Ryan Kuester knew he had to do something. After a forgettable first half in which the fleet Glencoe-Silver Lake halfback had fumbled deep in Waconia territory, a chance to atone was all he wanted.
Just one.
Kuester got that chance almost immediately and didn’t waste it, returning the opening kickoff of the second half 91 yards for a touchdown. It turned out to be the biggest play of the game for Glencoe-Silver Lake, which survived four turnovers to beat the host Wildcats 16-0.
“In the locker room, one of the coaches came up to me and said I had to make up for my first half,” Kuester said. “I wasn’t going to blow it. I just saw the blocking and ran through it.”
The game was billed as a battle between two of the top teams in the rugged Wright County Conference. It was more rough-around-the-edges than rugged as the two teams combined for eight turnovers and very little in terms of offensive efficiency.
“Kuester, he’s just got God-given speed. You can’t coach that,” said Glencoe-Silver Lake coach Scott Tschimperle. “But it was our defense that stepped up. They saved our offense.”
The first half was little more than a midfield tussle as neither team advanced inside the other’s 25-yard-line. The only score came on a safety when the Waconia center snapped the ball over the punter’s head.
Kuester’s big return made the score 9-0, and the game stayed that way until Glencoe-Silver Lake salted it away with a 65-yard drive in the fourth quarter, capped by Tony Mizuhata’s 9-yard touchdown run.
Before that, Glencoe was satisfied with playing its trademark physical defense. The Panthers held the Wildcats to less than 150 yards of total offense and forced three second-half turnovers.
Waconia played without do-everything star Maxx Williams. The University of Minnesota recruit was out because of an injured ankle.
“Any time you take a Division I athlete out of your lineup, it hurts,” Waconia coach Pat Foley said. “They don’t come along often.”
Williams
Maxx Williams’ demeanor grew noticeably worse as he watched his Waconia teammates struggle to move the ball and eventually lose to Glencoe-Silver Lake.
By the time the game was over, Williams -- a 6-foot-4, 225-pound jack-of-all-positions who was sitting out with an ankle injury that required a cast early in the week – was reduced to a monosyllabic vocabulary.
“Helpless,” Williams replied when asked what he was feeling watching his Wildcats get shutout 16-0.
And how difficult was it to stand on the sidelines in such a big game? “Tough.”
A football player by breeding, Williams impressed University of Minnesota coaches enough in camps last summer that they offered him a scholarship. So missing a game, for whatever reason, did not sit well with him.
“He didn’t even talk to me for two days,” said father Brian, a former Gophers offensive lineman and longtime New York Giants center who is an assistant coach at Waconia. “That’s how bad he wanted to play.”
His absence made all the difference for Waconia, turning a top 10 team in Class 4A into a middle of the road bunch that had difficulties putting together a cohesive drive. Waconia had less than 150 yards of total offense in the game and never ventured into the Glencoe-Silver Lake red zone.
“He’s a weapon wherever he is,” Glencoe coach Scott Tschimperle said. “We practiced and prepared all week as is he was going to play. But whether he played or not, it made no difference to what we were trying to do.”
It did, however, have an effect on how successful Glencoe-Silver Lake’s defense was. Williams see plenty of time at quarterback for Waconia. His backup, quarterback Cody Clark, never backed down, but at barely more than six-feet tall and 155 pounds, he presented far less of a challenge. He completed just 7 of 16 passes for 94 yards and an interception. And Waconia’s longest play of the game, a 46-yard pass to Wyatt Held, ended in a fumble when held was chased down at the Glencoe-Silver Lake 30.
“We hoped Maxx would play tonight,” Waconia coach Pat Foley said. “He’s a quick healer. But he didn’t practice all week. What if he got hit again tonight and missed another week? We just thought it was best to hold him out. But it was hard. He’s a Division I athlete. They don’t come around very much.”
Williams was moving around on the ankle all evening, indicating that his time in the bench will be limited to one week.
“It’s a long season,” Brian Williams said. “There’s a lot of football to go.”
Maxx Williams did expand a bit when asked how long he expects the injury, which occurred in Waconia’s season-opening victory over Orono, to keep him off the field. “Next week,” he said. “I’ll be back next week.”
NAME | HIGH SCHOOL | YEAR | POS. | COLLEGE | VERBAL |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Duke Anyanwu | Blaine | Senior | QB | Minnesota | Yes |
Matt Arends | Prior Lake | Senior | WR | Princeton | Yes |
Tavaughn Blair | Hopkins | Senior | SS | Northern Iowa | Yes |
Cal Bloom | Osseo | Senior | TE | Central Florida | Yes |
Nick Carr | Totino-Grace | Senior | OL | South Dakota State | Yes |
Kevin Carroll | Edina | Senior | OL | Northern Iowa | Yes |
Paddy Clancy | St. Thomas Academy | Senior | DB | Dartmouth | Yes |
Breion Creer | Benilde-St. Margaret's | Senior | DT | Northern Iowa | Yes |
Nick Davidson | Eden Prairie | Senior | OT | Stanford | Yes |
Rob Diane | Robbinsdale Cooper | *RCC Junior | DE | South Dakota State | Yes |
Cedric Dicke | Cannon Falls | Senior | LB | Minnesota | Yes |
Karmichael Dunbar | Prior Lake | Senior | DL | Louisianna | Yes |
Isaac Fruechte | Caledonia | *RCTC Sophomore | WR | Minnesota | Yes |
Joel Fuxa | Minnetonka | Senior | TE | Drake | Yes |
Jonathan Harden | Cretin-Derham Hall | Senior | DT | Western Michigan | Yes |
Tyler Hartmann | Andover | Senior | DE | Minnesota | Yes |
Isaac Hayes | St. Thomas Academy | Senior | OL/DL | Minnesota | Yes |
Cody Hazelette | Simley | Senior | LB/TE | Northern Illinois | Yes |
Kyle Hughes | Minneapolis Washburn | Senior | WR/DB | Eastern Michigan | Yes |
D.J. Hebert | Osseo | Senior | QB | Northern Iowa | Yes |
Cavonte Johnson | Edina | Senior | DB | Minnesota | Yes |
Will Johnson | Osseo | Senior | TE | West Virginia | Yes |
Zack Johnson | Eastview | Senior | OL | North Dakota State | Yes |
Paul Kaczor | St. Cloud Tech | Senior | OL | Harvard | Yes |
Brian Labat | Detroit Lakes | Senior | RB | North Dakota | Yes |
Andrew Larson | Eden Prairie | Senior | RB | Harvard | Yes |
Brandon Larson | Bemidji | Senior | LB | North Dakota | Yes |
Ben Lauer | Wayzata | Senior | OL | Minnesota | Yes |
Mitch Leidner | Lakeville South | Senior | QB | Minnesota | Yes |
Andre McDonald | Hopkins | Senior | WR | Minnesota | Yes |
Nate Meixell | Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial | Senior | LB | South Dakota State | Yes |
Nate Meyer | Rocori | Senior | QB | South Dakota State | Yes |
Drake Michaelson | Eden Prairie | Senior | LB | Wofford | Yes |
Rossevelt Morisset | Thief River Falls | Senior | WR | Southeastern Louisiana | Yes |
Andy Moritko | Totino-Grace | Senior | DB | South Dakota State | Yes |
Philip Nelson | Mankato West | Senior | QB | Minnesota | Yes |
Brett Pierce | Holy Angels | Senior | DL | North Dakota State | Yes |
Jonah Pirsig | Blue Earth | Senior | OL | Minnesota | Yes |
Nick Rallis | Edina | Senior | S | Minnesota | Yes |
Taj Rich | Robbinsdale Cooper | Senior | LB | North Dakota | Yes |
Zach Riopelle | Warren-Alvarado-Oslo | Senior | LB | North Dakota State | Yes |
Kasey Robinson | Breck | Senior | WR | Drake | Yes |
Chase Roullier | Burnsville | Senior | OL | Wyoming | Yes |
E.J. Welch | Mesabi East | *MRCC Freshman | DL | North Dakota | Yes |
Lucas Wiborg | DeLaSalle | Senior | OG | Cornell | Yes |
Evan Williams | DeLaSalle | *IWCC Freshman | RB | Northern Iowa | Yes |
Maxx Williams | Waconia | Senior | TE | Minnesota | Yes |
Carey Woods | Bemidji | Senior | WR | North Dakota State | Yes |
Watch the entire game, courtesy of Webcast America.