By STUART GROSKREUTZ
September 14, 2011

WHITE BEAR LAKE - Sam Pearson tries to replicate game day pressure in practice each day, but he admitted on Friday there is no substitute for the real thing.

The senior kicker drilled a 27-yard field goal as time expired to provide the difference in Stillwater's 17-14 Suburban East Conference football victory over White Bear Lake at Price Field.

"I visualize and put myself in game situations while I'm at practice all the time," Pearson said. "That's all it is, trying to get used to the pressure. I put myself under my own mental pressure to almost match up and try to compensate for the game, but oh yeah, it's always different not matter how much practice you get. It's always different when it comes down to it."

Friday's game-winning kick to cap the late drive also resulted in jubilation not found in a typical practice.

"Honestly, there are not words to describe the feeling of having all of your long-time friends coming running at you and screaming your name. It's unexplainable. It's great."

The last-second victory after leaves the Ponies (2-0 SEC, 2-0) one of just two undefeated teams remaining in the conference, although that list will shrink by one this week as Cretin-Derham Hall (2-0, 2-0) travels to Stillwater for a Week 3 showdown.

This marked the 91st meeting between the Ponies and Bears - making it one of the longest rivalries in the state - and Stillwater has won five in a row and 25 of the past 28.

The Ponies overcame a 15-point deficit in the second half to defeat White Bear Lake a year ago and trailed 14-7 in the third quarter on Friday.

Dynamic quarterback Nate Ricci connected with Joshua Weess for a 16-yard touchdown pass midway through the third quarter and Pearson's second extra-point kick evened the score at 14-all.

The Ponies appeared to get stronger as the game went on, not allowing a single White Bear Lake first down in the fourth quarter.

After taking over with less than five minutes remaining, Stillwater marched 51 yards on 11 running plays to set up Pearson's deciding kick.

"It was a typical White Bear Lake-Stillwater football game," Ponies coach Beau LaBore said. "It's one of the oldest rivalries in the state and it's a rivalry of hard-hitting, fourth quarter, teeter-totter type games."

The Ponies outgained White Bear Lake 391-247, thanks to another solid performance from Ricci and a gritty effort from junior running back Nick Anderson in the second half.

Anderson has been dealing with a knee injury and did not play at all before halftime. He came out for the second half and helped boost the running game while carrying 13 times for 63 yards, including 31 yards on eight carries on the final drive.

"Nick's got a banged up knee from the Woodbury game," LaBore said. "It got better, it got worse, it got better, it got worse. It was a lot worse during warm-ups so we by an large thought we were going to shut him down."

Senior two-way player Zach Krenz led the Ponies with eight rushes for 98 yards, including a 44-yard scamper to help kick start the four-play scoring drive in the third.

"Krenz was asked to go quite a bit both ways and he was doing a great job, but he was wearing and we needed him on defense," LaBore said. "He played that first series in the second half and had that big run. He gave us what we needed to get that half started and then Nick came in and did a nice job. After Nick got checked out by our medical staff, they said it hurts but it can't get any worse. He realized that you can't cause any more damage and you've just got to suck it up and play hurt and he went out there. I think once he knew that it couldn't get worse, he was able to deal with it."

Ricci contributed 82 yards on 15 rushing attempts and was efficient while completing 10 of 14 passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns. The junior has completed 65 percent of is throws this season with four touchdowns and zero interceptions.

Stillwater marched right down the field for a 92-yard scoring drive on its opening possession of the game, a series that included five plays of 11 yards or more. Ricci completed all three passes on the drive, including a 23-yard touchdown strike to Charlie Register streaking through the middle of the White Bear Lake secondary to give the Ponies a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the game.

"It's always great to start fast," LaBore said. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that, but what we need to work better at is finding a way to continue it and be a little more consistent."

The Bears answered with a 63-yard scoring drive in the first quarter, capped by Ridge Sackman's 4-yard run to even the score at 7-all. This is not a traditional White Bear Lake team that relies almost exclusively on its rushing attack. Dual-threat quarterback Eric Gebeke completed asses of 17 and 22 yards on the drive.

He finished the game with 67 passing yards to go along with 55 gained on the ground.

"It just shows you the difference of having a mobile quarterback that can also throw," LaBore said. "He runs the veer and runs the option for them very well, but he's got a pretty good arm, too, and it's a pretty good change-up for them so it's effective. They make their team more difficult to defend when they can stretch you out like that a little bit."

Stillwater gained a first down near midfield in the second quarter as Austin Holmberg took an option pitch and ran 12 yards for a first down on a fake punt. The Ponies were unable to capitalize, however, after losing a fumble on the next play.

"Ball security is very important and sometimes turnovers and third down are just as important as the score," LaBore said. "The biggest thing is having a team attitude that we know we're going to send our defense out there and they're going to get a stop or find a way to turn the ball back over for us. That's how it goes, the offense picks up the defense, defense picks up the offense and the special teams has to be consistent."

Joe Nasvik led the Bears with 91 rushing yards on 11 attempts, including three carries for 50 yards on a 65-yard scoring drive to start the second half. Gebeke finished the drive with a 5-yard run to grab a 14-7 lead.

Stillwater charged right back with the four-play drive that resulted in the Ricci-to-Weess touchdown.

"Just as important as starting fast in the first half is when we give up a score is to be able to come back and score so quickly," LaBore said. "That shows some resiliency by our team."

Then with the score tied, the teams traded fumbles late in the third quarter as Stillwater's defense made consecutive stands in its own territory. Zac Houle recovered a fumble at the Stillwater 3-yard line with just seconds remaining in the third.

The Ponies were unable to move the ball and White Bear Lake regained possession after a punt out to the Stillwater 34. The Bears coughed up the ball again and Tait Delahunt fell on it to thwart another scoring threat.

"In the second half we were in a big hole as far as field position is concerned," LaBore said. "That puts a lot of pressure on your defense and it puts some pressure on the offense coming out, but we needed some shoulder pads in the second half and I still think we got stronger as the game went on."

The offense took over and marched inside the White Bear Lake 30 before turning the ball over on downs. The Bears were quickly forced to punt and they didn't get another chance as Stillwater embarked on its game-clinching drive.

The clutch field goal was the second memorable kick by Pearson in the past year. The former soccer goalie kicked a 38-yarder - through the narrower college posts - in the fourth quarter of a memorable victory over Cretin-Derham Hall last season. LaBore had faith in the senior, even after he missed an extra point and a 35-yard attempt in the season opener.

"Anything inside of 35 yards I would have felt like we had a pretty good shot," LaBore said. "He's been a little shaky to start the year and he hasn't been drilling them in practice, but he knows he's going to get some opportunities to make it happen and I'm proud of him. He stepped up and stuck that thing through no problem."

Pearson didn't need to wait for the officials' signal to know it was good.

"It wasn't just me," Pearson said. "It was the holder and the snapper, everyone put their effort into this and I couldn't have done it alone at all. I kept my head down on that last extra point and just reached back and grabbed the tee because I had the feeling it just went right through and it was the same (on the field goal). I just had the feeling it was going right through."

In addition to his contributions on offense, Krenz finished with nine solo tackles and five assisted tackles on defense. Sam Hodnefield and Mike Wicker added 12 total tackles apiece.

Stillwater: 7-0-7-3 - 17
White Bear Lake: 7-0-7-0 - 14

St - Charlie Register 23 pass from Nate Ricci (Sam Pearson kick) 9:07
WBL - Ridge Sackman 4 run (Chris Xiong kick) 3:48.
WBL - Eric Gebeke 5 run (Xiong kick) 8:58.
St - Joshua Weess 16 pass from Ricci (Pearson kick) 7:17
St - FG Pearson 27, 0:00

Team stats

First downs: St 20, WBL 16
Rushes-yards: St 46-271, WBL 38-180
Passing yards: St 120, WBL 67
Total yards: St 391, WBL 247
Comp-Att-Int: St 10-14-0, WBL 5-15-0
Fumbles/lost: St 2/2, WBL 4/2
Penalties/yards: St 2/20, WBL 1/15
Punts/avg: St 4/29.0, WBL 6/34.0

Individual statistics

Rushing - St: Zach Krenz 8-98, Nate Ricci 15-82, Nick Anderson 13-63, Nate Law 7-16, Austin Holmberg 1-12, Aaron Romportl 1-1 and Charlie Register 1-(-1); WBL: Joe Nasvik 11-91, Eric Gebeke 14-55, Ridge Sackman 10-27, Chris Xiong 2-8 and Shane Warner 1-(-1).

Passing (com-att-yds-td-int) - St: Nate Ricci 10-14-120-2-0; WBL: Eric Gebeke 5-15-67-0-0.

Receiving - St: Charlie Register 5-69, Austin Holmberg 3-28 and Joshua Weess 2-23; WBL: Ridge Sackman 3-27, Marcel Williams 1-23 and Bernard Vinson 1-17.

Kickoff returns - St: Charlie Register 3-47; WBL: Josh Tismer 1-14, Joe Nasvik 1-11 and Brian King 1-8.

Punt returns - St: Charlie Register 1-5; WBL: Josh Tismer 1-13.

Interceptions - St: none; WBL: none.

Fumble recoveries - St: Zac Houle 1-0 and Tait Delahunt 1-0; WBL: Cody Braeger 1-0 and NA 1-0.