An improving third-seeded Alexandria Cardinals team will provide the opposition for the No. 2 Brainerd Warriors as the teams kick off the postseason at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27, with a Section 8-5A semifinal game at Adamson Field.
Since getting drilled 36-7 by Brainerd in Week Three of the regular season, the Cardinals have beaten Rocori and Moorhead and are 3-5 overall. In losses to St. Cloud Tech and Sauk Rapids, the Cardinals lost by a combined eight points. The only lopsided loss during the last five games was 30-12 to top-seeded Bemidji.
Alexandria coach Mike Empting said the Cardinals had a chance to beat Tech at the end and lost to Sauk Rapids as the Storm scored on the last play of the game and were successful on a 2-point conversion.
Empting said several lineup changes have been made since the Brainerd loss.
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Alexandria at Brainerd
- When: 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27
- Where: Adamson Field, Brainerd
- 2018 regular season: Brainerd won 36-7
- The series: Brainerd leads 38-22
- Twitter: @bertsballpark
- Radio: KLIZ-AM (1380)
- Web stream: www.kliz.com
- Warrior stats are at www.mnfootballhub.com and www.minnesota-scores.net
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"Some of that meant we moved kids to be more one-way," he said. "We had a lot of 2-way guys there for a while. That was a big one.
"We were a young team coming into this, too. We knew that from the beginning. We were hoping and banking that kids were going to make steady improvement as the season went along and got some experience. We felt like experience was the biggest thing these guys were missing."
Junior quarterback Matthew Carlson has benefited from experience. He has completed 138 of 256 passes (53.9 percent) for 1,532 yards and 13 touchdowns with seven interceptions. Leading receivers are Cody Branson (26 catches, 377 yards), halfback Andrew Revering (32 and 256) and Blake Hoelscher (16 receptions, 215 yards, four TDs.)
Nolan Morical heads the ground game with 663 yards rushing and four scores. Carlsen has added three TDs rushing.
"We had some challenges catching the ball early in the season, but those things have been cleaned up a little bit," Empting said. "We have a very young offensive line that Nolan's been running behind for a while. Those guys gained some experience and some confidence. They have a better idea of who they're supposed to block and where they're supposed to go. That's important in helping the running back get some numbers and a few more holes for him to get through."
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Warriors coach Ron Stolski said his staff thought Alexandria had one of the better defensive fronts they played against and the position changes have made the Cardinals even better.
"If you would have looked at them at the beginning of the year, and looked at the team you see now, you would say 'Boy, that's really a good football team,"' Stolski said.
The Warriors enter the postseason having won five of their last six games since losing to Buffalo in the opener and to Tech in Week Two. Stolski said leading rusher Joe Klang and linebacker Taylor Ludwig will miss the game with injuries and a few other starters are also out.
"We're coaching our kids to win," he said. "We're not going to concede anything, but we certainly will have to continue to raise our level of play and continue to improve as we have.
"We've had a good week of practice. We're down a couple of starters and I don't think there's any problem mentioning that Klang and Ludwig are out. The people that played for them the other night (in a 42-0 win over Sartell) played very well."
Empting and Stolski expect a closer contest than the regular-season meeting.
"Aside from the Brainerd game, which we felt got away from us, we've felt like we've been in every game," Empting said. "We just needed to clean some stuff up.
"Brainerd is a good team, there's no denying that. They took it to us pretty good. They took advantage of our mistakes. That's what good teams do. Good teams also don't make the mistakes we were making either."
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Said Stolski: "We've had a number of, I guess you could call them, shootouts over the last several games we've had with Alexandria. It always has been a really good game and I expect to see the same Saturday."
Brainerd Warriors (5-3)
OFFENSE
QB: 7-Sam Miller, 23-Owen Davis
RB: 22-Ben Staehling, 2-Braden Kramer, 21-Bryson Bassett, 85-Caden Schoeppner, 5-Taylor Ludwig, 25-Joe Klang, 26-Davon Stuckey
WR: 8-Pat Gervenak, 24-Gabe Smith, 23-Owen Davis, 18-Dalton Hamre, 43-Harry Carlson, 10-Brett Besenfelder, 36-Jon Nelson, 84-Renzen Caughey, 11-Levi McDonald
T: 66-Jason Jennette, 60-Isaac Chappuis, 64-Cameron Olson, 75-Brady Seidl
G: 57-Garrett Gardiepy, 64-Cameron Olson, 56-Nate Bessingpas
C: 53-Brett Hague, 60-Isaac Chappius
DEFENSE
T: 45-Morgan Gibson, 57-Garret Gardiepy, 66-Jason Jennette, 71-John Berry, 90-Mannie Uketegbe, 67-Logan Thede
NG: 78-Nick Moline, 95-Elias Lies, 93-Isaac Winter, 58-Fletcher DeRosier, 96-D'Khori Sturkey
OLB: 2-Braden Kramer, 28-Josh McLain, 30-Tom Fickett, 5-Taylor Ludwig
ILB: 17-Jacob Drietz, 40-Forrest Gibson, 28-Josh McLain, 55-Simon Nelson
CB: 22-Ben Staehling, 15-Jack Olson, 44-Devlin Lamke, 31-John Barr, 47-Calvin Foss, 16-Joey Wiskow, 35-Levi McDonald, 26-Davon Stuckey
SS: 23-Owen Davis, 41-Mark Boran, 27-Devin Emslander, 32-Caleb Nagel
FS: 8-Pat Gervenak, 20-Brady Anderson
SPECIAL TEAMS
P: 23-Owen Davis, 81-Zach Henke, 25-Joe Klang
K: 81-Zach Henke
LS: 15-Jack Olson
H: 7-Sam Miller
Returns: 22-Ben Staehling, 8-Pat Gervenak, 23-Owen Davis, 25-Joe Klang, 20-Brady Anderson, 26-Davon Stuckey
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ALEXANDRIA CARDINALS (3-5)
OFFENSE:
WR: 15-Cody Branson
WR: 12-Evan Lattimer
WR: 13-Taylor Jendro
QB: 7-Matthew Carlsen
HB: 3-Andrew Revering
RB: 24-Nolan Morical
T: 59-Ethan Engelbrecht
G: 52-Braden Anderson
C: 64-Connor Lay
G: 51-Nick Langner
T: 53-Hunter Hastings
DEFENSE:
E: 88-Daniel Jantzen
T: 65-Gabe Moore
T: 75-Hunter Croonquist
E85-Derek Pesta
LB: 25-Matthew Zick
LB: 35-Xavier Holmvig
LB: 27-Blake Hoelscher
CB: 29-Derrek Piepho
CB: 15-Cody Branson
S: 83-Mark Urman
S: 3-Andrew Revering
SPECIALISTS:
Punter: 7-Matthew Carlsen
Kicker: 16-Zach Wosepka
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WARRIORS SCHEDULE
REGULAR SEASON
Aug 31, at Buffalo - Lost 38-28
Sept 7, St. Cloud Tech at St. John's University - Lost 32-26
Sept 14, Alexandria - WON 36-7
Sept 21, Sauk Rapids - WON 34-14
Sept 28, at Bemidji - Lost 12-7
Oct 6, Becker - WON 35-21
Oct 12, Moorhead - WON 21-6
Oct 17, at Sartell - WON 42-0 Section 8-5A Playoffs
Tuesday, Oct 23, opening round:
No. 4 Moorhead 41, No. 5 Sartell 6
Saturday, Oct 27, semifinals:
No. 3 Alexandria at No. 2 Brainerd 2 p.m.
Moorhead at No. 1 Bemidji 2 p.m.
Friday, Nov 2:
Championship at high seed 7 p.m.
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NORTH CENTRAL RED SUBDISTRICT
FINAL SUBDISTRICT RECORDS
Sauk Rapids 5-1, Bemidji 5-1, Brainerd 4-2, St. Cloud Tech 4-2, Alexandria 2-4, Moorhead 1-5, Sartell 0-6
Results Oct. 17
Brainerd 42, Sartell 0
Hutchinson 48, Sauk Rapids 13
Bemidji 31, Tech 30 OT
Alexandria 47, Moorhead 22
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SECTION 8-5A
FINAL QUALITY RESULTS FORMULA STANDINGS
No. 10-Bemidji, 18-Brainerd, 33-Alexandria, 39-Moorhead, 47-Sartell
FINAL OVERALL RECORDS
Bemidji 7-1, Brainerd 5-3, Alexandria 3-5, Moorhead 1-7, Sartell 0-8
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TEAM STATS
Points per-game average: Brainerd 28.6, Opponents 16.3
Yards per game average: Brainerd 361.5, Opponents 328.5
