By STUART GROSKREUTZ
October 19, 2011

White Bear Lake is the only team Stillwater has faced more times than Hastings, its opponent in Wednesday's regular season finale at Pony Stadium. The Ponies are riding a six-game winning streak in the series, but Hastings won 10 in a row prior to that. Stillwater leads the all-time series 39-29-2 and the 70 total games played since 1919 is more than against any team other than the Bears at 91. Stillwater's most common opponents other than White Bear Lake and Hastings are North St. Paul and South St. Paul with 56 meetings each. The Ponies defeated Hastings 42-13 a year ago and have defeated the Raiders by an average of 27 points in the past three games, but these Raiders have been more competitive than their 2-5 record might indicate. Four of their five losses have been by seven points or less and the exception was a 14-point loss to conference leader Cretin-Derham Hall. Hastings has won two of its last three games and gave White Bear Lake all it could handle in a 7-3 loss on Friday.

"Their team is in no way indicative of their record," Ponies coach Beau LaBore said. "They have been in every single game they've played and lost some close ones. They've also won a couple, but they've lost a lot of games they had a chance to win."

Only Mounds View (54) and Cretin-Derham Hall (55) have allowed fewer points this season than the Raiders (107), who have largely struggled on offense but lead the conference with a plus-8 turnover margin. The Raiders are averaging just 245.5 yards per game, but have made some adjustments the past few weeks and have been more effective, LaBore suggested.

"The way it looks, they switched offenses in the last two drives of the East Ridge game (in Week 5)," the coach said. "They came out and ran the tight end and I-formation and just started hammering away with lead and toss and counter and play-action pass. They kind of blended that with a little bit of shotgun passing. Before that they were shotgun most plays, but they decided they're good at being physical and trying to grind it out and that's what they've committed to the last few weeks. They've become a little more simple, but it's made them more effective."

Tyler Mellick ranks third in the Suburban East Conference with 633 rushing yards on a league-high 152 attempts (4.2 avg.). Quarterback Aaron Stoneberg has completed 69 of 161 passes for 919 yards and four touchdowns with three interceptions. Nearly half of those passes have gone to Ellis Williams, who leads the conference with 639 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 31 catches (20.6 avg.).

Stillwater, meanwhile, is hoping to play better in the first half. The Ponies trailed at halftime of an eventual 28-25 victory over Roseville on Friday. Stillwater ranks fourth in the conference at 308.7 yards per game and is also fourth in defense while allowing 262.7 yards per contest.

"The biggest thing is that our guys need to come ready to play," LaBore said. "Throw out the records, we need to be ready to go shoulder pad to shoulder pad. If we block and tackle like we can we'll find a way, but it's going to be a real tough game."

Defensive lineman Sebastian Borges was injured against Roseville, but the coach said he expects the junior to play on Wednesday. Nate Ricci continues to lead the Ponies, whether it's taking the snaps, catches passes or running the ball out of the backfield. The versatile junior is averaging 6.1 yards per carry (95 for 575 yards) and has completed 31 of 60 passes for 412 yards and six touchdowns with two interceptions. He has also caught seven passes for 154 yards (22.0 avg.). Aaron Romportl has thrown for 264 yards on 12-of-35 passing with 2 touchdowns and five interceptions. Nick Anderson has rushed for 588 yards and six touchdowns on 135 carries (4.4 avg.). Charlie Register leads the Ponies with 10 catches for 166 yards (16.6 avg.) and three touchdowns while Joshua Weess has nine receptions for 161 yards (17.9 avg.). Defensively, the Ponies are led by Zach Krenz with 48 solo tackles and 129 defensive points. Sam Hodnefield has racked up 89 defensive points and Sam Brynestad (85), Mike Wicker (73), Evan Ostrom (70), Cartier Alexander (68) and Register (67) also rank among team leaders.