The Somerset football team has been a fast starter in most of its games this season, only to see games turn on them in the later stages of the night.
A fast start wasn’t in the cards for the Spartans on Friday at St. Croix Central. The Spartans played a lethargic first quarter which opened the opportunity for Central to build a 24-0 lead.
Somerset improved over the rest of the game, but couldn’t regain all the ground it had given Central, resulting in a 40-28 Spartan loss. The loss ends the chances of Somerset reaching the WIAA playoffs this season. The Spartans are 0-5 in the Middle Border Conference and 1-6 overall.
The Spartans will play their final two games at home, this Friday versus Altoona and against Amery in their season finale the following Friday. Somerset coach Joe Hutter was blunt in his assessment of the team’s situation.
“We know our fate,” he said. “We’re going to write the last two chapters of our book (on the season) and we know that’s what we’ll remember most is how we finished.”
Altoona and Somerset share the bottom spot in the MBC standings with 0-5 records.
Somerset has played evenly with some of the top teams in the MBC so the Spartans’ slow start against Central was surprising. Central opened the game with a 69-yard scoring drive where the Panthers overpowered the Spartan defense. Somerset’s offense looked just as flat, failing to get a first down in its first possession. Central then blocked Somerset’s first punt, setting up an easy second touchdown. Somerset’s second possession was just as listless and a short punt set up Central for a third early score. Somerset trailed 24-0 with just over nine minutes elapsed in the game.
Somerset senior quarterback Kane Donnelly tried to lift the Spartans out of their doldrums with a 75-yard run that set up a five-yard touchdown sweep by Blake Fox late in the first quarter.
It wasn’t until well into the second quarter that a Somerset setback carried the ball. From then on, Wyatt Mielke was a weapon in helping the Spartans maintain drives. He finished with 10 carries for 66 yards. That came during Somerset’s second scoring drive, when Mielke covered most of the yardage. A three-yard pass from Donnelly to Jake Krier got the touchdown that cut Central’s lead to 24-14 with 2:24 left in the first half. Central missed a field goal at the end of the quarter, leaving the score at 24-14 at the break.
The Spartans went nowhere on their first possession of the second half, leaving a short field for Central to drive for another score that made the margin 32-14. Give the Spartans credit, they did not give up.
Somerset drove 53 yards on its next possession, with a 24-yard from Mielke sparking the drive. The Spartans got another short touchdown pass from Donnelly to Krier, who was getting inside position on his slant patterns to give Donnelly a clear target as Krier slashed into the end zone.
Somerset scored again after recovering a Central fumble late in the third quarter. Donnelly kept the drive alive by racing for 25 yards on a fake punt. Donnelly hit Carson Belisle with a five-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the fourth quarter to shave Central’s lead to 32-28.
That’s as close as the Spartans could get. Central followed with a drive that ate up most of the fourth quarter, scoring with 2:52 left in the game.
Somerset struggled on third down in the game, making a first down on one of 13 chances. They were better on fourth down, moving the chains on six of eight tries. The Spartans were also hurt by penalties, drawing eight flags, including several that called back significant gains.
Donnelly led the Spartans with 153 yards rushing on 18 carries. He completed eight of his 24 pass attempts for 38 yards.
