File photo by Ari Selvey Wabasso’s Nolan Leopold runs with the ball as Zach Skoblik (2) looks to block during the Rabbits’ Homecoming football game on Sept. 27 against Renville County West in Wabasso.

WABASSO — When the Wabasso Rabbits hosted the Cedar Mountain Cougars this past Saturday in a Section 2, Nine-Player Football Tournament semifinals game, fans in attendance got to experience the textbook definition of what a playoff game should be.

The back-and-forth battle featured five lead changes — three coming in the fourth quarter — and late-game heroics from both teams. But it was a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by the shifty, keen-eyed junior Nolan Leopold that gave the Rabbits the lead and 32-29 win in the end to qualify for this Friday’s section finals game against top-seeded Red Rock Central at Lakeview High School.

While Saturday’s game was a down-to-the-wire affair, it didn’t have to be according to Rabbits head coach Joe Kemp, but Cougars senior quarterback Carson Schiller had other ideas in mind.

Senior running back Jackson Guetter may have finished the season as Cedar Mountain’s single-season leading rusher, finishing with 1,282 yards this season, but the Rabbits contained him to 15 carries for 44 yards Saturday, forcing Schiller to air it out more. Schiller finished the game completing 25 of 45 passes for 282 yards and two TDs without a turnover.

“Schiller really got on his game,” coach Kemp said. “Carson just responded and threw some tight-window passes. I think their coaching staff was really prepared and we didn’t come out and play particularly well early, and some of that’s credited to them, and some of which we just didn’t really get going. But I think a lot of it has to do with Schiller — he kept the ball for long periods of time and we just couldn’t find a rhythm.”

The Rabbits ran the ball effectively all game, led by Joe Rohlik’s big day of 35 carries for 243 yards and three scored, but they also fumbled it away once and quarterback Drew Kemp had an off day as he completed just 4 of 9 passes for 65 yards and a score with two interceptions, keeping the Cougars in the game and in front for most of it.

The Cougars scored first in the second quarter and the Rabbits answered with a touchdown before the end of the half but failed their 2-point try, trailing 7-6 at the half. The Rabbits got the lead early in the third, but the Cougars scored on their next two drives to lead 21-12.

Wabasso ended up getting back-to-back scores from Rohlik in the fourth quarter to lead 25-21, but the Cougars marched down the field late and got it in the hands of their senior record holder Jackson Guetter, who took it into the end zone for a 1-yard TD with 56 seconds left for a 29-25 lead after a 2-point conversion pass from Schiller to Thomas Dahmes.

“Drew was struggling, was probably his worst game of the year and we know we’re going to need him,” coach Kemp said. “Cedar Mountain did some nice things and got some pressure on him and he got hit a couple times on a couple throws. We have all the confidence in the world that he can do it, but what was going through my mind [after Cedar Mountain’s go-ahead touchdown] was, ‘Let’s get a nice return.'”

Enter Leopold, who scooped up the ball on a bounce at the Rabbits 4 and took it 96 yards to put Wabasso back in front with just 13 more seconds off the game clock and 43 seconds left.

Coach Kemp said he was hoping for a nice return and thought he could still call some of the run plays Rohlik was dominating with as he still had two timeouts left. All of that went out the window as soon as Leopold got his hands on the ball.

“I just was thinking we need a big play,” Leopold said. “We needed to get rolling so we could be in a good position to win the game.”

As the kick bounced past the extended hands of Jack Burns and Leopold picked it up, Burns turned into a blocker. Leopold started his return towards the middle of the field before cutting left at the Wabasso 15-yard line and finishing his run down the left sideline.

“It was pretty quick,” Leopold said. “I had to get by one guy and I had seen the hole open pretty big and I felt like I was pretty much gone after that.”

The PAT kick by Tavyn Larson made it a 3-point game.

With how quickly both teams exchanged leads, the Rabbits needed to quickly turn their attention back to their defense and be aware of anything. Without any timeouts left, the Cougars had just 38 seconds left following their kickoff return to their own 34.

“First I asked my kicker if he could kick it into the end zone again and he told me, ‘Yes,’ which he then proceeded not to do, which concerned me [laughs] because I didn’t want to get it into Guetter’s hands back there,” coach Kemp said. “But first they got a couple of balls out of bounds to really get them a lot closer. I was looking for one tackle in bounds, and the one time we did really helped shorten the game for us. But they were able to get a couple balls out of bounds that allowed them to slow the clock down.”

After a Wabasso timeout following the Cougars’ return, Schiller started with back-to-back incompletions to bring up a third-and-10 situation. There he completed a pass to Guetter for a first-down gain of 14 yards.

Schiller then found Dahmes open for a first-down pass on the sideline to put the Cougars at the Wabasso 41.

“We were just protecting deep, trying to tackle somebody in front of us to keep the clock moving,” coach Kemp said. “I knew that they were much more dangerous than we were at throwing the ball, and Schiller, like I said, he was on fire so we were very cautious of it.”

Dahmes made another catch after that of 5 yards, but he was tackled in bounds, forcing Schiller to spike the ball and stop the clock with 10 seconds left. After a Wabasso timeout, Dahmes caught a short pass left and was wrapped up. He tried pitching the ball back to a teammate, but the Rabbits were there waiting and made the tackle to end the game.