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Rabbits hold off Hounds, win section title

Return to state for first time since 2017

By Travis Rosenau 6 min read

COTTONWOOD - For the first time since 2017, the Wabasso Rabbits will be playing in a state football tournament.

Holding off a comeback attempt by the New Ulm Cathedral Greyhounds, the Rabbits were able to move the chains enough late, take a knee and celebrate a 16-14 win Friday night in the Section 2, Nine-Player Football Tournament championship game at Lakeview High School.

Junior quarterback Drew Kemp was 6 years old the last time he saw his dad, Rabbits head coach Joe Kemp, coach the Rabbits to state as a Class A team in 2017, a year where the Rabbits finished second to Minneota. Drew Kemp more than pulled his weight on Friday getting Wabasso back to state as he ended up scoring all of his team's points.

"It's awesome," Drew Kemp said of making state. "Last year coming up short really set a flame in us to get it [this] year, so that really helped. This is awesome just seeing everyone happy."

The junior signal caller finished the game by completing 17 of 24 passes for 124 yards and an interception and carried the ball 15 times for 58 yards and Wabasso's two TDs.

After the Greyhounds got on the board first with a 2-yard touchdown run from Alex Portner, who finished the night with 22 carries for 112 yards, Drew Kemp and the Rabbits mixed the run with the pass well down the field, finishing a drive that took over seven minutes with a 1-yard TD keeper 3 seconds into the second quarter. The junior QB then pushed his way in for a 2-point conversion run to give the Rabbits the 8-6 lead.

Both teams had a takeaway in the second quarter to save points, with Joe Rohlik intercepting a pass at the Wabasso 5 and Josh Forstner picking off a deep pass at the Cathedral 2 just before the end of the half.

After a 32-yard field goal attempt by Andrew Stern in the third quarter was unable to get off due to a botched snap and hold, the Rabbits got the ball back and proceeded to march down the field, scoring on a 2-yard TD keeper with 32 seconds left in the third. Drew Kemp's 2-point run made it a 16-6 game.

Senior defensive and offensive lineman Caden Frericks made his mark in the game also and was a big part in helping his QB and running backs have success in the win.

"[Drew] puts his trust in me to stay behind me and do the blocking for him," Frericks said. "His dad, coach, he has a lot of faith in me to up and make a play or have a big play, make a big hole for our running backs so we can get a big pass downfield."

The Greyhounds made a late push despite Wabasso's gritty defense forcing the Greyhounds to a fourth-and-goal from the Wabasso 11-yard line late in the fourth quarter. After Greyhounds senior quarterback Eli Anderson dropped back, he stepped up and found a diving Andrew Stern in the front left side of the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown with 6:07 left to play. Anderson again found Stern on a 2-point conversion pass to make it a 2-point game.

Anderson finished the game completing 4 of 5 passes for 61 yards, the touchdown to Stern and an interception. Josh Forstner had two receptions for 34 yards as Anderson's leading target.

The Rabbits were able to chew the remaining 5:58, however, thanks to three first downs, one coming on a 2-yard run by Rohlik, one on a 6-yard scramble by Drew Kemp and the final on a 9-yard reception by Nolan Leopold, who was snagging quick passes all game for the Rabbits.

Leopold's final catch of the night did not immediately see the Greyhounds burn their final timeout of the game, but that timeout came after a short run of 2 yards with 1:24 left. A 3-yard run by Drew Kemp led to third down, and after a delay of game, Drew Kemp took one final kneel down to have the Rabbits celebrating.

"I was just so happy in that moment that I did," Leopold said of his final catch. "It was good that Drew ran out of the pocket and found me wide open. It was awesome."

Leopold finished the night with nine catches for 69 yards, while Jack Burns had seven grabs for 50 yards and Nathan Riley added a 5-yard catch.

"I just go into everything like I can catch it and that Drew's gonna get it to me when he does and just trust my team that they're gonna block for me," Leopold said. "It's just trusting in my team."

Entering the section finals game with Cathedral, Drew Kemp expected a tough game and got it.

"Give credit to New Ulm Cathedral, they're a great football team," Drew Kemp said. "They came up short on [our] Homecoming [earlier in the season], we beat them by just two scores, so it's really awesome to come in here and [win]. Great team, lot of respect for them."

Frericks and Brooks Baune each had 10 tackles to lead the Rabbits defense.

Coming into the game, both teams realized how big limiting turnovers and costly penalties would be. Both teams had a turnover in the game, but both teams also committed just two penalties, Wabasso's going for 15 yards and Cathedral's going for 22 yards.

"We knew coming into this game that we would have to be almost perfect to have a shot at winning this," Frericks said. "We knew we had to execute and not make any weird mistakes ... we just knew we had to come in with a good attitude, heads up and just leave every play in the past and focus on the next one."

Evan Blekestad had 20 total tackles to lead the Greyhounds defense, while Forstner had 11 tackles, Camden Berg had nine tackles and Lane Ruch had nine tackles.

Leopold said he was happy to help his team get back to the state tournament during his senior year, but he already sees more success down the road for the program.

"We have so many good players on our team, so many young guys that, we're winning and they get to go in and play and learn the system, so it's a good future ahead for Wabasso," he said.

The state tournament begins Thursday.

Starting at /week.