That's what made Stillwater running back Nick Anderson’s performance against Forest Lake on Sept. 23, at Forest Lake that much more impressive.

 

Anderson had three rushing touchdowns to lead the Ponies to a 27-7 victory over the Rangers, in an impressive game, bouncing back from a tough 34-7 blowout loss to Cretin-Derham Hall a week prior.

 

“Offensive line did great and bounced back really well from the Cretin game where we all didn’t perform to our standards,” Anderson said. “We came back and wanted to run the ball and put it in the endzone.

 

“Our pulling guards did a great job and our running backs just blew up the linebackers. It helped separate myself from the defensive line.”

 

Spraining his ankle in the season-opener against Woodbury, Anderson did not play at all until the second half of Week 2 against White Bear Lake, where his rushing performance put the Ponies in position for a game-winning field goal, which was nailed by Sam Pearson as time expired for a 17-14 win.

 

Against Cretin-Derham Hall, which has the Suburban East Conference’s best defense, there was little any of the Ponies could do.

 

This was not the case for the Ponies against the Rangers.

 

Anderson got the ball early, often and gained large chunks of yards, ending drives by celebrating in the end zone.

 

“Nick’s a great athlete and he’s learning a lot about how to take care of the ball,” Ponies coach Beau LaBore added. “Offensive line had flashes of greatness tonight.”

For most of the night, Anderson was able to get to the Rangers linebackers before even getting touched.

 

With starting quarterback Nate Ricci out with a sprained left ankle he suffered late in the loss to Cretin-Derham Hall, junior Aaron Romportl was in relief against Forest Lake and Stillwater took to the ground in a major way.

 

On the Ponies first possession, they went 49 yards in five plays, all runs, where Anderson was able to punch his first in from the 3.

 

After shutting Forest Lake down in three plays, Stillwater started in Rangers territory again, going 44 yards in seven plays, six on the ground.

 

Anderson found the end zone again from a yard out to give Stillwater a 14-0 lead.

 

Forest Lake cut the lead in half when quarterback JT Jurasin snuck in from the 1, putting the Rangers within striking distance of the Ponies going into the second half.

 

When the second half started, Stillwater went on a 14-play drive that took up seven minutes, 15 seconds of time and was highlighted by Anderson’s 14-yard touchdown.

 

“I kind of got tripped up, but was able to stay up,” Anderson said. “Being so close, I knew I just had to stay up for a little longer.”

 

Earlier on the drive, Stillwater was faced with a fourth-and-long when Romportl went deep on a fade route down the right sideline. The ball fell incomplete, but the Rangers were called for pass interference on the play.

 

In the fourth quarter, the Ponies were faced with another long fourth down, but Romportl showed off his arm and hit Austin Holmberg on a skinny post play for a 20-yard score and a 27-7 lead.

 

“He did a great job, stepping into some big shoes with Nate Ricci being out,” Anderson said. 

 

“He handled the situation well,” LaBore added. “It’s never easy to make a first start especially as a junior. He had some big shoes to fill and he did a nice job overall.”

 

For the Rangers, it was a struggle to get their defense off the field.

 

With Stillwater using a backup quarterback, Forest Lake head coach Paul Kendrick said he expected to see a healthy dose of running plays by the Ponies, but it was a matter of making plays for his defense.

 

“One of those games where I don’t think we executed the way we needed to against a good team, “ Kendrick said. “Some of the plays that we needed to make didn’t happen and it proved to be a difference.""

 

With the win, Stillwater improves to 3-1 (3-1 SEC) and will be on the road next Friday at Mounds View.