By GEORGE THOLE
November 3, 2011
The Tholes, consisting of wife Karen, son Eric, grandson Kevin and moi, headed to TCF Bank Stadium last Saturday thinking the Gophers of Jerry Kill just might keep that pig for at least another year.
Our hopes were fulfilled as the good guys (2-6) slipped past the Children of the Corn (5-3) 22-21 before an excited home crowd. The Iowa Hawkeyes fans were subdued.
During the week, Kill praised Stillwater tight end Collin McGarry when he said: "If I said someone who is playing the most consistent football on our offensive team, Collin McGarry, never says a word, just goes and plays."
His father, Rob McGarry '79 was also a man of few words as I recall, and still is.
Collin hauled in a trio of passes for 29 yards, including a TD toss from Saturday's hero quarterback MarQueis Gray. It was a terrific white knuckler of a game with a happy ending.
Next, we headed for Mounds View expecting another nail-biter that wound up a fingertip-biter. Beau LaBore's charges were down 7-zip by the time we got there, but things heated up quickly.
Stillwater executed a sound game plan that saw the Ponies up 12-7 at the break. I was feeling great as I learned that NDSU (8-0) beat Northern Iowa to take sole possession of first place in the Missouri Valley Conference.
During the third quarter, SAHS held the vaunted Mustangs running game in check, setting the stage for the fourth-quarter fireworks. The versatile Nate Ricci rushed for more than 100 yards and a pair of TDs, but a couple of blocked PAT attempts and two procedure penalties decided this one.
With Mounds View facing 75 yards with one timeout and less than a minute remaining, quarterback Mike Kerfeld started doing something he wasn't known for - completing passes. The last was a perfect fade for a 5-yard TD to Quinn Madsen and the 19-18 victory.
Ricci's 7-yard run and a 4-yard pass to Zach Krenz from Aaron Romportl gave the locals a 12-7 lead, but the two failed PAT attempts and failed two-point conversion came back to haunt us.
I thought that Stillwater's game plan was well conceived and gave us the best chance to win. The 2011 outfit was an enjoyable and entertaining team to watch!
Unlike the surgeon or the lawyer, where performance or lack thereof may mean the difference between life and death, such is not the case in the athletic arena. One must keep things in perspective and not lose sight of the fact that it is, after all, a game. Winning is fun, definitely outranks losing, and should be the goal when entering every contest. Losing has its lessons, but should be viewed as a temporary setback. Regroup, reload, make corrections and get prepared to beat the next opponent.
I'm already looking forward to next fall.