Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

Who knew that a 22-mile drive to Stillwater would land the Forest Lake football team in Bizarro World? A place where the Rangers’ run-oriented offense would score two touchdowns on pass plays and also pick up a 23-yard field goal, in what would become a 27-17 Forest Lake loss.

The Rangers were the guests of honor on Oct. 5 for Stillwater’s Homecoming game, and through the first 12 minutes, Forest Lake acted the part of the polite visitor who didn’t want to create a fuss.

While the Rangers went scoreless in the opening quarter, Stillwater was entertaining its fans with a 14-yard touchdown run and a 70-yard touchdown pass.

But soon enough, Forest Lake wanted to have some fun and it was their turn to score. They would reel off 17 unanswered points and take a 17-14 lead into halftime. And they would do it off the arm of quarterback Mike Schultz, the hands of wide receiver Jimmy Plain, and the feet of the very reliable Sean Garry.

A quick look back at the disappointing conclusion of the White Bear Lake loss on Sept. 28 had Schultz completing two consecutive passes to Plain. For that brief moment, these two guys looked like they were raised on the West Coast Offense. Plain was snagging throws that zipped through coverage, and it provided another example of how Forest Lake is teetering on the discovery of a balanced attack.

Re-joining Friday’s programming showed Schultz and Plain connecting on an 11-yard touchdown, but that was nothing. The two juniors would later hook up on a 94-yard TD that would tie the score at 14-14.

When Garry knocked in his 23-yard field goal to close the first half scoring, the tone of this contest was drastically different from when the second quarter began.

“Jimmy Plain had some great catches and we showed that we can pass, but that’s not how we’re going to win games,” head coach Matt Cleary pointed out. “Our blocking was poor and inconsistent, which didn’t allow us to sustain any drives.”

As Cleary indicated, the momentum that had quickly turned in Forest Lake’s favor after their poor start, shifted back over to Stillwater in the second half.

All it took was a fumble on the Rangers’ first play from scrimmage, which was recovered by the Ponies and returned to Forest Lake’s six-yard line. Max Pung scored on a pass from Aaron Anderson on the very next play (the extra point failed), reclaiming the lead for Stillwater and the shift was complete.

“We never really recovered from that,” Cleary said.

Stillwater’s Brent Lownsberry would punch one in near the goal line in the fourth quarter to make it 27-17.

“We played our worst game of the year,” Cleary stated. “Not a good time to do that.”

The loss dropped the Rangers to 2-4 (2-3 SEC) and they now have Mounds View (5-1, 4-1) in town on Oct. 12 for the final home game of the regular season.

In the land of Bizarro, the Rangers not only outgained another team in total offense while still going down in defeat, but they also put up nearly 200 yards through the air. With Forest Lake’s additional passing, Stillwater (3-3) accumulated more yards on the ground than the Suburban East Conference’s No. 1 rushing offense.

The numbers may describe a unique story, but the uncharacteristic performance from his players didn’t nudge Cleary into thinking his squad is something they’re not.

“We still need to go out and play like a team and be committed to our jobs,” he said. “That’s the only way we will have success.”

STATISTICS

Rushing - Schultz 13-86, Corrow 8-49, Grant 8-12, Blaser 7-18, Koenig 3-12

Receiving - Plain 4-146-2, Grant 1-19, Hoidal 1-20, McAlpine 1-8

Passing - Schultz 7-19-193-2

Top of Page