2 weeks Ago By Blake Durham
MOUNT VERNON, S.D. — In essence, Thursday night’s playoff game between Mount Vernon/Plankinton and Wagner lived up to the billing.
In a battle between stout defenses, it was the Titans that finished on top. ADVERTISEMENT The No. 3-seed MVP outlasted No.
14-seed Wagner 8-0 in their Class 11B first-round playoff matchup to advance to the quarterfinals at Heroes Field. Leading up to the game, MVP head coach Brent Olson stressed to the players they were not going to face the same Wagner team from earlier in the year. “They have multiple all-state caliber athletes out there,” Olson said.
“You look at their record and it just isn’t indicative of what kind of team they are. ..
. We knew this wasn’t going to be like the last game, and it turned out to be a good defensive struggle.” In comparison to the teams’ regular-season matchup, which was won by the Titans 36-6 on Sept.
13, the defenses rose to the challenge, as the teams combined to allow only 351 yards of offense for the game and forced five total turnovers. Carlos Gallindo’s hit on MVP quarterback Isaiah Olson jarred the ball free, with the Red Raiders recovering the fumble for an early first-quarter turnover. However, Wagner struggled to move the football at the start, netting minus-8 yards in the opening quarter.
The Titans were able to pick up early first downs, but had drives stalled at midfield twice, with the Red Raiders forcing them to punt. Looking to establish a rhythm on offense, both teams worked on adjustments towards opening the playbook. “We were just trying to get Gannon (Knebel) to read the whole field,” Red Raiders head coach Hunter Hewitt said.
“We thought we could have some success throwing the ball and we saw some things we liked. It was just a struggle to get going right away.” ADVERTISEMENT Aided by an offsides and pass interference penalty from the Red Raiders, Riley Mayer broke through in the scoring column in the second quarter, scoring on a 37-yard touchdown run.
The defense took over from there, as Camden Stahl and Kyle Sandland picked off Knebel to stuff Wagner drives towards the end of the first half. In the second half, Wagner began to march down the field on a long drive, converting a pair of fourth-down plays as Knebel kept the ball on a fourth-and-1 and found Shea Kjeldgaard for a completion on a fourth-and-5. However, the drive ended with a turnover on downs, as a pass intended for Kjeldgaard fell incomplete in the fourth quarter.
Looking for an insurance score, Isaiah Olson found Mayer on a 37-yard completion through the air, flipping field position. But Parker Petry’s sack of Olson on a third-and-11 gave the Red Raiders the ball back with under five minutes remaining in the game, needing a touchdown and two-point conversion to extend the game. Wagner, which were 2-of-3 on fourth down in the second half, turned it over on downs with less than two minutes remaining, as Knebel’s pass fell incomplete.
“We had opportunities to cut back the other way,” Hewitt said. “We had some drops tonight and a couple of interceptions that we should’ve been able to clean up. At the end of the day, if they came out here and left it all on the field, that’s all we really care about.
” Brady Fox led the Titans’ ground game with 74 yards on 15 carries. Mayer finished with 63 total yards and a rushing touchdown, and Olson was 3-of-7 for 42 yards. Tyce Feistner led with 7.
5 tackles on defense, and Stahl had 3.5 tackles and an interception. For Wagner, Knebel was 13-of-24 for 124 yards and two interceptions, also having 17 carries for 35 yards.
Carlos Gallindo caught five passes for 62 yards. In addition to a sack, Petry finished with a game-high eight tackles and Brayden Kreber made five tackles. The Red Raiders’ season ends at 4-5.
ADVERTISEMENT MVP (7-2) will host No. 6-seed St. Thomas More on Thursday, Oct.
31, in Mount Vernon in a rematch of the teams’ regular-season shootout won by the Titans on Aug. 30. “They’ll put us out of our comfort zone with a lot of empty sets,” Olson said.
“We have an experienced group who’s pretty good at reading guards and plays, and that will be the type of game our defense prefers in the end.”.
