Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

In the history of Forest Lake football it would be hard to imagine a more astounding and depressing conclusion than what happened on Tuesday night in Blaine. From a first half where virtually everything worked for the Rangers, to a brief period of 729 seconds, where basically everything went wrong, and Forest Lake was sent home with a mind-numbing 27-26 loss in the opening round of the Section 7AAAAA playoffs.

The Rangers started the game looking stronger, faster and more prepared than their favored opponents. It seemed as if head coach Matt Cleary and his staff had weeks to game plan while Blaine learned about the match-up just prior to kickoff.

To open the contest, senior running back Trip Schultz worked behind the left side of the offensive line, and when he wasnít converting short third downs, he was tearing through the Bengal defense for large gains. Schultz took one in from the 17-yard line to put Forest Lake up 7-0 with less than four minutes gone in the first quarter.

After taking a 20-7 lead into halftime, Forest Lake added another touchdown when quarterback Matt Hansmann connected with junior Matt Koenig on a 41-yard touchdown pass. After the 2-point conversion failed, the score was 26-7.

Big lead, 19 minutes left in the game, the Rangers were dominating ó nothing could go wrong now.

Schultz may have been on the sideline trying to work through a leg injury, but his teammates had the game under control.

ìI couldnít really come back in, but at 26-7 I thought, OK, if they need me I gotta get in there,î he said.

The night looked even brighter when Blaine fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Forest Lakeís Tom Fick recovered the ball on the Bengal 29-yard line.

But instead of watching the Rangers ring up another touchdown, the game started to turn when Forest Lake fumbled the ball right back to the Bengals.

No worries. Just when it seemed like the Blaine offense was starting to find openings in the middle of the field, they fumbled again and the Rangerís Tyler Kleinhuizen pulled it in.

With great field position, Hansmann (227 total yards) would lead the offense inside the Bengal 25-yard line when a fumble recovery was ruled in Blaineís favor. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Forest Lake gave Blaine a boost and now they were off and running...and passing.

On a third-down-and six from the Rangerís 31-yard line, Blaineís Chris Phillips turned a short pass into a dazzling touchdown run and the score was 26-14 with nine seconds left in the third quarter.

Seven-hundred and twenty-nine seconds were all that remained in the game. They simultaneously went remarkably fast and painfully slow.

Forest Lake hunkered down on offense and went back to converting third downs and took time off the clock. By the time Blaine got the ball again there was only 6:36 separating the Rangers from an upset win and a date with No. 1 seed Champlin Park.

But short passes and penalties sent Blaine right back down the field where Jake Swedlund stumbled in from four yards out and suddenly it was 26-20 with nearly four minutes left.

Forest Lakeís Luke Munkelwitz blocked the extra point, but the Ranger offense quickly stalled when they got it back, and here came Blaine.

With more short passes up the middle, the Bengals managed to eat up time while moving down the field. With only 45 seconds remaining, Blaine quarterback Brett Ferch barely got in the end zone and tied the game at 26. Ricky Granquist made the extra-point and the incomprehensible comeback was complete.

Afterward, Cleary and Schultz were as shocked as anyone as they tried to make sense of it all.

ìI donít know. I donít have an answer,î Cleary said. ìYou know, obviously having Trip go down, hurt. But we had some key mistakes, key turnovers ó bad turnovers ó and obviously you canít do that in the playoffs.î

Schultz finished the night with 161 yards and two touchdowns, yet he stood in the end zone after the game and thought of what might have been.

ìYou look at yourself first before you look at anyone else. I just think of what I could have done more,î he said. ìIím like, all right, Iíve got at least one more game here (against Champlin Park), and then to lose it like that in the fourth, that was tough.î

Cleary sat on an aluminum bench and thought of his players.

ìWe have a ways to go but these guys did a lot of good things. Some of them put a lot of work into it, and I feel bad for those guys.î

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Forest Lake Times
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