St. Cloud Cathedral vs. Milaca: The Takeaways

MILACA-- We checked into the well-known city known for Heggie’s Pizza, as we watched the 3-2 Milaca Wolves overpower the 1-4 St. Cloud Cathedral Crusaders. We will go over the takeaways in this one on what we saw outside the box score. The Takeaways 1) Take Control Early Quoted by former Montana Tech head coach Bob Green in his "Greenisms" the Milaca Wolves took full control of this game early and left the Crusaders with a tough spot to be even at the end of the fourth quarter. It was the running back combo of Jack Schoenborn (2023) and Carter Walter (2022) that set the tone for the Milaca offense early, getting first down after first down on the first drive. It was then Schoenborn that found the whole from 20+ yards out to give the Wolves their first lead of the game. The Wolves would go on to be up 20-0 by the end of the 1st quarter with three touchdowns by Jack Schoenborn along with a takeaway to go along with it. 2) Momentum to Start the Second Half I always flip sidelines to start the second half, and as I did you could feel the momentum building for the St. Cloud Cathedral Crusaders bench onto the field, as they worked their tail off to make this game interesting especially in the 3rd quarter and a little into the fourth quarter. The Crusaders rushing attack was led by Evan Wahlin (2022) to start the half as he showed what a hard-nosed insider runner he is at tailback for St. Cloud Cathedral. The Crusaders punched in their first touchdown of the game when QB Jordan Schumann (2022) punched it in from 1-yard out. Unfortunately, there were just two many halted drives with turnovers, that the momentum was short-lived but the biggest spark of the night was when ATH Stephen Ellingson (2022) found a lane on the outside, took down some weak tackling by Milaca, and sprinted up the sidelines for a 50-yard rushing touchdown making this game just a two-score game. Despite the loss, we found some nice pieces to this Crusaders roster in our Big Dogs of the Game article coming out next! 3) Solid Leverage I love watching my guys on the offensive line and early in this game it was easy to see why Milaca was so dominant in their rushing attack. The Wolves had more size and much better leverage when I zoned in on both lines throughout the game. Two of the top linemen performances I watched last night came from the Milaca Wolves, in T Wyatt Maurer (2024) and G Jaegar Ash (2023). You will learn more in-depth about these young men in our next feature! 4) Have a Game Young Man! While weekly watching for my Big Dogs of the Game, I usually find a prospect that just dominated the run game and logged a bunch of touchdowns. My Big Dog of the Game was RB/CB Jack Schoenborn (2023) who not only did that but also was dominant defensively, causing two interceptions from the Crusader’s offense. He had one of the best individual performances I have watched from both sides of the football in the last couple of years I have scouted for Prep Redzone Minnesota with three first-half touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Scoring First Quarter Milaca- RB/DB Jack Schoenborn (2023) sprinted for a 20+ yard run into the Wolves end zone to make it 6-0 in which they would not get the two-point try. The two-headed combo at tailback of Schoenborn and Carter Walter was on fire, getting one play first down after first down on this first drive. Milaca 6, St. Cloud Cathedral 0. Milaca- The Wolves would try some trickery to setup this touchdown as they ran a reverse with WR Corbin Sams (2023) who took it deep into Cathedral territory and setup yet again, Jack Schoenborn to attack the run defense of the Crusaders easily and took it in for 26 yards to the house. Milaca 12, St. Cloud Cathedral 0. Milaca- The next Milaca touchdown was set up by the first takeaway of the night by the Wolves defense by no one other than Jack Schoenborn who picked off Jordan Schumann and returned it deep into enemy territory to yet again, set himself up for his third touchdown of just the first quarter as the Wolves were able to be victorious on the two-point conversion this time. Milaca 20, St. Cloud Cathedral 0, End of the 1st quarter. Second Quarter The second quarter was taken over at tailback by senior Carter Walter of Milaca. Milaca- Early in the second quarter, the Crusaders had a botched snap in which one of the best defensive players I saw yesterday was Chase Rauschendorfer (2022) who scooped up the fumble by Cathedral deep in scoring position for the Milaca Wolves. It was Carter Walter this time who took advantage of the short field and ran it in for a touchdown. Milaca 26, St. Cloud Cathedral 0. Milaca- It didn’t take much longer in the second quarter for the Wolves to get something going. As Carter Walter used his speed and shifty feet to sprint for a 46-yard touchdown, his second of the night just in this first half. The biggest weak spot for Milaca was their two-point conversions, as they were unsuccessful on 1 of their 5 attempts (20%) in the first half put would improve that number in the second half. Milaca 32, St. Cloud Cathedral, Halftime. Third Quarter We would see a slight shift in momentum to kick off the second half, as the jets finally turned on for the St. Cloud Cathedral Crusaders. In an early attack in the second half, we saw the athletic TE [player_tooltip player_id="112079" first="Kellen" last="Kinzer"] (2023) catch a pass for a solid gain to get the Crusaders. Unfortunately, after a tipped ball interception on the next play, the Wolves would take over but their drive would be short-lived. St. Cloud Cathedral- Evan Wahlin (2022) who struggled in the first half, really picked up the pace in the 3rd quarter. He was running like a man on a mission and was shedding off some solid contact on tackles put on by the Milaca Wolves. Wahlin’s efforts and the Crusader’s efforts to go to the air to targets like WR Emanuel Kutzera (2023) allowed Jordan Schumann to punch a one-yard punch on his third attempt on the down which was successful. Milaca 32, St. Cloud Cathedral 8. End of 3rd quarter. Fourth Quarter Cathedral would put together another solid drive, but another key takeaway and his second and final of the night by Jack Schoenborn. St. Cloud Cathedral just could not control the momentum in the long term in the second half and showed streaks of solid play and then break off from that. St. Cloud Cathedral- Right in front of my eyes probably which was the play of the game for the Crusaders, we saw one of the Crusaders off my radar prospects ATH Stephen Ellingson (2022) beeline down the sideline for a Crusaders touchdown which went for 50 yards as he ran thru multiple Wolves defenders. The other bright spot for the Crusaders, they were 2 for 2 (100%) on two-point conversions as Milaca was 2 for 6 (33%) Milaca 32, St. Cloud Cathedral 16. After getting the ball on the kickoff, the Milaca Wolves would quickly cough the ball up and give St. Cloud Cathderal another chance to make a late-game run. Unfortunately for St. Cloud Cathedral, a turnover on downs on 4th down would just about seal it for Wolves but they weren’t down yet hammering the Crusaders with their rushing attack. Milaca- Operating on a shorter field, it was the third touchdown of the night from Carter Walter who ran well in between the tackles to get into the Wolves end zone from 6 yards out and with about 5 minutes left, sealing in the deal for the Milaca Wolves for their third win of the season and coming on a beautiful Homecoming night in Milaca. Milaca (3-2)- The Wolves will have a tough test in Week 6, as they will head to New London-Spicer (3-2) who always puts up a good fight in the games I have watched in recent years. St. Cloud Cathedral (1-4)- The Crusaders will return to St. Cloud at SCSU, taking on Albany (3-2) as the Huskies are coming off back to back shoutout wins averaging 47 points per game in their last two games against Little Falls and Princeton. Be on the lookout later today on some of the "Big Dogs of the Game" between the Milaca Wolves and the St. Cloud Cathedral Crusaders!