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by Gary Larson
Mora, behind a 21-point fourth-quarter outburst, trimmed Milaca 51-21 in a West Central Conference North Division game Wednesday, Oct. 14, at Mora.
The loss dropped the Wolves to a 1-5 North Division record and 2-5 overall mark while the victory boosted the Mustangs to a 4-2 North Division record and 5-2 overall log.
And, the game set the stage for a likely rematch of the two teams in the quarterfinals of the Section 7AAA Playoff Tuesday, Oct. 27, at Mora.
Heading into this week’s final round of regular-season play Mora, Pine City and Greenway-Nashwauk-Keewatin all stood at 5-2 in the Section 7AAA standings. Pine City closed its season Tuesday by hosting Hinckley-Finlayson (0-7) while G-N-K was scheduled to host Deer River (5-2).
Mora, meanwhile, was set to host Melrose (3-4) in its final game.
And, Milaca was scheduled to host Sauk Centre (1-6) in its finale Tuesday.
“It looks like the pairings were pretty much set with last week’s games,” said Milaca Coach Randy Johnson. “Unless Pine City would lose to Hinckley-Finlayson it’s pretty certain we’re headed back to Mora for the first round.”
The process for determining the Section 7AAA Playoff was put in place before the start of the season.
-There are nine teams in the section and whichever team finished ninth in the standings would not gain the eight-team playoff. International Falls (1-5) is the likely odd man out this year.
-If that was the case, the final eight teams would include four from the “south” (Mora, Pine City, Milaca and Aitkin) and four from the “north” (G-N-K, Virginia, Proctor and Two Harbors. The first round would match teams from the south against each other and teams from the north against each other.
The purpose of that format was to eliminate as much travel as possible, at least for the first round, with the presence of International Falls being the main consideration.
-What about tie-breakers between teams with the same record?
Cards were drawn before the season began. If a team drew the lowest-numbered card (one) it received the edge in any tie-breaker. For example, a team with a No. 3 card would win a tie-breaker over a team with the No. 5 card.
Pine City drew the No. 1 card and has the edge in all tie-breakers, meaning the Dragons would get the No. 1 seed in the first-round of the south playoff, winning the possible tie-breaker with Mora.
“It’s a pretty strange format,” said Mora Coach Randy Qual. “Maybe flipping a coin would’ve been better.”
“I’ve never seen a format quite like this,” said Johnson. “It doesn’t provide a reference of how strong your schedule was or who a team defeated.”
The first round in the south next Tuesday will likely have Mora hosting Milaca and Pine City at home against Aitkin (2-5). In the north it’s likely to be G-N-K hosting Two Harbors and Virginia hosting Proctor.
The semifinals, scheduled Saturday, Oct. 31, put the four remaining teams in one bracket, with the highest-seeded teams getting the home field.
Neither Johnson or Qual were excited about having their teams meet again so soon, especially, the opening round.
“We feel we have a good shot at beating Mora,” said Johnson. “We played well in the first half last week before breaking down in the second half.
“But, we’d rather be seeing a new face, rather than someone we just played.”
“We’re not anxious to play Milaca again so soon,” said Qual. “They’re a good team whose record is very deceiving.”
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The Wolves went into the fourth quarter at Mora trailing 30-21.
“We had been moving the ball pretty well and we felt we were in striking distance,” said Johnson. “But, Mora made some big plays and pulled away in a hurry.
“It has some very good athletes and they made the plays.”
“It was a battle until we came up with those big plays in the fourth quarter,” said Qual. “Among the things this team has done is come up with game-breaking plays. We have some players who can make that happen and they were able to do it against Milaca.”
Junior back Sam Johnson led Milaca as he rushed for 146 yards on 21 carries and scored on a 20-yard run.
Senior quarterback Andrew Youngblom paced the Mustangs as he scored on runs of one, three and 63 yards and threw a pair of touchdown passes. Youngblom totaled 115 yards rushing and 136 yards passing.
“He’s an explosive player - very fast with quick moves,” said Johnson. “We can’t let him have another game like that.”
WOLVES NOTES: Senior offensive guard Clinton Sampson was named Milaca Trench Player of the Week while offensive linemen Marshall Hopp, a senior, and Travis Bertram, a junior, shared Hit of the Week honors. Junior linebacker Joe Hemmerich’s fumble recovery and return earned him Ballhawk honors and sophomore quarterback/receiver Brandon Kiel and Sam Johnson each earned a Gamebreaker award....
Coach Johnson said his team looked to be healthy going into the regular-season finale against Sauk Centre but that a few cases of colds and the flu were popping up....
Johnson was impressed by the Mora offensive line....
New London-Spicer hosted Foley Tuesday. A NL-S victory would’ve given the Wildcats the WCC North Division title....
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