Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Springfield quarterback Decker Scheffler throws a pass in Saturday’s game against Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity. The Tigers meet Mahnomen/Waubon at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday at U.S. Bank Stadium in the Class A semifinals.

SPRINGFIELD — Shortly after Bob Fink took over the football head coaching job at Springfield, he wanted to install a new offense and assemble a new coaching staff that would make that possible.

So Fink went to work and shortly after made Adam Meyer his offensive coordinator and soon a plan was put into place.

The Tigers (8-4) have used that high-scoring offense put into place by Meyer and Fink and an aggressive defense that new defensive coordinator Brandon Wilhelmi has pushed to make it into Saturday’s Class A State Football Semifinal game. The Tigers battle unbeaten Mahnomen/Waubon (11-0) at 11:30 a.m. at U.S. Bank Stadium. If Saturday’s game is anything like last Saturday’s 24-22 victory over Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity, Tiger fans should be ready to see something new once again.

“We’re the team of the unexpected, you don’t know what we’re going to come at you with and we held everything for playoffs, now we play our wild cards and good things are happening,” Fink said after Saturday’s win that saw the Tigers run a variety of plays from their bag of tricks.

Quarterback Decker Scheffler has taken advantage of a strong offensive line to throw to a variety of receivers, including 6-foot-4 Isaac Fink and speedster Jordan Kieper.

“After I was hired, I told Adam exactly what I wanted in an offense,” Bob Fink said. “First off, I wanted an offense that would be a blast for kids to play in. Secondly, I wanted the offense to be up-tempo, no huddle and one that snapped the ball quickly so the defense could not adjust. Lastly, I wanted an offense that could take advantage of gifted athletes and get them into space. I bought Adam an online program to design plays after I was hired, and about 15 days later, he gave me a 75-page binder with all the offensive plays in it.”

Meyer, who coached at Wayzata and Owatonna prior to coming to Springfield, said he picked up some parts to Springfield’s current offense along the way at both stops. He also played quarterback at Hamline and he had a couple of different offenses there.

“In college we ran spread for the first three years I was there and the last year I was there, we ran triple option,” Meyer said. “When I went to Wayzata, they were all zone and play action, and when I went to Owatonna, they were up-tempo and no-huddle, they like to run it and they have a good running back. I’ve kind of taken things from everywhere and put them together, found some stuff I’ve seen from college and NFL games and put it all together. And we base it off of the kids we have too.”

Now he’s in charge of an offense that has adjusted every week to what the opposing defense gives him and he’s been quite successful. Of course, it helps with a quarterback like Scheffler, who has thrown for more than 2,400 yards and 25 touchdowns. Fink, a senior wide receiver who last played football as a freshman (he was a quarterback back then) has picked up the receiver position quickly. His height and athleticism has allowed him to haul in 17 touchdown receptions and rush for five touchdowns. He has also thrown a touchdown pass to Scheffler.

“When you have kids like that, you know Decker can rip it, that opens things up quite a bit,” Meyer said. “When you have a weapon like Isaac, at 6-4, he can run and catch — he’s a great route runner and a great learner, he’s come a long way. You can just do a lot of different things, we have a couple of good receivers and tight ends so that’s where the spread [offense] came from, allowing those guys to open up and get in space.”

Wilhelmi, meanwhile, played at Springfield and he was a part of Paul Dunn’s coaching staff. He has worked with Bob Fink when the two were coaching the baseball team together, a job that Wilhelmi now holds.

The Springfield defense has improved significantly from week to week and they made some big adjustments last week against LP/HT to keep the Bulldogs from running away with the game after they built an early 14-0 lead.

“Basically we just try to keep it as simple as possible,” Wilhelmi said. “Keep it simple as far as getting guys in the right spots, we also put a few different packages in this year and as the playoffs come around, we’ve tried a few different things in key moments, trying to disrupt what the other team is doing.”

Wilhelmi said that the linebacking crew of Ivan Hovland and Mason Rummel have done a good job of disrupting the opposing offense. And with Fink manning the safety position, the Tigers have a good chance of picking off any pass thrown. Fink had two interceptions on Saturday, including the interception to seal the game for the Tigers.

Coach Fink said that Wilhelmi’s work ethic is incredible. He has continued to improve on a weekly basis and it’s a big reason why the Tigers are playing on Saturday.

“Brandon is a tireless worker and extremely competitive,” coach Fink said. “Throughout the season, it was not uncommon to receive a text from him at 1 a.m. following a Friday night game discussing the strengths and weaknesses of an opponent. Bottom line, he puts in a ton of time creating a defensive plan that is simple for our players to understand. Similar to our players and the rest of our staff, each week Brandon has grown in confidence and gotten better.”