Vikings Bring Home State Championship!

Wabasso, fresh off a state tournament appearance last year, and ranked No. 1 in Class A, took their bid to win their second straight game over Minneota into the Class A State Finals Saturday morning.
The Rabbits, the only team to beat Minneota in the last 50 games, finally got its chance for a first state championship.
However, Minneota, a six-time winner, hoped to revenge the loss to Wabasso in the Section 5A semifinals a year ago.
In the end — it was Minneota who came away with the state championship, 28-13 behind 294 yards rushing from Isaac Hennen on 34 carries.
"Wabasso is a very good football team," said Minneota Coach Chad Johnston. "But we did an excellent job. This team surpassed the level we set for them."
After it was over, Wabasso Coach Joe Kemp agreed.
"We expected this kind of thing out of Minneota. They come at you hard in the box (on the line) and they come at you hard all the way down field," said Coach Kemp.
The two teams battled for an entire first quarter, but all that proved was the two teams were equal. By halftime, it was all knotted up at 7-7.
A big break gave Wabsso the first touchdown of the game and a 7-0 first quarter lead.
Alex Pohlen’s punt from near the end zone was blocked by Nick Altermatt and Isaac Schmiesing picked it up and got to the two yard line.
From the one yard line, Cooper Taylor ran it in for Wabasso’s first score and Colton Taylor kicked the extra point for a 7-0 Wabasso lead at 1:26 of the first half.
"We practiced that play all week," said Wabasso quarterback Altermatt.
And it paid off.
But the Vikings first drive stalled and Pohlen came out of a passing formation to run nine yards for a fourth and one at the Wabasso 42 yard line.
Isaac Hennen went 12 yards to the Wabasso 30 to keep the drive alive.
Hennen shed a tackle at the line and ran 21 yards to the Wabasso 10 for a first and goal.
While Pohlen was flushed out of the pocket, had to throw a “wounded duck” pass that was picked off by Wabasso’s Jacob Plaetz to successfully stop the Minneota drive.
"I didn't have a good first half passing. But they were putting a lot of pressure on us," said Minneota quarterback Alex Pohlen.
Coach Johnston agreed, saying, “Wabasso was keeping our pass receivers covered and Alex (Pohlen) had to do a lot of scrambling.”
The Rabbits got a second chance to score when Cooper Taylor got loose for a 40-yard run after breaking off left tackle.
Only a touchdown-saving tackle by Isaac Hennen kept him from going all the way.
The Rabbits had a third and three at the nine. Nick Altermatt tried to smash up the middle, but was stopped by Cole Sanow for a fourth and four at the Viking 10.
That's when the Minneota defensive line reared it's ugly head. Ethan Krier rose up and stopped Cooper Taylor, with help from Shawn Buysse and Minneota had it’s biggest stop of the day.
Earlier in the first quarter Minneota’s defense stiffened with Ethan Krier and Shawn Buysse combining on one tackle and Krier getting another. The duo would prove invaluable in squashing Wabasso’s second attempt to score.
"It was the game plan, we just executed the game plan," said lineman Mitchell Rost.
Krier added, “After awhile they were getting slower and we feel like we out-smarted them and it got a lot easier to push them around.”
The best Viking drive of the day started at their own 11 yard line. The Vikings went back to work in the offensive line.
Good blocking on the right side by Krier and Rost freed Isaac Hennen for a sweep  and he moved the ball to the Minneota 45. Hennen had all the yards in the extended drive.
Led by Isaac Schmiesing, the Rabbits made one stop on a third and five at the 50. But Hennen blasted up the middle behind the blocking of Ty Lipinski for 10 yards to the Wabasso 40 and again was power-running as he drove the Vikings to the Wabasso 23.
At that point in the game Hennen already had 110 yards.
But for the second time the Vikings committed an, “illegal shift" on the line and it cost them fire yards.
Hennen got those yards back and more.
The line freed him to slam up the middle, shed a tackle and run 24 yards for a touchdown at 1:50 in the first half.
Pohlen tied the game 7-7 with his point after kick.
On that drive alone Isaac Hennen had 10 carries for 96 yards (although the drive was 89 yards, Hennen’s yardage including making up for a Viking penalty).
In the first half alone he carried the ball 16 times for 142 yards.
"It wasn't the plan to carry the ball that many times. But I always expect more carries and we just kinda went to it," said Hennen.
Coach Johnston said they didn’t go into the game expecting Hennen to carry the ball so much. “It was Plan B,” he said.
But he also added that seldom do you get to use the game plan — and often you have to go to Plan B.
Wabasso tried to rally, but Skyler Gilbertston stripped the ball from Cooper Taylor and Cole VanOverbeke recovered it on the Wabasso 39-yard line.
 
MINNEOTA CAME out strong in the second half.
On the first play of the Vikings initial set, Hennen broke between Krier and Rost for 15 yards to the Wabasso 40, then got a first down on the Rabbit 30 and blasted to the Rabbit 24.
With T.J. Esping leading the way, Landon Abraham rushed to the Wabasso 18 for a first down.
From there Hennen carried Cooper Taylor on his back to the six yard line for a 12-yard gain and a first and goal.
Hennen rammed the ball five yards to the one — then Pohlen smashed over with a quarterback sneak to give the Vikings their first lead of the game, 13-7 at 6:21 of the third period.
Pohlen’s kick was partially blocked and it was 13-7, Minneota.

Losing Cooper Taylor
Somewhwere along the line the Rabbits lost their running back, Cooper Taylor. On the sidelines, possibly with a concussion, Taylor needed replacing in the lineup.
"We tried to move a few people around," said Coach Kemp. Did it change the game for Wabasso? It did change something, it hurt," said the Rabbit coach.
After the Viking touchdown, the Rabbits used a long drive keyed by the running of Colton Taylor to get to the Viking 24.
An illegal procedure call set the Rabbits back five yards and Shawn Buysse put the pressure on Wabasso’s quarterback Altermatt and he committed an intentional grounding that cost the Rabbits yards and a down.
It was second and 16 at the 34 and Minneota held on a short pass with Cole Sanow shutting down the play. On a fourth and 24 on the Viking 34, the Rabbits punted out-of-bounds and Minneota took over on its own 18.
The Vikings had held on an important drive after the Viking touchdown.

Key injury ....
But the Rabbits got another chance when they stopped the Vikings to force a punt.
A 43-yard punt turned out to be disastrous when Colton Taylor took the ball 13 yards and Logan Sussner was called for a face mask as he took Taylor down out of bounds. The Vikings also suffered a severe blow when Isaac Hennen went down and didn’t get back up.
He finally rose and walked off the field with help from his coaching staff.
While he was out for a stretch, "Catching my wind because I was blind-sided," said Hennen, he knew he was coming back into the game.
The quarter ended and it was 13-7, Minneota.
Wabasso got the ball on the Viking 29 yard line.
Tony Franta caught a 20-yard pass from Altermatt to set the ball up the Minneota five yard line.
Then Kyle Jacobson smashed over from the one yard line to tie the game, 13-13. Altermatt’s kick went wide left and with 11:23 left in the game, it was tied, 13-13.
"And we were right there," said Wabasso Coach Joe Kemp. Despite losing his running back Cooper Taylor, he felt, "This is where we want to be. This gives us a shot."

He's back ....
But Coach Kemp’s exhuberance took a hit when Isaac Hennen came back onto the field.
Two plays later Hennen’s presence was felt.
A Pohlen pass to Skylar Gilbertson got a first down at the Viking 46.
Then Hennen  blasted through left tackle, was suddenly all alone and dashed 54-yards for a touchdown.
Minneota was up once again, 19-13 at 9:49 of the fourth quarter.
The Vikings went for a two-point conversion and Hennen rammed the ball over for a 21-13.
Hennen went over 200 yards for the game with his carries after returning from the injury.
The Vikings got a huge stop from Mitchell Rost  andWabasso quarterback Nick Altermatt tried to go to the air. His pass was was intercepted by Cole Sanow at the Wabsso 34 and the Vikings were in control.
Minneota drove the ball down field to the 15 with 2:27 to go  and Hennen scored again on a 15-yard blast up the middle for a 27-13 lead to put icing on the cake and preserve a state championship.
Pohlen kicked the extra point and Minneota led 28-13. Late in the game, Cole Van Overbeke got a sack to add to his earlier fumble recovery as time began to run out on the Rabbits.
In the end, Hennen had 34 carries for 294 yards, three touchdowns and a two-point conversion.
And the state championship trophy belonged to MINNEOTA!