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Shakopee hands Holy Angels first loss

By Jim Paulsen, Star Tribune, 10/07/11, 10:15PM CDT

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A strong running game helped the Sabers win on the road.

 It wasn’t what Jody Stone expected, but the Shakopee coach knows that a road victory over a ranked team is something to be proud of, no matter how it happens.

Shakopee, content to run its single-wing offense and pile up yards on the ground, wore down host Holy Angels and emerged with a 10-7 victory.
 
The No. 8, Class 5A Sabers improved to 6-0 overall and 5-0 in the Missota Conference. Holy Angels, No. 8 in Class 4A, lost for the first time, falling to 5-1 overall and 4-1 in league play.
 
Utilizing a throw-back single-wing offense and a stifling, swarming defense, Shakopee had averaged nearly 40 points per game and had given up just one touchdown in the first half all season.
 
The defense did its part, holding Holy Angels scoreless until the final minutes. It was the offense that had Stone concerned. Seams that Shakopee had found all season weren’t there. Holy Angels’ defense kept apace with Shakopee running backs.
 
“That is a good defensive team,’’ Stone said. “Usually we can count on scoring three or four touchdowns and a field goal. And we made some mistakes, but a lot of that was because of Holy Angels.”
 
Shakopee broke a scoreless tie late the third quarter, turning a short field into a 3-0 lead on a 32-yard field goal by Alexi Johnson.
 
Holy Angels, which had difficulty moving the ball all game, took the next drive into Shakopee territory but stalled on the Sabers’ 37-yard line. Shakopee seized momentum and scored on its only completed pass — an 18-yard throw-back from quarterback Zak Hoffman to Nick McBeain.
 
“We worked on the pass all week,” Hoffman said. “I knew it would be open. I was just hoping the wind wouldn’t take it.”
 
The Star rallied in the final minutes, cutting the lead to 10-7 on a 10-yard scoring pass from Sam Keis to Kyle Fallon with 2:33 left in the game.  Shakopee recovered an onside kick and ran out the clock.
 
“We have some things we can do better,” Stone said. “We fumbled down here on their 10-yard-line. We didn’t kick a field earlier when we should have. We didn’t make the plays we expect to make. But I’ll take it. I feel pretty good right now.”

Can't go through? Go over

In the end, the difference came down to something as simple as a hop.

Faced with an opponent with superior team speed, Shakopee coach Jody Stone had the Sabers spend the week leading up to their game at Holy Angels working on counter-measures. He had his defense spend extra time at practice preparing for the Stars assault on the edges, making sure that his rough-and-ready defense would be in right place to prevent big plays.

“Holy Angels is a perimeter team,” Stone said. “We worked on getting outside and swarming to the ball.”

On offense, the Shakopee offense ­– a one-team history lesson with its commitment to running an old school single-wing offense – had prepared a set of passing plays designed to take advantage of the Holy Angels’ anticipated commitment to stopping the run.

The defense worked. The passing game nearly did not.
Until scoring a lone touchdown on a desperation drive late in the fourth quarter, Holy Angels had managed just six first downs – just two after halftime.

But the offense wasn’t getting the results it was used to. Turnovers, regrettable decisions and wind-blown passes
that weren’t finding their targets had Shakopee’s offense – an offense that had scored more than 40 points in four of its first five games -- spinning its wheels.

“I can usually count on us getting three or four touchdowns and a field goal,” Stone said. “But we kept hurting ourselves with mistakes. That’s not to take anything away from Holy Angels because that’s a good team. But we’re not used to that.”

With its running game also not finding the holes it needed, something different needed to be done. So Sabers quarterback Zak Hoffman just did what came naturally: he started jumping over the Holy Angels defensive linemen.

“They were undercutting our lineman,” Hoffman said. “There weren’t any holes to run through. So I started jumping over them.”

And Shakopee started putting together long drives. Hoffman’s hurdles didn’t result in huge gains. Too often the Holy Angels defense was waiting for him when he landed.

His 30 rushes resulted in 117 yards, less than four yards per carry, and his longest gain was 12 yards.

But the damage was been done as each time Hoffman left the ground. He left his feet often enough and the Sabers began moving the chains.

“We had this game circled on our calendar all year long,” Hoffman said. “We knew they’d be tough. It just feels great to win.”

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