After over 7500 yards and 651 points scored throughout the season, it came down to the St. Croix defense to decide the Class AAA State Championship. With Eric Montgomery chasing Fairmont QB Ben Kain out of the pocket and forcing him to throw on the run, Matt Olson batted down Kain’s pass on a two point conversion to secure the 34-32 win for the Crusaders.
The game started out in a very unCrusaderlike fashion with St. Croix going 3 and out on their first possession and then fumbling the ball away to Fairmont on their second, which led to a Cardinal touchdown and a 7-0 lead. Things finally got back to normal for the Crusaders on their third possession as Wesley Tucker took the handoff 69 yards to pay dirt on the first play.
The fireworks continued early in the second quarter when Kain hooked up with Bryce Holm for the first time of the afternoon, good for a 50-yard score. Penalties plagued the Crusaders in the first half, and after back to back mistakes on their next possession, St. Croix was looking at 1st and 30 from their own 18. They decided to steer away from the veer and ran a reverse to Zach Tietz who rumbled 70 yards down to the Fairmont 12. Four plays later Olson scored and a successful two point conversion made it 14-14 and that’s where the score would stand at the half.
After forcing the Cardinals to a 3 and out to start the third, the Crusaders drive stalled and they were forced to punt. But a fumbled punt return gave St. Croix the ball back in Fairmont territory. Once again the Crusaders just needed one play as Jackson Goplen took a pitch and raced around the outside and down the sideline 29 yards for a score. That would be all of the scoring for the third quarter, but it would set the stage for a wild and crazy fourth.
Staring at a 4th and 25 from the Crusader 28, a scrambling Kain hit Holm for their second touchdown of the day and cut the lead to 22-20. The Cardinals got the ball back on a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and this time they brought out the quick strike offense as Kain found Holm in the end zone again and Fairmont regained the lead 26-22.
The Crusaders were once again fairly uncharacteristic of themselves as their next drive grinded out over 5 minutes but left them staring at a 4th and 7 at the Fairmont 28. Carl Lemke and the Crusader coaching staff decided to pull out something new and saw their offense pull off what could have been the play of the season for St. Croix. Olson took the snap, faked a handoff up the gut to Tucker, and then faked the reverse to Tietz before tucking the ball to his gut and turning his back the opposite way of the play. The entire Fairmont defense went at Tietz as Olson turned back around and chucked the ball downfield to a wide open Goplen to put St. Croix back on top.
But it took Fairmont all of three plays to get on the doorstep of the end zone. Just when it looked like the Cardinals were going to score again, a bad snap shot straight up and Eric Montgomery busted through the offensive line to snag it out of mid-air.
The Crusaders had the lead, and the ball, with 2:28 on the clock. All they had left to do was pick up a couple of first downs and run out the clock, but ironically, the powerful offense almost sunk St. Croix’s title chances. Tucker exploded through the line on the first play and rumbled 40 yards into Fairmont territory. Two plays later Goplen found daylight of his own and raced 36 yards to score the apparent clincher. The problem was, it wasn’t, and the Crusaders were stuffed on the 2-pt conversion. That put the score 34-26 and the kickoff put the ball in Kain’s hands with 1:39 on the clock and only 59 yards to go.
16 yard completion. 4 yard completion. 15 yard run. 18 yard completion. 1:39 was plenty of time for Fairmont as Kain finished the quick drive to Holm in the end zone for the 4th time. 34-32, two point conversion pending with 0:08 left.
Kain took the snap as Eric Montgomery blew up the left side of the offensive line. Kain rolled to his right as his receivers broke pattern in the end zone and rolled back with him. He floated the ball towards Holm who was surrounded by a sea of red. But Matt Olson was there to knock the ball down to preserve the lead.
A failed onside kick and one final kneel down secured the Class AAA Championship for the Crusaders. They finished 14-0. They scored over 650 points. They racked up over 7500 yards in offense. But in the end, it was the defense that brought St. Croix Lutheran’s first state title to West St. Paul.
Town Square Television will be replaying KSTC-45′s coverage of the St. Croix Lutheran vs. Fairmont title game next Tuesday, December 6th, at 7:00 on Channel 14.
