St. Michael-Albertville football fans could breathe a little easier last week, after the Knights recovered from a last-second loss to Chisago Lakes by pouring on 35 points in the first quarter en route to a shutout win, 64-0, over Duluth East.
Now, STMA needs to stay on the winning side if they want to set up a showdown Wednesday, Oct. 15 at STMA Middle School West Field with Rogers for a share of the Mississippi 8 Conference Championship and a top seed in Section Tournament action.
After starting the season hot behind quarterback John Solberg, Cambridge is now on a three-game losing skid, and currently at 1-3 in the Mississippi 8 and 3-3 overall. The Jackets fell last week to Buffalo on a last second victory for the Bison, and were thoroughly drubbed by Rogers and St. Francis in their prior two outings.
Still, C-I’s passing attack has more than 500 yards through the air in six games, and Solberg is a threat to run the ball from his QB position, too.
St. Michael-Albertville, meanwhile, ran seven plays from scrimmage in the first quarter Friday and scored on five of them. They also had a punt return and defensive touchdown in last week’s rout over East.
Tyler Berg will lead the Knights’ defense, which has now pitched shutouts in three of six games and less than 10 points in another. STMA’s offense, led by Jordan Joseph and Jackson Greenwaldt in the back, has racked up 31 or more points in five of six games. The only game they fell short of that mark was the turnover-riddled loss to Chisago.
Meanwhile, the future looks to be in good hands, both the Knights sophomore and freshman teams have set up conference championship tilts next week with Rogers by dispatching of Cambridge this week. The sophomores are undefeated and have held opponents to less than 10 points in a handful of games, including this week’s shutout. They’ll square off Tuesday afternoon with the Royals.
The freshmen team, meanwhile, has set up a Monday showdown with Rogers for the title.
Check out tonight’s varsity game against Cambridge-Isanti right HERE: