By STUART GROSKREUTZ
October 5, 2011

ARDEN HILLS - The players change, but Mounds View continues to be a thorn in the side for the Stillwater football team.

The Mustangs extended their winning streak over Stillwater to four in a row with Friday's 21-14 Suburban East Conference victory and now lead the all-time series 22-12 - leaving only Blaine (14-2) and Anoka (26-9) with better winning percentages against the Ponies among teams they've played more than four times.

Stillwater (3-2 SEC, 3-2), which fell out of a four-team tie for second place in the league standings, was outplayed during a mistake-filled opening half, but remained tied 7-all thanks to Charlie Register's 50-yard interception return with two minutes remaining in the second quarter.

The Ponies totaled just 47 yards of offense in the first half, which is just four more than the Ponies were assessed in penalties (43) and less than the 59 yards of interception returns for the defense, including the only touchdown before halftime.

"When you have 47 yards of offense in the first half and have trouble getting first downs you're going to put your defense in a lot of tough situations and that's exactly what we did," Stillwater coach Beau LaBore said. "We couldn't be happier with the way the defense played offense and defense."

Defense alone wasn't enough against the Mustangs (4-1 SEC, 4-1), who received 192 yards and two touchdowns on just nine carries from Tyler Hansen. His big plays were the difference for an offense that also committed its share of mistakes with three turnovers, including a fumble at the goal line and an interception inside the Stillwater 10-yard line.

"Things got ugly there a little bit offensively," Mounds View coach Jim Galvin said. "The defense was just solid the whole time. It looked like the offense was trying to do things to screw things up and we just hung tight and overcame some bad turnovers and a couple penalties that hurt us on a drive."

Play in the second half was more indicative of two teams battling for the top seed in Section 2AAAAA, which Mounds View has claimed each of the past four years.

The Mustangs marched 71 yards on nine plays to start the second half, a scoring drive capped by Jeremy Redmond's 2-yard run. Hansen also played a key role while scampering 38 yards to move Mounds View inside the Stillwater 5.

"The second half was crisp," Galvin said. "We have been playing a little ugly like (the first half) all season where we can't finish drives and turn it over at inopportune times so we've been doing that all season. I was just more proud of the way we came out the second half and were able to drive down the field and score."

Stillwater's Billy Wagner stormed through to block the extra-point kick to leave Mounds View with a 13-6 lead.

The Ponies answered with an impressive drive of their own until giving the ball back with the team's fourth turnover of the game. Stillwater chewed up more than 7:30 off the clock while running 14 plays, but Chris Severson intercepted Aaron Romportl in the end zone to end the threat.

Mounds View seized control of the game while scoring just two plays later in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter when Hansen broke free for an 80-yard touchdown run and a 21-7 lead after the two-point conversion.

Hansen, who also snared an interception on defense, appeared to be bottled up near the line of scrimmage but found some room and showed off his speed down the right sideline.

"The best aspect of Mounds View's offense is that they have a multiple attack and they have a number of different guys that they are able to hand the ball off to," LaBore said. "None of them are flashy, per se, but all are tough and know how to get them yards and know how to play the style of offense that they have.

"That was a big change of events there when we didn't execute very well on that interception in the end zone and they turn around and go for a touchdown. It was a huge change of events and we still almost had a chance to overcome it."

With senior captain Jimmy Jaeger out for the season, Galvin needed someone to step up for an offense that managed just 160 yards on the 62 plays when Hansen didn't carry the ball.

"He's a very good football player," Galvin said. "He's our free safety and he's tougher than heck and we needed him to pick up the slack (on offense with Jaeger out)."

Stillwater's Nate Ricci , who started at quarterback the first three games this season before an ankle injury sidelined him in Week 4, played all over the field on Friday. The junior pulled the Ponies within 21-14 with nine minutes remaining after hauling in a 43-yard touchdown pass from Romportl.

Ricci was tightly covered on the play - a throw Romportl heaved more than 50 yards in the air. Ricci finished with five catches for 102 yards and rushed eight times for 41 yards. He also completed his only pass attempt for 5 yards.

"He's a guy we want to get the ball in his hands as many different ways as possible and he's very good in space, so that's the intention," LaBore said. "The kid should be on the field as much as possible and when you're playing at quarterback exclusively you don't get that same opportunity."

Galvin, meanwhile, planned for Ricci to play despite missing the Forest Lake game.

"We kind of expected him to be playing, but when he came that was a little bizarre to us for him to come out and play wide receiver," Galvin said. "He's obviously a tremendous football player and their back-up (quarterback) really threw the ball in there well in a couple tight situations. We were expecting him to come out and play quarterback and he didn't, but we were obviously worried are they going to pitch him the ball and let him throw it? Then when you saw him run down the field and the catches he made you can see why they have him out there. We had him covered on both of those long pass plays with two guys and those catches he made were just amazing."

After pulling within seven points, the Ponies forced a three-and-out from Mounds View and took over near midfield. Nick Anderson, however, was stuffed on fourth-and-1 at the Mounds View 37 to give the ball back with about six minutes remaining.

The Mustangs took nearly four minutes off the clock before turning it over on downs inside the Stillwater 10. With no timeouts remaining, the Ponies advanced to their own 43 before a last-ditch pass on fourth down fell incomplete with nine seconds remaining.

Mounds View has ended Stillwater's season each of the past three years, although the Ponies are hoping for an opportunity to end that run later this season.

"It's pretty clear that if our guys want another shot at these guys they know what they're going to have to do to get here and they'll probably get another shot at them on this field," LaBore said. "We'll get back to work tomorrow morning and learn from this game tonight and move forward next week."

The Ponies were called for eight penalties totaling 63 yards, which was out of character for a team that entered the game with the fewest penalty yards in the conference.

"It's uncharacteristic of us and it definitely hurt us, especially in the first half," LaBore said. "We definitely played better in the second half overall. It we could have gotten some things going a little better on offense it would have been a better situation for all of us."

Stillwater's Nick Anderson finished with 78 yards on 24 carries while Romportl completed 7 of 17 passes for 135 yards and one touchdown with three interceptions.

The Mustangs opened the scoring with 2:06 remaining in the first quarter as Hansen found the end zone from 31 yards out.

Four of Mounds View's first-half possessions started inside the Stillwater 40-yard line. Lowell Schmoeckel snuffed out another scoring threat after blocking a 27-yard field goal attempt with about five minutes left in the first half.

The Ponies managed just three first downs before halftime, but Register provided a huge lift while jumping a short pass and returning the interception for a touchdown.

"Our guys recognized the set, recognized the play and he made a great play," LaBore said. "He made a great break on the ball and made an even better play trying to get into the end zone."

Stillwater: 0-7-0-7 - 14
Mounds View: 7-0-6-8 - 21

MV - Tyler Hansen 31 run (Alec Tolson kick) 2:06.
St - Charlie Register 50 interception return (Tait Delahunt kick) 2:15.
MV - Jeremy Redmond 2 run (kick failed) 7:56.
MV - Hansen 80 run (Quinn Madsen from Mike Kerfeld) 11:43.
St - Nate Ricci 43 pass from Aaron Romportl (Delahunt kick) 9:11.

Team stats

St MV

First downs: St 11, MV 15
Rushes-yards: St 37-101, MV 47-317
Passing yards: St 140, MV 35
Total yards: St 241, MV 352
Comp-Att-Int: St 8-20-3, MV 3-15-2
Fumbles/lost: St 1/1, MV 1/1
Penalties/yards: St 8/63, MV 3/15
Punts/avg: St 3/18.7, MV 3/31.0

Individual statistics

Rushing - St: Nick Anderson 24-78, Nate Ricci 8-41, Zach Krenz 1-0, Aaron Romportl 3-(-6) and Austin Holmberg 1-(-12); MV: Tyler Hansen 9-192, Jeremy Redmond 24-87, Austin Smestrad 11-41, team 1-0 and Mike Kerfeld 2-(-3).

Passing (com-att-yds-td-int) - St: Aaron Romportl 7-17-135-1-3 and Nate Ricci 1-1-5-0-0; MV: Mike Kerfeld 3-12-35-0-1 and Mitch Fredrickson 0-3-0-0-1.

Receiving - St: Quinn Madsen 1-15, Gabe Dargis 1-11 and Alec Tolson 1-9; MV: Nate Ricci 5-102, Grant Molden 1-18, Nick Anderson 1-15 and Austin Holmberg 1-5.

Kickoff returns - St: Charlie Register 3-57 and Nate Ricci 1-15; MV: Austin Smestad 1-18 and Logan Klaers 1-6.

Punt returns - St: Zac Houle 1-20; MV: none.

Interceptions - St: Charlie Register 1-50 and Zac Houle 9; MV: Jeremy Redmond 1-0, Tyler Hansen 1-0 and Chris Severson 1-0.

Fumble recoveries - St: Sam Brynestad 1-0; MV: Matt Wildes 1-0.