By STUART GROSKREUTZ
September 28, 2011

FOREST LAKE - He didn't look the part while sporting a No. 84 jersey, but Aaron Romportl filled in nicely with solid play at quarterback while making his first varsity start to help guide Stillwater to a 27-7 Suburban East Conference football victory over Forest Lake on Friday night.

The junior benefited from a strong rushing attack and stingy defense as the Ponies bounced back from a loss against undefeated Cretin-Derham Hall a week earlier. It was during that lop-sided defeat that talented junior Nate Ricci suffered an ankle injury that kept him on the sideline against the Rangers.

"It was good just to get out there the first couple of snaps," Romportl said. "The offensive line said they would work their tails off just for me and that made me more confident throughout the whole week. We worked together and it was just a well-prepared week. The offensive line owned the line of scrimmage and they were the key to the win. We were willing to work harder because we didn't want to remember the feeling (of losing) again."

The victory was an important response after the bruising the Ponies endured a week earlier and also keeps Stillwater's dim conference title hopes alive as one of four 3-1 teams hoping for some help to catch the league-leading Raiders (4-0). The Ponies handed Woodbury (3-1) and White Bear Lake (3-1) their only losses this season and travel to Mounds View (3-1) for a conference showdown on Friday.

"It's all about how you respond to a disappointing week and our guys responded Saturday morning, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and came out ready to play tonight," Ponies coach Beau LaBore said. "That's an encouraging sign from our leadership, our senior class and our entire team."

Romportl's non-traditional number for a quarterback is the result of joining the Ponies late because some overseas travel.

"I came from Europe a little bit late for two-a-days and it was the last eligible number," Romportl said. "I just decided I was a junior and I'll let the seniors have their numbers."

He wasn't flashy, but each of his three completions went for 20 yards or more, including a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Austin Holmberg.

"He handled the situation well," LaBore said. "It's never easy to make a first start, especially as a junior, and he had some big shoes to fill. He did a nice job overall. We did have some complications in the backfield making things kind of hard on ourselves, but overall I think he did a nice job."

Good field position throughout the first half helped ease Romportl into the starting role and provided some early confidence for the offense as it went 49 yards on just five plays to grab a 7-0 lead four minutes into the game.

Charlie Register's 32-yard punt return set up that opening scoring drive, which included a 24-yard run by Zach Krenz down to the Forest Lake 3-yard line. Nick Anderson scored the first of his three touchdowns on the next play and Tait Delahunt added the extra-point kick.

Each of Stillwater's first four possessions started in Forest Lake's half of the field.

After taking over at the 44 for the second series, Anderson capped a seven-play drive with a 1-yard plunge for a 14-0 advantage. Anderson also hauled in a 30-yard pass to convert on third-and-11 to help set up the score.

"The defense gave us great field position all night and we had the short field," Romportl said. "We were able to run the ball consistently and their defense was on the field a long time and we were able to push it down their throats."

Stillwater limited the Rangers to just 160 total yards, 80 of which came on their lone scoring drive in the second quarter.

"The defense responded very nicely right out of the gates," LaBore said. "Forest Lake said they wanted the ball and that's a message to our defense that they have to go out and take it right back from them - and they did. They gave us good field position in the first half."

The Ponies finished with 229 rushing yards - more than doubling its total from the previous week - on 46 attempts (5.0 avg.), led by Anderson with 31 carries for 145 yards. Krenz added seven rushes for 83 yards and also turned a short pass into a 32-yard gain early in the fourth quarter.

An effective ground game provided a nice boost for Romportl, who LaBore said played about two-thirds of the season at quarterback for the sophomores a year ago and also for the JV season this fall.

"He's still behind if you consider the fact that he basically missed two-a-days so he's had to be a quick learner," LaBore said. "He can play a number of different positions and he did a nice job."

Stillwater squandered two additional opportunities to pad its lead in the first half. Sebastian Borges recovered a fumble at the Forest Lake 40, but the Ponies were unable to move the ball after three straight incompletions. Romportl was also intercepted in the end zone early in the second quarter.

"We left some points on the board in the second quarter and we have to convert those opportunities," LaBore said.

The Rangers trimmed the deficit to 14-7 with a long scoring drive that consumed nearly eight minutes in the second quarter. Quarterback JT Jurasin scored from 2 yards out with just 46 seconds remaining in the half to cap the 18-play, 80-yard drive.

Stillwater responded with an 80-yard drive of its own to open the second half. Anderson carried 10 times for 69 yards on the drive, which chewed up more than seven minutes off the clock. A pass interference call on fourth-and-14 also helped set up Anderson's 14-yard touchdown run for a 20-7 lead.

"It was disappointing that we weren't able to convert the fumble or the other possession into points and kind of give ourselves more of a lead at halftime, but they responded very nicely to giving up an 80-yard drive," LaBore said. "We didn't have a whole lot of momentum going into halftime, with them going 80 yards like they did, but we came out after halftime and put some shoulder pads to use and did enough to make it happen. The second half we came out and did what we needed to do."

The Ponies continued racking up yards on the ground in the second half and Romportl completed the only two passes he attempted to tack on 47 yards.

Stillwater also went 80 yards on its second possession after halftime, scoring on the 20-yard hook-up with Holmberg with 9:32 remaining in the fourth for a 27-7 lead.

"We still have some things that we haven't worked out yet and if we're going to make a push down the stretch here we've got to get some things cleaned up, but the effort and intensity is there."

The Rangers were averaging nearly 30 points per contest going into the game, but Stillwater clamped down on speedy skill players like Jurasin and Tommy Tyson, who was limited to 12 yards on just five carries and two catches for 31 yards. Jurasin finished with 82 yards on 22 attempts.

"We held their guys in check," LaBore said. "They've got outstanding skill guys and with the quality backfield they have and the ability to get a push up front from time to time, to hold a team like that to 160 yards and to dominate field position is a credit to our entire team, but definitely the defense."

In addition to his efficient night on offense, Krenz led the Ponies with eight solo tackles and four assists. Borges finished with six solo tackles while Mike Wicker added four solos and four assists. Evan Ostrom also totaled four tackles and two assists.

Stillwater: 14-0-6-7 - 27
Forest Lake: 0-7-0-0 - 7

St - Nick Anderson 2 run (Tait Delahunt kick) 7:55.
St - Anderson 1 run (Delahunt kick) 2:47.
FL - JT Jurasin 1 run (Collin McGrath kick) 0:46.
St - Anderson 14 run (kick failed) 4:45.
St - Austin Holmberg 20 pass from Aaron Romportl (Delahunt kick) 9:32.

Team stats

First downs: St 19, FL 14
Rushes-yards: St 46-229, FL 37-108
Passing yards: St 52, FL 77
Total yards: St 306, FL 160
Comp-Att-Int: St 3-8-1, FL 4-14-1
Fumbles/lost: St 1/1, FL 2/1
Penalties/yards: St 4/27, FL 3/36
Punts/avg: St 2/29.0, FL 5/35.0

Individual statistics

Rushing - St: Nick Anderson 31-145, Zach Krenz 7-83, Cartier Alexander 1-2, Nate Law 2-1, Aaron Romportl 2-(-1) and Clay Roth 3-(-1); FL: JT Jurasin 22-82, Glen Miron 3-17, Tommy Tyson 5-12, Rich Carr 1-0, Phil Sauer 1-0, Jake LaNasa 2-0 and Dan Johnson 3-(-3).

Passing (com-att-yds-td-int) - St: Aaron Romportl 3-8-77-1-1; FL: JT Jurasin 4-13-52-0-1 and Dan Johnson 0-1-0-0-0.

Receiving - St: Zach Krenz 1-32, Nick Anderson 1-25 and Austin Holmberg 1-20; FL: Tommy Tyson 2-31, Jake LaNasa 1-14 and Glen Miron 1-7.

Kickoff returns - St: Austin Holmberg 1-5; FL: Jake LaNasa 3-19 and Tommy Tyson 1-29.

Punt returns - St: Charlie Register 1-32 and Tait Delahunt 1-11; FL: Tommy Tyson 1-4.

Interceptions - St: Charlie Register 1-3; FL: Patrick Moran 1-0.

Fumble recoveries - St: Sebastian Borges 1-0; FL: Sam Stokes 1-0.