Wildcats Rally; Stun GICC at Home

The final week of the regular season took the St. Paul Wildcats home for Homecoming night as they welcomed old rival Grand Island Central Catholic to Wildcat Field. The Crusaders playing for a trip to the Class C-2 State playoffs, St. Paul playing for pride with a 1-7 record after reclaiming the Howie last week against Centura. 

The start to the game was less than ideal start for St. Paul as GICC won the toss and elected to receive. The opening kickoff sent out of bound gave the Crusaders excellent starting position as Grayson Sack and company went right down the field in a span of 3:10 as Grayson Sack found Connor Haney for a 13 yard score to take the early 7-0 lead. St. Paul's opening possession was brief as they fumbled it back to the Crusaders on the first play. The Cats stretched GICC to a 3rd and goal but the Crusaders found the endzone again this time from Mason Vasquez from 1 yard out to extend their lead to 14-0 following the PAT with 6:23 to go. The Cats found their first points of the night just 1:14 later as Gage Sack took an option pitch 69 yards to paydirt to cut the Crusader lead down to 8 after a blocked PAT. The first quarter scoring wasn't done there as Grayson Sack found Haney for the 2nd time to give GICC a 20-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.

After 26 points in roughly a 4 minute span the 2nd quarter saw the 2 teams exchange 1 touchdown each as Cody Kuszak found the endzone on a 1 yard draw to bring the Wildcats back within 8. GICC again found another quick strike 2:56 later as  Haney scored his 3rd touchdown of the night with 2:00 to play. GICC led 27-13. The Cats drove down the field and elected for a fake field goal that was incomplete to send St. Paul into the halftime break down 27-13.

The Wildcats opened up the 2nd half with one of their best drives of the season spreading the Crusaders out and finishing it with Kuszak diving into the endzone from 4 yards out to make it 27-19 with 8:42 to play in the 3rd. One of the more talked about plays of the game came with 7:45 to go in the 3rd as St. Paul forced a GICC fumble on the far sideline that was briefly picked up by Cody Kuszak before he was hit and tossed it out of bounds. After an official huddle it was deemed that Kuszak maintained enough of a possession to get the ball back. St. Paul needed just :29 to capitalize as Cody scored his 3rd td of the night from 21 yards out. 2 pt conversion was no good and the Cats trailed 27-25 with 7:16 to play. A GICC turnover on downs gave St. Paul the ball back and Kuszak with his best run of the night broke a 65 yarder up the gut to give the Wildcats their first lead at 31-27 with 5:12 to play.  GICC playing for their playoff lives got great field position with help from a St. Paul Penalty and Grayson Sack not only deadly through the air but deadly with his legs as well getting the lead back for the Crusaders with a 5 yard run. The PAT by Escalante blocked and GICC took the lead into the 4th quarter at 33-31. 

The Cats took the lead in the 4th quarter and never looked back as Christian Lemburg tacked a 28 yard Field Goal with 10:15 to play in regulation to regain the lead at 34-33. St. Paul picked up insurance late as Zandyn Weller having his best passing performance of the season capped an excellent drive with a 2 yard score to extend the lead to 41-33 with 4:18 to play. GICC on their second to last possession got into St. Paul Territory late. The Crusader pass late in the 4th intercepted by St. Paul Freshman Jackson Wegner gave St. Paul the ball with 1:49 to go in the game. Out of the shadows of their own endzone, Zandyn Weller sealed the game with the 2nd longest run in school history breaking a 98 yard TD with :94 seconds left. GICC ran out clock ending their season at 6-3. St Paul finishes the year at 2-7 with 2 straight wins over their geographical rivals.

Cody Kuszak earns his final Runza MVP of the game with 21 carries for 162 yards and 4 scores plus a fumble recovery.