High School Football: Against Willmar, your ground game stops here

WILLMAR — Being able to outrush Hutchinson is promising. But forcing the Tigers to stray from their bread-and-butter power run game and go to the air?

“Any time we’re able to out-rush Hutchinson and they out-pass us, that’s a victory for us," said Willmar head football coach Jon Konold.

The Cardinals held Hutchinson to a season-low 156 rushing yards, compared to 220 for Willmar.

And yes, the Tigers did out-throw the Cardinals, 141-94, but it was the Cardinals that pulled off the upset over Class AAAA’s top-ranked team, 28-24.

At 7 p.m. Friday, the Cardinals’ defense hopes to stonewall Big Lake and its wing-T offense in the home finale. The Hornets come to Hodapp Field with an 0-4 record after losing to Delano last week, 34-13.

“We have to go into this week remembering that we can still be beat by Big Lake, so we have to prepare,” Willmar senior linebacker Kaden Streed said.

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Coming into the Week 4 game, the Tigers averaged 298.0 yards on the ground.

“That’s been the key to our success this year,” Konold said. “Our defense has played really well and it starts with stopping the run and making teams one dimensional. Then we’re able to get our athletes in the secondary to make some plays on the football.”

Last Friday’s run-stuffing performance has been the high mark for a Cardinals’ defense that has made substantial progress in a year’s time, going from 208.8 rushing yards allowed per game in 2019 to 114.0 this season.

“Wow. That’s a big difference,” Konold said after hearing those figures. “We were young, inexperienced and weak last year. This year, we’re a lot more mature and a lot more stronger.”

In the Cardinals’ front seven is a bedrock of trust. All four defensive linemen — ends Aidan Donelan and Joseph Price; tackles Cameron Selander and Logan Harms — and three linebackers — Streed, Tyler Ludwig and Kadin Dirkes — are seniors.

“Our front seven, we got a lot of chemistry going for us right now and we’re all at the point where we’re able to trust the other person,” said Ludwig, who was named the Central Lakes Conference’s defensive player of the week after racking up five tackles and two fumble recoveries against Hutchinson. “We know that if I see my read and I know someone else is going to make that play, I need to stick to my read instead of trying to force a play.”

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Against the Tigers last week, the keys were simple: follow the guards and they’ll show you where the play is going. But being able to execute that plan is a challenge. In 2019, Hutchinson bulldozed its way to 413 rushing yards.

Up front, it was going to be a rough-and-tumble game, so Willmar opted for a five-man front with a rotating nose tackle.

“Going into a game like Hutch, it’s going to be a full game of smashmouth football and we were going to have to get in (the middle) and make it happen,” Donelan said. “A couple of guys stepping up on the front, Logan and Cam, really surprised me a lot.”

“I don’t want to be in there,” Donelan joked about lining up inside against the Tigers. “I’m getting smaller and definitely like to use my speed a little more.”

Along with Ludwig’s two-takeaway performance, Streed had 10 tackles (five solo), including one for a loss.

“We were yelling at each other and telling each other where our pullers were going,” Streed said. “A lot of it is we’re all in the same grade. We’re doing the same stuff every day so you get used to it and it’s fun to do.”

The linebacker group was an area of concern heading into the season. Now, that group continues to exceed early expectations.

“They’ve risen to the challenge and they’ve played fantastic all season long,” Konold said. “They seem to get better and better as they go.”

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While it is a senior group in the defensive box, it also has been a studious group for the coaches to build up.

“The coaches put a plan together and the kids really bought into the plan,” Konold said. “They practiced well Monday through Thursday identifying Hutchinson’s formations and who pulls and reading their keys.”

Donelan added, “It’s definitely been good to see it come together to where we can stop a heavy run team like that.”

The returns have been positive as the defense has held two of its four opponents — Delano (69) and Rocori (38) — to less than 100 yards rushing.

“It’s been really fun knowing that teams are likely game-planning for our run defense and how they’re going to try to move the ball against us,” Ludwig said.