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Time Runs Out for the Minutemen 42-0

By Steve Tebbs, 10/17/22, 10:45AM CDT

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The Mound Westonka football team traveled to St. Paul Central last Friday evening and rolled to a 42-0 win over the Minutemen in a Twin City District football game at James Griffin Stadium. The White Hawks earned their first shutout of the season and moved to 7-0 overall. They will look to finish out a perfect regular season for the second year in a row when they play at Spectrum (5-2) this Wednesday at 7pm.

The offense took a while to warm up, especially with the temperature hovering around 40 degrees. Senior Will Wallace got the White Hawks on the board with a 8-yard touchdown run. Senior Ben Neve’s extra point gave Westonka an early 7-0 lead. Tyler Albert followed with a 2-yard burst pushing the advantage to 14-0 in the first quarter.

The White Hawks defense must have brought their hand warmers because they were hot from the beginning. They forced five turnovers with Senior Matt Oko (6 tackles, 2 QB sacks) wreaking havoc throughout the game from his defensive line position. Sophomore Aaron Kroese came up with two interceptions and leads the team with four on the year. He also recovered a Minutemen fumble.

Junior linebacker Jaaron Konkel led the White Hawks with nine tackles, including four of the solo variety. Senior Cam Peterson finished with six tackles, one sack, and a forced fumble. Senior Fletcher Anderson and sophomore linebacker Ray Beiningen each tallied five tackles. Wallace and senior DB Simon James both intercepted a pass. “We were a little too much ‘bend but don’t break’ on Friday night. I would like to see us come out with more energy as we begin to prepare for the playoffs. With that, I was proud of how the boys picked it up as we got into the second quarter.”

Albert found the end zone again running in from five yards out extending the lead to 21-0 at the half. The senior running back finished with 94 yards on 14 carries, which is only the second time he hasn’t rushed for 100 yards or more this season. Albert opened the third quarter with a 10-yard jaunt and a 28-point advantage. Senior Luke Leonard made it 35-0 when he hauled in Carter Reinbold’s pass on a 23-yard play. The junior quarterback was 8-of-12 for a season-high 183 yards through the air. He also had 60 yards on the ground on just five carries. “We were able to get a lot of different players touches on Friday night and it was so fun to see them all make big plays and make people miss when they had the ball in their hands.”

Reinbold found sophomore wideout Max Kraay for a 15-yard TD in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring. Wallace, who had a fantastic game on both sides of the ball, finished with two catches for 80 yards. Senior Kade Tappen had two receptions for 45 yards, continuing his streak of catching at least one pass in every game this year. Neve hit on all six extra points and is now 42-for-45 on the season, which leads the state in makes and attempts, regardless of class. The White Hawks compete in the 4A class for football.

Albert’s 827 rushing yards is fifth in 4A, while his 11 touchdowns is sixth. Reinbold’s 904 passing yards is in the top 10 and his 16 touchdown passes is second. Tappen’s seven touchdown catches is tied for third in 4A. Oko leads with six QB sacks and Kroese’s four interceptions also leads the 4A class. “It's always cool to see when our players are at the top of their respective statistical categories in the state as they all work very hard to hone their skills.”

With a win on Wednesday, the White Hawks would have the inside track on the number one seed in Section 6AAAA and a first-round bye. The highest seed will host a Section 6AAAA Semifinal game on Saturday, October 29th.