The War On the Shore didn’t materialize into the Top 10 matchup everyone envisioned, as #3 Orono raced past #7 Mound Westonka 40-8 in the 4A Skyway Bronze Subdistrict game at Pesonen Stadium in Orono on Friday night. The Spartans running attack rushed for 144 combined yards, but it was the timely passing of senior quarterback Charles Cordes, who threw for 192 yards, that was the backbreaker for the White Hawks.
Westonka received the opening kickoff, but after gaining nine yards on the first three plays, they were forced to punt from their own 29-yard line. Orono then traveled 73 yards in five plays culminating with a 40-yard touchdown pass from Cordes to George Perkins. Cordes then hit Simon Vinton for the two-point conversion and an early 8-0 lead. On the White Hawks ensuing possession, senior quarterback Cole Drill was bottled up on the first two plays, as he tried to find some daylight in the middle of the Orono defense. Then, on third down, Drill’s long pass to running back Ray Beiningen was just out of reach down the middle of the field. Drill’s subsequent punt would go off the side of his foot and travel just 13 yards to the Westonka 41-yard line. “Hats off to Orono as they really came out firing on all cylinders Friday night,” said Westonka Head Coach Nick David.
The Spartans (5-0, 2-0) would quickly take advantage of the good field position. After an incompletion, Cordes tried to find Alex Loveless down the seam, but the White Hawks were called for pass interference giving Orono a first down at the Westonka 26-yard line. The Spartans would then pick up two first downs, both on third down, setting them up inside the Westonka 5-yard line. Two plays later, Franklin Stevenson would dive into the end zone for the two-yard score. The missed extra point made it 14-0 with 2:05 left in the first quarter.
However, the White Hawks would come right back with Ray Beiningen going off right tackle for 21 yards on the first play of the series picking up a Westonka first down, their first of the game. Drill, who fought for tough yardage all evening, would lose five yards on the next play and then scramble for five yards setting up another third down in their own territory. This time, Drill would have just enough time to roll to his left and loft a pass down the left seam to wideout May Kraay, who had run past the Orono defender, catching the ball at the 28-yard line and then outracing the defense for the 59-yard score. Drill would run it straight up the middle on the two-point try, cutting the deficit to 14-8 with four seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Unfortunately, that would be the only score the White Hawks could muster in the Battle for the Anchor, as the Spartans defense held the vaunted Westonka offense to a total of 164 yards, and just 14 yards in the 2nd half. “Orono has a great squad this year and they are doing some really nice things over there. We are hopeful that we can make some tweaks / improvements here at this point in the season and see them again in the playoffs,” stated David. Orono would get a Rory Kvern 3-yard TD run with 7:32 left in the 2nd quarter. The missed extra-point made it 20-8 in favor of the Spartans at the halftime break. Kvern would tack on a 7-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter, but his two-point run was denied, giving Orono a commanding 26-8 lead with 4:06 to play. The Spartans would score twice more in the 4th quarter as Cordes found Jackson Stinar on a 13-yard touchdown pass and Deveyon Allen Chapman would hit paydirt midway through the quarter to put a stamp on the Spartan victory.
The White Hawks defense was on the field for 64 snaps and gave up 5.2 yards per play, while the offense was only able to run 47 plays gaining 3.5 yards per play (2.7 per rush). Another glaring stat for Westonka was that they were only able to convert 1-out-of-10 on 3rd downs. Statistically, Kraay led the way with 86 receiving yards on three catches, with Beiningen tallying 66 yards on the ground. Drill finished with 93 passing yards and could only manufacture five yards in 14 rushing attempts.
Junior linebacker Andrew Hoisington seemed to be all over the field for the Westonka defense finishing with ten tackles (5 solo), while junior safety Brandt Tebbs led the team with 14 tackles (8 solo), a tackle-for-loss and one pass breakup. Seniors Joe Sluka (8 tackles and a TFL), Carter Kleinsasser (10 tackles, TFL, and a sack), and Cole Munsterteiger (7 tackles) were also big contributors on defense. Dawson Leinfelder had six tackles and a TFL, while Roman Larsen tallied four tackles, two TFL’s, and a sack. Senior safeties JT Kimbrough and Mason Sebasky (1 pass defended) had five and four tackles a piece. Coach David noted “We definitely left some plays on the field on both sides of the ball on Friday night. We need to clean things up and execute at a higher level.
The White Hawks (3-2, 0-2) find themselves in unfamiliar territory having not lost two regular season games since the 2020 COVID season. Next up is another very recognizable foe in Delano, who has struggled this season so far at 0-5, and will be coming off a 31-0 defeat at the hands of Providence Academy. Westonka handled their business in the regular season matchup in 2023, knocking off the Tigers 42-28 on the road, but Delano returned the favor in the Section 6AAAA Semifinals when they beat the White Hawks at their own game rushing for 184 yards and two touchdowns. However, current Delano QB Bryce Peterson also threw for 257 yards and a TD with five of those catches and 121 of those yards hauled in by Jake Schultz, the Tigers leading receiver this year. Beiningen also had a great day for the White Hawks in that game, running for 255 yards on 35 carries. Max Kraay caught six balls for 93 yards from Drill, who completed 14 passes for 179 yards.
Gametime is set for 7 p.m. this Friday, Oct. 4, at Haddorff Field.
