The Central Lakes College Raiders will open their home season at 1:30 p.m. Saturday against the defending MCAC state champion Rochester Yellowjackets.
This matchup will showcase teams that have played in the last two state championship games, and have claimed the last five state titles. Unfortunately for the Raiders, the Yellowjackets own a 4-1 edge in those contests.
The contest does have a different twist this fall as CLC has been assigned to the Northern Division for 2014 after being in the South with Rochester for several years. What used to be the Raiders' most important clash of the season is now one of many as it's only Week Two for CLC.
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- Rochester at CLC
- Who: No. 15 Rochester vs. No. 18 CLC
- Where: Findorff FIeld, Brainerd.
- When: 1:30 p.m. Saturday
- Overall: CLC 1-0, Roch 2-0
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"In all honesty, we have some really important division games coming up," CLC coach Greg Medeck said. "We start division games next week (at Dakota College in Bottineau, N.D.) Yes, we want to be successful and continue to improve, but our season will not be defined by the outcome of Saturday's contest."
The last two state championship games have been painful for CLC. In 2012, the Raiders faced Rochester at St. Cloud State for the title, after defeating the Yellowjackets in the regular season, and came away with a 33-23 victory. However, due to an ineligible CLC player who participated in that game, the Raiders forfeited the title.
Rochester hosted CLC for the regular-season matchup last year and jumped ahead 24-0 before the Raiders rallied. The Yellowjackets still came away with a 48-21 win, and capped off their season with a 27-14 win over the CLC in the title game.
CLC secured its state title in 2009 as it beat Rochester 20-14 in overtime. The Yellowjackets have claimed the last four titles since that CLC win.
The Raiders have one game under their belts this season while Rochester has two. The teams enter Saturday's game ranked nationally with CLC at No. 18 and Rochester 15th.
CLC quarterback Jake Faber was the MCAC Northern Division Player of the Week as he completed 21 of 35 passes for 289 yards and three scores to lead the Raiders to a 45-20 win over Minnesota State Fergus Falls.
Raiders kicker Fafa Asante was named special teams player of the week as he was perfect on his conversion attempts and hit a 21-yard field goal.
The Yellowjackets have posted convincing wins in their first two games - 43-12 over Vermilion and 48-0 over Mesabi.
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Rochester quarterback Nick Rooney was named Southern Division Offensive Player of the Week while Dionde Green took the defensive player of the week award. Amari Kennedy won the special teams player of the week honor to complete a clean sweep for the Yellowjackets.
Both teams have been potent on offense with their running and passing attacks. Rochester has 555 passing yards and 266 rushing. Cameron Dearing has three rushing touchdowns while Patrick Bolton has three receiving scores.
The Raiders had success running and passing in their opener. Trey Blanchard rushed 20 times for 99 yards, and Faber connected with Elias Arlington, Steve Wroblewski, and Jared Adkins for scoring strikes.
On defense, the Yellowjackets have collected six turnovers in their first two games while holding opponents to a negative-24-yard per game rushing average. The Raiders held Minnesota State Fergus Falls to a negative-75 yards last Saturday.
Asante's strong kicking may prove to be an advantage for CLC while the Yellowjackets Ruan Albuquerque is 0-for-2 on field goal attempts.
