prepare a certain set of plays and tonight a lot of the plays we ran we haven’t run out of certain formations.
” Rowland collected 171 passing yards and two touchdowns on 8-17 passing. He also rushed for 36 yards on 17 carries. The Cardinals sacked Rowland three times while the Gophers’ defensive line was unable to sack Rutten.
“Our defensive line and linebackers really got after it,” Potter said. “We created some pressure and made some big sacks in the second half.” S-M plays Jackson County Central in the Prep Bowl at 4 p.
m. Friday, Nov. 22, at US Bank Stadium.
The last time the Cardinals were in the Prep Bowl Turner Beachy’s dad, Arden Beachy, was the quarterback. The Cardinals improved to 12-0 and are one win away from a state title after being 0-9 two seasons ago. “When we were younger, we all knew that when we were seniors we were going to be good,” Petrich said.
“That was the dream and sophomore year coach Potter came and a lot of guys quit. We had a ton of freshmen and sophomores playing both ways and that’s why we are winning now. We all have two-plus years of experience under our belt and it’s just amazing.
” ADVERTISEMENT Tappe added: “We want to prove people wrong and show them that we aren’t some random town.” CONRAD ENGSTROM may be reached at 218-855-5861 or conrad.engstrom@brainerddispatch.
com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.
com/the_rad34. Staples-Motley 36, Chatfield 24 Key: Fast start and second-half defense propels Cardinals to Prep Bowl. Overall: SM 12-0, C 11-1.
Next: Staples-Motley vs Jackson County Central 4 p.m. Friday, Nov.
22..
