By STUART GROSKREUTZ
September 29, 2011

As usual when these teams meet, there is plenty at stake on Friday when Stillwater travels to Mounds View for a Suburban East Conference football game. The Mustangs (3-1 SEC, 3-1), who have ended Stillwater's season in the section tournament each of the past three years, have outscored their last two opponents by a combined 44-7 after suffering their only against Cretin-Derham Hall 21-9 in Week 2. The Ponies (3-1, 3-1) also lost their only game against the league-leading Raiders (4-0, 4-0), but responded with a 27-7 victory over Forest Lake last week. Mounds View and Stillwater joined Cretin-Derham Hall in sharing the conference title a year ago, but the Mustangs prevailed 32-6 in the section finals. Mounds View also leads the all-time series 21-12 dating back 1956. Both teams are hoping for a victory and some help elsewhere in tripping up Cretin-Derham Hall to keep hopes of another league title alive, but this game will also be important as far as seeding for the Section 2AAAAA tourney with White Bear Lake (3-1, 3-1) and Totino-Grace (3-1) also with just one loss.

The Mustangs were hit hard by graduation after last season's run to the state semifinals, but remain stingy defensively while allowing just 216.8 yards and 8.5 points per game. They have allowed just two rushing touchdowns all season and have plucked a league-high seven interceptions.

"They are their typical selves," Ponies coach Beau LaBore said. "They're physical, disciplined and have particularly good speed on the defense."

Mounds View's familiar wing-T offense is guided by quarterback Mike Kerfeld, who has completed 25 of 54 passes (46.3 percent) for 305 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions. Quinn Madsen with 8 catches for 110 yards and Jimmy Jaeger (9 for 86) are Mounds View's top receiving threats. Jeremy Redmond leads a balanced offense with 222 yards on 67 attempts (3.3 avg.) with two touchdowns. The Mustangs ranked seventh in the SEC at 283.5 yards per game and only Hastings is averaging fewer than Mounds View's 4.2 yards per rushing attempt.

"They run the wing-T and it's always a very team-oriented approach," LaBore said. "They have a number of different backs and receivers they call on. Their primary running back is Jaeger and the quarterback is pretty solid. They're younger on offense. I think they start seven juniors on offense and that's probably not common for them, but they don't look like juniors and they play hard and they play well."

Stillwater might have quarterback Nate Ricci back this week after an ankle injury sidelined him a week ago, but fellow junior Aaron Romportl stepped in nicely in his place while completing three passes for 77 yards. The Ponies rushed for 229 yards against Forest Lake and Nick Anderson led that charge with 145 yards on 31 attempts. Anderson ranks fourth in the SEC with 353 yards on 78 carries (4.5 avg.) and four touchdowns. Zach Krenz has racked up 210 yards on just 24 carries (8.8 avg.). Joshua Weess leads the Ponies with seven catches for 122 yards and two touchdowns while Charlie Register also has seven receptions for 99 yards and two touchdowns.

The Ponies are averaging 297.3 yards of offense per game while giving up 323.8 yards on defense. Stillwater has been called for a league-low 14 penalties for 105 yards and also ranks among conference leaders with nine takeaways through four games.

"I think there's plenty of motivation on behalf of our program," LaBore said. "Our guys are playing first and foremost for themselves, but also some of those upperclassmen who saw their season cut short last year because that's something they've seen. Our guys are excited and we've had a little longer practice week and turned the intensity up and we feel we've put our guys in the best position possible to be successful. If our guys come out and play really hard and really well, everything will take care of itself."

Adapted football game set for Saturday at Miller Field

The Stillwater football program is sponsoring its Sixth Annual Adaptive Flag Football Game on Saturday at Stillwater Junior High School's Miller Field. Stillwater football players will join individuals with physical and developmental challenges of all levels for the game, which is scheduled for 3-5 p.m.