Orono, MN – Mound Westonka made the short bus ride to Orono last Saturday afternoon for a MSHSL Section 6AAAA Semifinal game, but couldn’t overcome big plays by the Spartans in a 40-19 defeat.

Orono’s Parker Burckhardt caught seven passes for 186 yards and three touchdowns, while quarterback Charles Cordes completed 13 passes in 16 attempts for 288 yards which helped the Spartans score 20 unanswered points in the second half.

The White Hawks (6-4) took the opening kickoff and drove 87 yards and capped it off with a Cole Drill 1-yard TD run. The 11-play drive took over five minutes as Drill and sophomore running back, Blake Reinbold, took turns gashing the Orono defense. On the drive, Reinbold’s 21-yard dash off right tackle and Drill’s 15-yard gain down to the 1-yard line were the big plays on the possession. Chase Lee’s extra point gave Westonka the early 7-0 lead.

Cordes would waste little time in responding as he found his big tight end, Simon Vinton, down the middle of the field for a 39-yard catch and run. Westonka’s Cole Munsterteiger made a shoelace tackle at the White Hawks 29-yard line to save a sure touchdown. The defense would force a 4th-and-1 at the 20-yard line, but Cordes’ QB sneak kept the drive alive. Two plays later, Cordes would find Burckhardt from 19 yards away on a corner route touchdown. Oron’s two-point conversion would be denied as Mason Sebasky and Brandt Tebbs converged to stop Rory Kvern just short of the goal line keeping the White Hawks in the lead, 7-6, with 2:29 left in the 1st quarter. “We picked up right where we left off from the Delano game and came out with a lot of energy and enthusiasm and gave Orono all they could handle in the first half,” said Head Coach Nick David.

A bobbled kick return pinned Westonka deep in their own territory at the 12-yard line. The offense would pick up four first downs putting them near midfield, but on 2nd-and-9, Drill dropped back to pass and was immediately chased by Vinton and brought down for a 15-yard loss. The White Hawks eventually were forced to punt. However, after three initial first downs, the Spartans' Franklin Stevenson slipped a tackle at the line-of-scrimmage but was hit from the side by Westonka’s Dylan Sloan forcing a fumble allowing Dawson Leinfelder to recover it for the White Hawks on Orono’s side of the field. On third down, following the fumble recovery, Drill would once again face heavy pressure from Vinton causing him to scramble to his right. Vinton would get just enough of Drill’s shoe, which came flying off, which tripped him up for a 7-yard sack. Westonka elected to go for the first down on 4th-and-8 from midfield, but they were flagged for “intent to deceive” when wideout JT Kimbrough lined up near the sideline and caught a pass from Drill. “We have never heard of that penalty before. That will be one we will have to look up in the rule book. Either way, even if the catch counted we did not get enough for a first down,” noted David.

Orono (7-2) would take advantage of the good field position, as Cordes hit Owen Paulsen out of the backfield, on a wheel route, for a 42-yard pickup. Senior cornerback Joe Sluka saved the touchdown by chasing him down at the 16-yard line. The Westonka defense would force a 3rd-and-13, but Cordes would hit Burckhardt on a crossing route for the 19-yard score. Cordes tried to run around the left end on the conversion, but Tebbs, Carter Kleinsasser, Roman Larsen, and Munsterteiger would keep him out of the end zone keeping the Spartans lead at 12-7 with 5:36 to play in the first half.

Sluka would start the ensuing drive with a 16-yard gain on an end around to the left. Drill would then take it up the middle for 20 yards before finding Sebasky on a deep post down to the 1-yard line. Eventually, Drill kept the ball himself and ran it in from 3-yard out. Drill was stopped just short on the two-point conversion try, but the White Hawks led 13-12 with 3:56 to play in the half. The Cordes to Burckhardt connection was not done though, as Cordes threw to Burckhardt down the middle of the field for a huge 46-yard gain. Five plays later, Cordes would sneak it in for the 1-yard touchdown with just 24 seconds remaining. This time they would convert the two-point try when Cordes lofted a pass to a wide-open Bennett Halverson giving Orono the 20-13 halftime advantage.

Orono got the first possession of the second half, and it didn’t take long for Cordes and Burckhardt to hook up once more, as Burckhardt caught a shallow crossing route pass and raced down the left sideline for a 44-yard play. Tebbs stopped him at the 22-yard line with help from Munsterteiger and Sluka. Unfortunately, a few plays later, George Perkins took the handoff on a jet sweep to the left and was able to sneak through for the five-yard TD. The extra point gave Orono a 14-point lead five minutes into the 3rd quarter.

The White Hawks would not let up however, and on their next possession, Drill would hit Sluka across the middle for 21 yards down near midfield. But a sack on third down forced a punt. The Spartans would then use a 15-play, 83-yard drive to all but seal the victory. During the drive Cordes would hit Burckhardt for another long gain of 31 yards. Backup QB Griffin Mauer came in and threw a 4-yard touchdown to Halverson pushing the lead to 33-13. The White Hawks would fumble the ensuing kickoff allowing Cordes to throw once more to his favorite target, Burckhardt, for a 21-yard touchdown and a 40-13 lead halfway through the fourth quarter.

In his last high school playoff football game, Drill willed himself and the White Hawks into the end zone on their last drive of the game, scrambling for 37 yards and then again on the last play of the game. Drill dropped back to pass, surveyed the field, then stepped up in the pocket, before stopping and looking for an open receiver. Not seeing anyone, he took off down the left sideline breaking a couple tackles before diving just inside the pylon as time expired on the game and the Westonka football season. “Cole is a special player and how he finished the game is just the epitome of him as a leader. He just always laid it all out on the line each week,” stated David.

Drill (5-of-11, 78 yards passing) would finish with 122 rushing yards on 18 carries, while Reinbold had 80 yards on the ground. Sluka caught two passes for 29 yards. Defensively, seniors Cole Munsterteiger (11 tackles, TFL), Mason Sebasky (8 tackles, pass defended), Carter Kleinsasser (7 tackles), Dylan Sloan (7 tackles, 2 TFL’s, sack, forced fumble), and Joe Sluka (6 tackles) closed out their careers on a high note. Juniors Brandt Tebbs (game-high 12 tackles) and Andrew Hoisington (7 tackles, TFL). Seniors Roman Larsen (4 tackles, 2 TFL’s), John Seemann (4 tackles), and Dylan Holappa (3 tackles) helped hold Orono to 128 yards rushing, which is below their season average.

For the season, Drill threw for 1,366 yards and 14 touchdowns, while rushing for 598 yards and five touchdowns. Reinbold finished with 584 yards and a team-high 10 TD’s on the ground. Senior Ray Beiningen played the first five games and contributed 369 rushing yards and six touchdowns. Senior Max Kraay led the receiving corps with a team-high in catches (29), yards (407), and touchdowns (6). Kimbrough caught 19 passes for 227 yards and two TD’s, while Sluka had 14 receptions for 112 yards. Senior George Eberhart only had six catches but turned those into 207 yards and a team-high 34.5 yards-per-reception average. Kleinsasser also finished over the century mark with 104 yards through the air.

On defense, Sloan had 51 (38 solo) total tackles on the season to go with seven tackles-for-loss, team-highs in sacks (5), forced fumbles (2), and a more impressive four blocked kicks. Munsterteiger, who played with a broken wrist nearly the entire season, had 69 tackles, four TFL’s, and an interception. Kleinsasser tallied 43 tackles with six TFL’s, two sacks, and a forced fumble. Holappa (41 tackles) seemed to play on the other side of the line-of-scrimmage most of the year leading to 14 tackles-for-loss and a sack. Sluka registered 40 tackles, five TFL’s, a team-high five passes defended and two INT’s. Sebasky (3 TFL’s) and Seemann (5 TFL’s, one sack) both had 39 tackles, while senior Roman Larsen was second on the team with eight tackles-for-loss and two blocked kicks. He also returned a blocked punt for a touchdown. Kimbrough had four passes defended, a forced fumble, and a sack. Juniors Tebbs (team-high 92 tackles, six TFL’s, fumble recovery, INT) Hoisington (54 tackles, six TFL’s, two sacks, two fumble recoveries) and Leinfelder (24 tackles, five TFL’s, fumble recovery) all contributed heavily on the defensive side of the ball this season. Junior Cade Newell also had one of the team’s six interceptions on the season. “We were truly playing our best and most physical football these last 4 weeks and were executing at a high level. That is truly all you can ask for as coaches. We are so proud of these seniors. They have been an absolute privilege to coach,”  David said.