Too many obstacles

You name it and it probably presented a problem for the Waseca High School football team.

In the end, there were just too many obstacles to overcome.

The Bluejays' 2022 season came to an end Friday, Nov. 4 with a 35-26 setback to Fairmont in the Section 3AAA finals at New Ulm High School. It was the fifth consecutive section final appearance for the top-seeded Jays, who finished the season 8-2. Second-seeded Fairmont, whom the Bluejays beat 32-14 earlier in the season, improved to 8-2 and advanced to the state tournament.

What was the difference this time? Waseca's quarterback/strong safety going down with an injury? Others running on wounded limbs? Getting a punt blocked? Or fumbling on your opponents' 15-yard line?

For the Bluejays, it was all of this and more.

"We lost the one guy we couldn’t lose," said Waseca coach Brad Wendland. "Obviously, Fairmont challenges you with their defense backs. They’ve got good receivers. They’ve got a good scheme offensively in terms of their passing game. When Olllie (O'Brien) went down, he’s our safety, our communicator on the back end. And he wasn’t able to play back there. That really hurt us. And we’re young on defense. Fairmont found those guys a couple times and with their matchups they did a nice job with it. And Max Neaves wasn’t at 100 percent. We couldn’t use him the way that we wanted to. And we made mistakes."

On top of that, Fairmont played a great game, and Waseca's season was suddenly history.

"Give a ton of credit to Fairmont," said Wendland. "They played very well today."

The game started great for the Jays, who fielded the opening kickoff and proceeded to march 53 yards in seven plays for a touchdown, Kyle Ahlschlager covering the final 20 yards. He also ran for the two-point conversion.

Fairmont answered with a 58-yard touchdown pass - a sign of things to come, and it was 8-7 about midway through the opening period.

The Bluejays' next possession saw them face third-and-28 deep in their own territory. The ensuing punt was blocked and Fairmont recovered on the Waseca 3-yard line, scoring two plays later to take a 14-8 lead.

The Jays responded with a perfectly-thrown 21-yard touchdown pass from O'Brien to Carson Ohnstad, but a two-point conversion try left the quarterback with a noticeable limp. He was replaced temporarily at quarterback and was unable to play defense the rest of the night.

Fairmont followed with a five-play, 80-yard drive that was capped by a 60-yard touchdown pass.

Waseca's next punt netted 11 yards, and the Cardinals used the opportunity to tack on another scoring pass and take a 28-14 lead into halftime, but not before the Bluejays fumbled on the Fairmont 15.

Fairmont's offense became more conservative in the second half, with the teams trading punts until the Cardinals made it 35-14 late in the third quarter.

The Bluejays didn't give up, but it was too little too late. Ahlshlager scored from 7 yards out to cap a seven-play, 78-yard drive, and Christian Rodriguez caught a 6-yard touchdown pass. Neaves, wounded leg and all, blocked a punt as the clock clicked down on the season.

Afterward, Wendland was asked what it's like to see the season end.

“As a coach, I’m just proud of them, and you’re sad because they're so much fun to coach and there's nothing I'd rather do than go to practice on Monday," said Wendland. "It’s hard to put into words the investment that these kids make. In a world where there's instant gratification all the time, high school football isn’t like that. It’s delayed gratification. And often it doesn’t turn into what you hoped it would be. They buy in and they invest so much. You can see the emotion. They’re a part of something big and a part of something important and they always will be, but we're going to miss them. It’s hard to explain.”

Rodriguez was among the seniors who spoke up after the game.

“I just wanted to say I love you all," said Rodriguez. "Someone once told me that it wouldn’t hurt it if wasn’t so good. I love you guys.”

"He’s a young man who is a pleasure to coach, and for him to speak like that is important to all of the kids to hear that," said Wendland. "He’s saying that as a senior, it’s important for the younger kids to hear that and know what that means. We hope that there's a lot of future Christian Rodriguezes in the world."

Replacing those seniors, as always, will be a challenge.

“We’ll take it one day at a time," said Wendland. "Our senior class had some high-end kids, but the overall number was small. We’re definitely going to miss those kids. We’re not going anywhere. We’ve got good classes coming up. We’ve got tough kids and good coaches.”

"These are some of the toughest guys I’ve ever met," said Rodriguez of the 2022 Bluejays. "Some of the most loveable guys I’ve ever met. It’s gonna hurt, but it is what it is. We’ll get past this one."

Neaves said it meant a lot just to suit up in the blue and gold.

"It meant so much," he stated. "It’s like the brotherhood we have. How we’re always there for each other. We’re always fighting for each other. It’s unmatched by anything. It’s truly a blessing to be playing for Waseca, Minnesota."

“This one’s gonna hurt for awhile," said Wendland. “It’s hard. We have to give Fairmont credit. We didn’t do enough right tonight. We had some back luck and, yeah, that’s football.”

A tradition of all the Waseca seniors lining up on the goal line following their final game followed the awards presentation, where seniors and coaches shared hugs, laughs, smiles, and many tears. Players, coaches, family and friends, all stuck around the field for nearly an hour after the game.

Seniors graduating from the squad include Neaves, Ahlschlager, O’Brien, Ridriguez, Elijah Biehn, Leo Harguth, Eduardo Trejo, Payton Garza, Logan Hanson, Mason Droog, Brendan Brown, Jacob Kehler, Xavier Torres, Gavan George and Korbin Schumacher.

 

FMT                        14    14    7     0 -   35

WAS                         8      6     0    12 - 26

First Quarter

WAS - Ahlschlager 20 run (Ahlschlager run)

FMT - Pooley 58 pass from Schmidke (Burmeister kick)

FMT - Johnson 3 run (Burmeister kick)

Second Quarter

WAS - Da.Russell 20 pass from O’Brien (run failed)

FMT - Pooley 60 pass from Schmidke (Burmeister kick)

FMT - Artz 8 pass from Schmidke (Burmeister kick)

Third Quarter

FMT - Tordsen 10 pass from Schmidke (Burmeister kick)

Fourth Quarter

WAS - Ahlschlager 4 run (run failed)

WAS - Rodriguez 2 run (run failed)

                                          FMT         WAS

First downs                          7               10

Rushing                           37-97      36-202

Passing                         8-16-180   4-12-79

Total yards                          277          281

Penalties                             3-30        8-50

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - WAS: Ahlschlager 20-157; Rodriguez 8-25; O’Brien 7-15; FMT: Johnson 17-55; B.Meyerdirk 8-52; L.Meyerdirk 1-2; Schmidtke 11 —12

Passing - WAS: O'Brien 4-12-79; FMT: Schmidtke 8-16, 180

Receiving - Da.Russell 3-68; Harguth 1-11; FMT: Pooley 3-133; Maakestad 3-29; Torsden 1-10; Artz 1-8

Defense - WAS: Da.Russell 2 solo tackles; Neaves 6 tackles, 5 assists, 1 blocked punt; Ahlschlager 4 tackles, 3 assists; Keeton 12 tackle; Ohnstad 1 tackle, 1 fumble recovery; Mixteco 2 tackles; Rodriguez 5 tackles, 1 assist; Ellis 4 tackles, 4 assists, 1 sack; Thompson 7 tackles, 1 assist; Hager 2 tackles; Robran 3 tackles; Stenzel 4 tackles, 3 assists; Brown 3 tackles, 4 assists