Orono, MN – Westonka and Orono renewed the annual “Battle for the Anchor” football game on Friday night with the Spartans retaining the trophy enroute to a 37-0 win at Orono High School. Orono quarterback Griffin Mauer rushed for a season-high 145 yards while halfback Rory Kvern totaled 97 yards on the ground and two touchdowns.
Westonka opened the game with a 73-yard drive, highlighted by a 54-yard pass to running back Blake Reinbold. Quarterback Cade Newell’s pass down the Orono sideline hit Reinbold in stride taking the ball down to the 20-yard line. The White Hawks would net eight yards on the next three plays, and after initially lining up for a field goal attempt, Westonka decided to go for it, but Newell’s pass was batted down in the end zone as he attempted the pass under heavy pressure.
On the Spartans first possession, Mauer broke off a 19-yard gain putting the ball at their own 40-yard line. Then, on 3rd-and-7, Mauer faked a quick pass to the right and found a gap around the left side carrying the ball down to the 1-yard line. White Hawks sophomore cornerback Max French made a touchdown saving tackle on the play. Kvern would produce the first points on the night as he plowed in over the left side. Senior defensive lineman Dawson Leinfelder would block the extra-point making it 6-0 almost halfway through the first quarter.
White Hawks senior, Brandt Tebbs, took the ensuing kickoff right up the middle covering 33 yards on the return, setting up Westona at their own 43-yard line. Unfortunately, on the first play from scrimmage, Newell had to scramble after a bad snap over his head causing an eventual intentional grounding call. The 20-yard loss made it 2nd-and-30 from the Westonka 23-yard line. Newell would eventually punt it back to the Spartans and his 42-yarder was downed at the Orono 32-yard line.
A big stop on 3rd and 5 by Westonka’s defense on Orono’s next drive gave the ball back to the White Hawks. But, on third down, Newell was forced to scramble around on a designed run play, losing 12-yards in the process and forcing another punt. The Spartans would get a huge 32-yard return by Lincoln Stinar setting up the Orono offense at the Westonka 23-yard line. But the White Hawks defense pushed back, getting a tackle-for-loss on 2nd down and an incompletion on third down. The Spartans would eschew the field goal try and went for it on fourth down. Mauer’s pass in the right corner of the end zone was dropped, giving Westonka life only down 6-0 early in the second quarter.
Next, the White Hawks would pick up 15 yards due to a pass interference penalty against Orono putting the ball at the Westonka 40-yard line. However, Newell was pressured on a third and long play and had to get rid of the ball which was eventually dropped near the first down marker. Another nice punt return by Stinar pushed the ball to the Orono 40-yard line. The Spartans would embark on a 7-play, 60-yard drive culminating in a Kvern 24-yard rushing TD. After a false start penalty, Mauer would connect with Ben Staloch for the two-point conversion from the 8-yard line, giving Orono a 14-0 advantage with 5:29 to play in the first half. On the kickoff, an unnecessary roughness penalty by Orono put the ball at the Westonka 35-yard line. Three plays later, Newell would find a hole up the middle for a gain of 11 yards moving the White Hawks into Orono territory. The turnover bug would haunt Westonka once again as Gavin Ruegemer would cough it up at the Spartan’s 39-yard line. “We need to do a better job protecting the ball, plain and simple. We have had far too many turnovers these in first 4 games which is uncharacteristic of our program. Definitely something we are going to emphasize moving forward,” said Head Coach Nick David.
Another seven play drive by Orono finished with Mauer going around left end before cutting back across the field for an 11-yard touchdown run with just 59 seconds remaining in the half. Another Mauer two-point conversion pass made it 22-0. As the rain started to fall quite heavily, the White Hawks came right back as Tebbs had another nice kickoff return to the Westonka 39-yard line. Reinbold (6 rushes, 24 yards) would then bust up the middle for a 17-yard gain on 2nd down, setting up Westonka at the Orono 42-yard line. After a Westonka timeout, Newell would hit Tebbs for 17 yards down to the 24-yard line stopping the clock with just a few seconds left. The White Hawks’ Leif Hagen’s 41-yard FG attempt was left of the goal posts and Orono led 22-0 going into halftime.
Orono’s first possession of the second half saw Mauer once again rush up the middle before cutting back to his left on a 4th and 3 at the Westonka 45-yard line. Five plays later, Hudson Hirt would somehow corral a bad snap from center and scamper in untouched for the two yard score. On the play, the snapped ball would go through Mauer’s legs as he was under center and bounce straight up to Hirt who ran around the left side. The two-point conversion gave the Spartans a 30-0 lead with 7:47 left in the third quarter.
Every time the White Hawks offense seemed to get going they would get stopped by their own mistakes. Newell picked up two big runs on Westonka’s first drive of the 2nd half, but tight end Carter Holappa would fumble after Newell found him for a gain of 12 just past midfield. The White Hawks defense finally got a 4th down stop on a 4th and long screen pass setting up the offense in good field position. A three-and-out by the Westonka offense gave the Spartans the ball back at the Orono 43-yard line. During Orono’s next possession, the game was stopped due to lightning with 10:31 to play in the 4th quarter. Play would resume around 40 minutes later and after two big Spartan runs, Finn Dyvik’s 1-yard quarterback sneak pushed the game into a running clock situation at 37-0.
Newell (11 carries, 42 yards) would finish 8-of-12 for 97 yards passing, connecting with Tebbs three times for 32 yards, in addition to Reinbold’s big 54-yard catch at the beginning of the game. Wide receiver John Seckinger hauled in two passes while French and Holappa each had one catch. Running back Wyatt Stepanek had 18 yards on four rushing attempts. Tebbs had two kickoff returns netting 58 yards and Reinbold had a 28 yard return.
The White Hawks defense was led by seniors Andrew Hoisington, Phillip Pisarchuk and Tebbs who each tallied a game-high 10 tackles. Sophomore linebacker Dane Sewell added 9 tackles and a tackle-for-loss. Senior safety Ethan Keller chipped in six tackles, while French and Anders Mjelstad had five tackles. Ruegemer and Leinfelder finished with four tackles.
Westonka (1-3) returns to action this Friday as they travel to Big Lake (2-2) to face the Hornets in an early start Skyway Green Subdistrict game. Game time is slated for 6:00pm.
