Sunday, December 1, 2019

Chaska Hawks Come back to Win Class AAAAA State Title

Stevo Klotz was no klutz Saturday afternoon, scoring the game winning touchdown with :42 left in regulation time to lead the Chaska Hawks to a 10-7 win over the St. Thomas Academy Cadets in the Class AAAAA championship game at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.  

It was the first state championship for Chaska, in their first appearance in a championship game since 1974 when they were defeated by the Alexandria Cardinals 26-7 in the Class A final.  

The Hawks pulled out in front in the first quarter on Nic Snuggerud's 42 yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead,  The Cadets would vault ahead late in the second quarter highlighted by ove Adebayo's 19 yard run and an encroachment penalty on Chaska.  Baker Reding, in relief of starting quarterback Joe Deyak kept the ball and scored on a one yard touchdown run to give St. Thomas Academy a 7-3 halftime lead.  

Neither team would change the score in the third quarter.  In the fourth quarter, the Hawks on fourth down and nine yards to go had one more chance to get a first down or the Cadets would win their first state title since 1975.  But there would be no joy for the uniformed fans in attendance as St. Thomas Academy was called for pass interference, awarding Chaska a first down.  The Cadets would get flagged again as Hawks quarterback Grif Wurtz threw a 25 yards to Colton Dodds and his next pass was incomplete but a five yard personal foul penalty was called on St. Thomas Academy, moving the ball to the Cadet five yard line.  Three straight runs by Klotz, ending with a one yard run put Chaska ahead with :42 to go.  Could St. Thomas Academy make a comeback?  The answer would be no as the Cadets were called for intentional grounding, losing a down and Reding was unable to connect on fourth down and 17, thus returning the ball to Chaska.  A couple of snaps later, the Hawks celebrated their first state title.  

The two teams played each other October 16 with Chaska shutting out St. Thomas Academy 20-0.

The Hawks ended their season with a record of 12-1 and St. Thomas Academy concluded their campaign 11-2.  

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