Packers knock Zephyrs from the ranks of the undefeated
It was a game of field position early on during South St. Paul's homecoming game against Mahtomedi Friday night. Both teams traded punts until the Packers put together the first successful drive.
Behind the running of senior Chase Bentson, the offense moved the ball to the one-yard line. Quarterback Cade Sexauer finished off the scoring drive with his first of two short touchdown runs.
The Packers' defense would give the ball back to the offense in great field position.
Linebacker Joe Marlow kept good leverage on the outside as the Zephyrs were running a sweep to Marlow's side. He strung the play out and punched the ball out of the running back's hand. Defensive lineman Luke Oleson recovered the fumble giving the home team great field position.
For the second straight drive, Bentson and the offensive line had success against the Mahtomedi defense. Spencer Wesala and Derek Hane opened two consecutive holes on the left side that Bentson was able to take advantage of. They moved the ball to the ten-yard line and then the Packers went right. Running back Angel Rodriguez followed the blocks of his offensive line to widen the lead to 14-0 with an eight-yard touchdown run.
"It was a series of three minutes where things got away from them," Packers' head coach Chad Sexauer said. "It was pretty quick. It was one big turnover that gave us a short field and kind of gave us some cheap points. "
Both teams moved the ball between the twenty-yard lines for the better part of the next quarter with both defenses bending but not breaking. Both teams had stops on fourth down plays when the opposing offense near or in the red zone.
One of the most crucial defensive stops came late in the first half. As the clock rolled down under a minute, Mahtomedi drove the ball to the eight-yard line but faced a fourth and less than a yard. The Packers' defense stuffed the inside run.
"That turned out to be huge," Sexauer said, "because (Mahtomedi) got the ball in the second half and scored."
The Packers were able to head into the half with a 14-0 lead.
"We focused on making them one-dimensional; stopping the run was our whole focus," linebacker Ben Smith said. "We would deal with the pass later, and we just executed."
Unable to run the ball, the backup quarterback briefly sparked the Zephyrs' offense. On his first snap, Jake Arlandson rolled out and hit a crossing route for a twenty yard gain. Later during the drive, facing a fourth and six, he completed a 29-yard touchdown pass to Tim Lindquist to cut the Zephyrs' deficit in half.
Again the defenses and field position dominated the game until late in the fourth quarter when the relentless Packers' running game finally took its toll on the Mahtomedi defense.
"We have a lot to work on, but we came together on offense in the second half and finished them off," Bentson said. "(Mahtomedi) is known for their second half, fourth quarter comebacks, so it was nice to put them away in the second half."
Darien Foster, Wesala Sam Dwelle, and tight end Nathan Brandecker punished the front seven of the Zephyrs. Rodriguez scored his second touchdown of the game with less than three minutes to play.
Both teams would trade late touchdowns, but Rodriquez's second score essentially sealed the victory for the Packers who would move to 4-1 with a 27-13 win.
