This transcript is of a high school football game (Cannon Falls Bombers vs. St. Croix Lutheran Crusaders) called by **Matt Montgomery** (the Mayor of Cannon Falls) and **Rob Stahusky** (a local teacher and broadcaster). [0:15] Rob Stahusky: This is your chance right now, you know, our scout as they take the—we will respect the anthem. Back in the day, I've seen radio guys up in the booth have to talk through this and it's brutal. It's hard to do because our color guard, they do right by the colors, but they bring it all the way out and then they march all the way off, so that’s tough time on radio. Here on TV, we got a little extra time, but we will... [1:02] Rob Stahusky: ...respect the colors. Take off, that's—we'll join play-by-play here in just a moment. [1:50] [Music] [4:06] Rob Stahusky: That was a wonderful version by Crescent Hartle, leaves the field. All right. [5:04] Rob Stahusky: And we are good to go. [5:23] Matt Montgomery: Well, we talked to Danny Myers about this team. He compared them to Rochester Lourdes; he said their styles are similar. They like to run a veer offense. A veer is a strong run game—it's almost like a run-pass option where if they're gonna go right, they got three guys going right. Quarterback could keep it, could give it to a dive, could pitch it out to his other halfback. If that doesn't work, they'll go to the pass, and these guys can air it out. Looking at their stats on the Minnesota Football Hub, these guys are very balanced. They're averaging 115 rushing yards per game and about 105 passing yards per game, but you can throw that out because their starting quarterback only played four games this year. Seven touchdowns, zero interceptions for quarterback number 12, Zach Longville. He's averaging 103 yards per game and he's got two rushing touchdowns too, that's because of that veer offense. [6:08] Matt Montgomery: His lead running back is going to be Sam Hamm, number eight. He's also only played in four games; he's got four rushing touchdowns, leading the team with 6.2 yards per carry. Expect to see that veer offense; they're gonna run first. If the Bombers can stuff it, they will air it out. The Beacon a couple weeks ago, the power T—it's old school football, but it's worked this year for the Bombers. You know, for the people watching at home, expect a lot of run, run, run. Marcus Banks, Riley Keenan, quarterback Owen Edstrom—they're not going to go to the air unless they have to, to be honest. But if they do have to go to the air, they can. Edstrom's got five touchdowns, zero... [6:55] Matt Montgomery: ...interceptions, 74 completion percentage. That's great for a team that doesn't even have to pass very often. Expect them to be on the ground the whole game. Yeah, here we are. Spencer Kinky about to kick it off here, number seven from the Bombers. We've got Luke Bloomfist and Evan Sasse back to return. Heading towards Bloomfist, taking... [7:34] Rob Stahusky: It's a good return. Nice tackle there by Camden Vicki. It's a good return, gets just short of the 40. Just right up the middle to start, got into the pack, tried to break off to the left. Honestly, he had about two or three guys to beat; he could have gained another 10 or 15, but the Bombers got there. It'll be first and ten. The official scorebook—and remember the people at home, we'll remind them—we're calling this blind, so we will not see what you see. We're calling this like radio, so when you see the scoreboard, we might not be saying the same thing, but we will do our best here. [8:26] Matt Montgomery: First play from scrimmage, play action. Andy Rash, he's a big target, 6'5" senior, a buck eighty. That was a good sell. Like I said, recruiting going into this game, we're expecting run, run, run. They decide to air it out first play of the game. They go long. What's that, about a 67-yard... wow. [9:34] Matt Montgomery: You know, sometimes it's not necessarily a great motivator, but you get punched in the mouth when you come out, then you're ready to play. These guys probably, like I said, they weren't expecting that. They were thinking run, run, run; we'll see the pass when we see the pass. St. Croix obviously decided we're just going to go big right away, try to set that tone. It'll be interesting to see what the Bombers do here. I don't expect the Bombers to change their plans. They're going to run, run, run like you said—methodical. They will control this game on the ground, they'll control the clock, they'll control the possessions. I don't expect to see them change even though they gave up a touchdown. [10:12] Rob Stahusky: Looks like a kicker... [10:29] Rob Stahusky: Jake McAdam is back and Marcus Banks squibbed right over the... middle. That was Loudon Bell. Loudon Bell, senior linebacker, number 55. [11:08] Matt Montgomery: We're on the south end zone, so we're going to be looking through the defense, but we'll do our best. [11:26] Rob Stahusky: And it is Crusader ball. Looks like it's covered by number 78, Joel Saletti, a junior. [11:40] Matt Montgomery: Wow, unexpected. You know what makes that even worse is that was a good run, that was about a 10-yard gain before the ball came out. So, boy, that's a tough one. Defense gonna have to stiffen up here. [12:12] Rob Stahusky: There's a fumble there too. [12:18] Matt Montgomery: That was Lucas Blomquist, he's listed as a wide receiver. You know, loss of five. They're still—it didn't seem like they're lining up in that veer like they have two backs. It looks like they're trying to throw some different formations that the Bombers weren't expecting early. It's kind of... so true. This is four wide right here. Don't expect the veer here, they're airing it out. [12:57] Rob Stahusky: [Applause] Number four, Tom Truth. You know, this is—I'm not saying this is advanced football, but when you're running a four wide and your quarterback is intentionally running 20 yards out of the pocket, he's not feeling any pressure, he's throwing that out while he's running. If he gets a man, he can just air it out. That's what they're doing so far. Wow. [13:43] Rob Stahusky: Number eight up the middle, Sam Hamm. That's their lead dog, he's the guy that's leading the stat category right up the middle. [13:57] Matt Montgomery: You know, I'm wondering if they're doing this motion to see what the Bombers' defense is—if they can read if it's going to be man, if they can get that four wide, if they can get those receivers man-to-man on the outside if there's not a safety over the top. If they're just gonna keep chucking the ball. If we put too many in the box, they're gonna do this play action, let them roll out, start throwing the ball. We'll see how the Bombers respond. [14:22] Matt Montgomery: This is more like that veer. This is where they've got multiple options in the backfield. [14:35] Rob Stahusky: Yeah, hard to see who was wrapped up by—it was a trio of Bombers right up the middle. He still got a gain, but it's going to be third and short. Looks like... are you saying you want me to be looking at defense to help you out there? So you have bifocals there and you got the mask and you got a little bit of steam, and it's even better. [15:05] Rob Stahusky: [Laughter] Two backs. Oh, we got whistles. They're blowing that one dead. Makes it third to go here. [16:06] Matt Montgomery: Yep, tackle made by... it's hard to see through these guys there too. 55 was the main tackler, Loudon Bell with the tackle. See, now this offense that they're settling into looks more like that veer. They're faking the dive, the quarterback's keeping it going off the edge. Yep, single back set, number eight's back there with them. [16:47] Rob Stahusky: That's a catch. [17:02] Rob Stahusky: Is... we got a Bomber down. Can't see the number. It looked like it was the man in cover. [17:13] Rob Stahusky: [Music] Um, that was—he was rolling out left, he came back, threw it right back to the middle. Don't see that often and honestly... the coverage, like I said, that is... is it Rausch? [17:53] Matt Montgomery: Obviously, you hate to see this. Looking for some positive signs, it looked like the helmet was moving a little so trying to get a good look but... [18:26] Rob Stahusky: Yep. [18:48] Rob Stahusky: Yeah, this is... [19:36] Matt Montgomery: Oh. [19:50] Matt Montgomery: Sorry folks, we're having some technical difficulties here trying to figure out Mr. Stahusky's microphone. It's not muted. You know, I expect technical difficulties like this on Zoom every day at school, but not here when you're doing the play-by-play call. [20:25] [Music] [20:32] Matt Montgomery: Still can't see through the trainer. We're gonna get a number here. The helmet has been removed. Oh, it looks to be taken away. [20:46] Rob Stahusky: Trainers here. [21:07] PA Announcer (Rod Johnson): 7:34 remaining here in the first quarter. It is first and goal for St. Croix from the eight-yard line. [21:24] [Music] Rob Stahusky: Handoff is Sam Hamm on the six-yard line. [22:16] [Music] [22:38] Rob Stahusky: It's... [22:46] Rob Stahusky: Luke sent a message saying they're having issues on that end. I don't think it's necessarily the microphone's fault. Good battery. [Music] Flag on the play. [23:19] PA Announcer (Rod Johnson): Third and goal from the seven. [23:45] [Applause] [23:51] Matt Montgomery: That is incomplete. It'll bring up fourth and goal from the seven-yard line. At this point early in the game, a lot of people would say the adage: take the points. But boy, you're up 7-0, you're this deep, I would go for it. Did you... I think up seven and with field position in this area, after what happened earlier, it might be a good time. It looks like that's what they're gonna do. [24:44] Rob Stahusky: Is... Longville put the pressure on. He's still got the ball in the air but guys, he got rid of that thing so... Bombers take over. Let's see what they can do here. They got a long field, that's a lot of time on the defense on the field here. I think the Bombers have had what, two plays so far here tonight? So let's see what we can get some things going here. Owen Edstrom the quarterback... we've got a whistle and there's flags on the play. Flag on the play. [25:44] Rob Stahusky: First and five. Now the Bombers are usually averaging, when I watch, at least eight yards a carry. So methodically moving the ball down the field. So here we'll see Owen Edstrom back to... [26:17] Rob Stahusky: All right up fast. They move really fast on this power T. Quick, fast, and lots of movement. Looks like tackled in the backfield. I'm not sure if that was a QB keeper. 34 on that carry. Did not look like we lost the yards on the play. Two-yard loss. I thought we were at first and five, we lost seven. [27:06] Matt Montgomery: Right now, the Bombers trying to get some positivity. So those guys are really good—I can't remember if they call it the "freeze" or if they call it "Tuesday" or whatever—but they basically stop there and they get them to jump. So a lot of times you'll see them kind of go through that and stand up or stand upright, and then sometimes that'll pull the defense. All right, second and seven from the 20. [27:45] Rob Stahusky: That was a nice hole for him. He had enough room, he had about one or two tacklers to go. He's coming right our way. If he could have gotten to the sideline... [27:59] Rob Stahusky: All right, Bombers come back up to the line of scrimmage. Kendrick Otto, number 59, the center. Owen Edstrom back, hands... he's a keeper. [28:29] Matt Montgomery: They are really stuffing it in there and these cornerbacks are coming in so tight that we haven't seen that play—we haven't seen what works. [28:56] [Music] [29:52] Rob Stahusky: Almost a 50-yard play there for the Bombers. [30:06] Matt Montgomery: They faked me out on that one. We got a flag on the play. About a two, maybe three-yard carry. 1:39 on this flag. [30:41] Rob Stahusky: That's why we call you Monty. [30:55] Matt Montgomery: That was a great run, honestly. That was a power run; he was hit at the line, but he still fought through it. I mean, they had the hole, but it collapsed quick. That just shows he's a strong runner. [31:41] [Music] [31:54] Rob Stahusky: From here, that looked clean, to be honest. That looked like he had his shoulder. Players saw that he was there, let's see what happens. Replay... oh, they just called it straight up. You know, if that happened somewhere on the interior, I didn't see it, but if it was out here on this cornerback, that block looked solid. And obviously the people at home have a different perspective than we do, but where the flag came in, that guy looked like he was yelling for something. I thought it was a clean block. Banks walked in on that one. [32:48] Rob Stahusky: Bombers going for the two-point conversion here with 1:25 to go, down six to seven. Looking to pass over to the right side, just over the head of Riley Miller. You know, the pass missed its mark, but they had good coverage there too. I mean St. Croix Lutheran was—they had two back, they had their corners out. That was a tough one, thrown out in the flats like that would have been tough to get even if we would have made the catch. So Bomber down by one now with 1:25 to go in the first quarter. As we're trying to figure out some microphone issues here, we apologize for that. But maybe it's a good thing—maybe you've already switched over to Gordy Kosfeld and listened to the radio broadcast by now. [33:33] Matt Montgomery: It could be that way. You know, after a quick start by the Saint Croix Crusaders with a touchdown on their first play of the game... no, nothing, nothing. That's what I was thinking when I saw that as well. This is good inside microphone talk to people, so to be honest with you... so all those years of experience worthless tonight, who knew? All right, Spencer Crinkey is going to be back for the kickoff here. We've got Corrata for the return. [34:21] Rob Stahusky: And Crinkey's kick is up. Squib kick, a little trouble with it, and brought down about the 31-yard line. So 1:19 to go. [34:40] Rob Stahusky: Boy, it seems like they've been playing for a long time, huh? Sure, I'm trying to figure out this mute mode. That's not mute, that's mute. You speak French? Wow, you do. French fries. Your geography is coming in a little... four wide receivers, number 88 on the right, number 11 in the motion. Longville falls on top of it, so a loss of a couple yards there for the Crusaders. Clock almost reaching the one-minute mark here. Second and 13 from the 33. Just a beautiful night here at John Birch Park. I put all my extra extra layers on and it doesn't seem that cold. I don't know, there's no wind so that helps. All right, so we've got four wideouts again. Watch big number 88 so you're near side. Longville back, look at the pass, heads for 88... just overthrows them. Third and 13. [36:06] Rob Stahusky: Third and 13. [36:20] Matt Montgomery: Well, he's young. He's probably got good ears, he can probably hear it right from here or he's watching her mouth move from that distance. He should really be watching the game. What's on his camera? Third and 13 from the 30. [36:37] Rob Stahusky: Two wide to the left. 88 looking right at him up over the top and he catches it. Coverage there by Owen Edstrom, just hard to keep up with that 6'5" guy. Owen Edstrom with the tackle, kept him from going the distance, but that was a huge play on third and long for the Crusaders. 31 seconds to go as they reset. Edstrom's given up about a half a foot on this guy. Honestly, Longville just sits back, he let that one go. Good pass, good ball right on him, but if you got a corner that's a half a foot shorter, he's going to have to be... if that pass is anywhere near where it's supposed to go, they're going to make a connection. It's very similar to the way Owen Edstrom tosses once in a while here to Camden Dickey for the Bombers as well. So we've got good matchups here. Looks like they switched it up. Longville keeps it, moves to the left side out of bounds. Looks like just short of a first down. And that's the end of the first quarter. Bombers 6, Crusaders 7 here in the section four 3A championship. So 7-6, Bombers just down by one here after one quarter. [38:16] Matt Montgomery: All right, we're gonna take a second here for a battery exchange. As you can understand, Rob doing the play-by-play... we want to thank the HL for all the support you give high school sports, so thank you for being here broadcasting. [39:05] [Music] [39:20] Rob Stahusky: All right, second and three, Crusaders coming right at me here in the end zone. Matt went to do a mic check, so I'm flying solo here. The big wide receiver on the far side of the field, Camden Dickey on him, 6'5". Longville cuts, he's going to keep it, he's coming down the left side of the field. Oh, he's in for a touchdown! Touchdown for Longerville. Looks like a 28-yard touchdown run but there's a flag on the field. Flag on the field. We'll see what that calls. Lots of screaming from the Crusader coaches. They're looking around that area of the flag, they're actually talking about the play. [40:08] Rob Stahusky: It looks like they picked up the flag... oh, looks like a holding call. [40:19] Rob Stahusky: Oh, block in the back by Saint Croix Lutheran. So that's going to bring the ball back. No touchdown there. Looks like they're setting it up at about the 18-yard line... at the 15. First and ten from the 15. [40:41] Rob Stahusky: Once again, we've got four wide receivers out there on the far side of the field. 88 versus Dickey. Bombers Riley Miller and a host of other Bombers coming in on that tackle. That'll make it second and goal from about the 15 again. [41:13] Rob Stahusky: No gain. So we're at 11:07 here to go in the second quarter. [41:26] Rob Stahusky: All right, looks like they've switched it up a little bit. Dickey over to the wide side. We've got four wide receivers, one back set, shotgun formation. He's looking to pass... sacked! Between Riley Keenan there and Riley Miller. [42:10] Rob Stahusky: All right, on the 29. Third and 24 from the 29. We've got trips on the far side. Longerville back, looks like he might keep this one and throw... all the way across right now and he is out of bounds smack dab in front of me. I'm the guy with the canvas coat on standing in front of the table shivering a little bit. Brings up fourth and 24 from the 29. So a nice deep pass just about shook me out of my boots. [43:01] [Music] Rob Stahusky: Shotgun formation. [44:17] Matt Montgomery: All right... audio update. He's gonna work on getting us good mics at halftime. Still can't figure out what's going on, we're doing our best. [46:51] Rob Stahusky: Time of possession here—we don't have the stats in front of us, but I think... did you catch that one? You can't see the number, but my guess is that that was him. He's the guy that they're doing right up the middle. [48:44] Matt Montgomery: And see how he's doing. I didn't see anybody get hauled away or anything so that's good news. Most of the passes he's had tonight have been a good ball for his receiver, it was just a toss-up that one could have been picked. All right, so it seems like the Crusaders are kind of stalling out a little bit here in the first few downs. Snap, handoff, hoist... the Bombers in front of them from my view and wrapped up. Looks like a gain of about five yards, maybe four yards. He's got a first down. That's a first down for the Crusaders. I didn't think that was that successful of a run, but first down. And if you notice, the ball came out loose right at the very end. I'm not sure if he was down. He recovered it right away, but when he was going down, that ball came free. Well, let's watch the replay and see if we can throw the red hanky out there. You know, I've got one of those at home, and I throw it out once in a while just because it gets too dirty. Okay, so look strong side now. Look at this, look at the wide side of the field with their big receiver Rash. Watch to see if they go his way. All right, moving to the side of the field, pitch out on the veer. Owen Edstrom on the tackle there. It looks like probably a first down for the Crusaders. We'll see where they mark it. Chain gang is on the move. [49:31] Rob Stahusky: Let's see if they're—they're trying to measure it out. I think you're right. The line to gain dropped the stick, he went out right there. You know, they do that for safety reasons; I don't know if everybody knows that, but if the ball is coming towards you... I thought they were just scared. They just get really... ah! Like, drop it! Well, there could be some of that too. I go to fix the mic and I'm out here and I see that there's a touchdown pass right next to you... it got called out of bounds. I mean all the action was right in your face and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to catch it. Sibley Park in Minneapolis. All right, back to pass, Crusaders. Right over the middle, big number 88... no, picked off! 55! [50:07] Rob Stahusky: Nice! That is of course Loudon Bell with a nice interception return. So what did you see on that one? [50:24] Matt Montgomery: Longville didn't see him, he was underneath. [50:50] Matt Montgomery: All right, 6:05 here to go. First and ten, Bombers have it on the 42. You know, that 42 is two numbers lower than Mr. Lindow's favorite number, 44. And why is that his favorite number? Because... it has to do with baseball. I guarantee it's baseball. What's 44? Oh, he's a baseball guy, yeah. A little bit. And John Birch Park is like his second home. All right, so we'll have to wake him up later and see if he's watching the game. Owen Edstrom back to pass... oh, just a little bit short and hits Cam Dickey, comes back in to get it. We had Joe Corrada on the coverage there. Amazing toss there once again, we don't see that too much at the Bombers—you don't see that pass and you don't see that pressure. Edstrom got rid of it right at the right time and that was a floater. That was a great catch by Dickey. First down. [51:35] Rob Stahusky: All right, Edstrom gets the call from coach Quinlan. Quinlan strolls to the sideline, checks his stats. All right, first and ten from the 43. So 43 yards to go. Five minutes and 30 seconds to go here in the first half. All right, handoff there to Banks up the middle, there's a nine-yard carry. There we go, that's the power T right there and that was to the left. A little bit of space, two guys with them, got to bring them all down, but good gain. And this is what I expect to see probably leading into half—this drive. And one of these might break free. Yeah, you got to hope that the Bombers will start wearing them down with this power T and get some break free and have the Crusaders on the field for defense and eat up some time on some of these drives. Bombers only down by one here, still anybody's game. [52:21] Rob Stahusky: Edstrom under center, handoff up the middle. First man through, second man through... 34 Riley Keenan. He picked up the loose ball! 34 with the fumble recovery. Riley Keenan picked that one up. Um, yeah, tough to see on that one exactly how the ball popped out, but recovered by the Bombers. All right, third and five for the Bombers with 4:25 to go. I'm shaking, I'm not sure if it's nervousness or if it's the cold weather. It's not nerves, we're almost at halftime. Owen Edstrom, there he goes, pop up back and forth... go to the Banks! [53:09] Matt Montgomery: All right, Banks for the carry for a first down. How'd you see it on that one, Rob? You know, this is where we were talking about pregame—the power T, run, run, run some more. That's what you're gonna see. Banks when he's going to the left so far, it looks like there's some success. When they try to go to the right... we didn't have enough scouting on St. Croix Lutheran's defense or their line. When they're going to the left it's working; when they're going to the right, not as much. [53:56] Rob Stahusky: All right, well, I wouldn't make a judgment call like that about the scouting, "not enough scouting." I'm sure Dan Myers is doing a lot of scouting on defense. Where are you working next year, Mr. Montgomery? All right, Edstrom looks for a handoff, coming through a pile of Bombers. Looks like we've got Riley Miller, first one up the middle. No gain, a gain of a yard maybe on that play. I'm trying to watch the chain gang from over here. See, I always watch the refs on the side and then where the number guy is. It looks like about... no, two. Second and eight from the 29. 3:17 to go there, Pudge. [54:42] Matt Montgomery: You know, our pre-production meeting with coach Myers was about two minutes, so I didn't get a chance to pick his brain on all the defense. But so far, see, that was to the right, two yards. All right, looks like a Bomber handoff up the middle... just about broke free! There's a first down for the Bombers. Carson Hamel with a nice, nice cut to the left. 2:58 to go as they reset the chains and the clock starts again. Bombers on the 29-yard line. Carson, first down run. Again, power T. That was slightly left, big gain. If I was calling plays, I'd start going left. Just like fifth and sixth-grade football: you run right, you run left. Right now, I'd be going left. [55:28] Rob Stahusky: All right, that's the coaching clicks from Matt Montgomery there. Looks like we've got a flag on the play from the side. Looks like it goes against the Crusaders. What did you see on that? Offsides or encroachment, whatever they want to call that one. That was the same—we could see Edstrom did a little stand-up, he was doing maybe a hard count, little Aaron Rodgers-like, trying to get them to jump. He's successful. First and five. And Edstrom is good at stand-up; he's a great comedian. So we've got first and five here for the Bombers from the 13 after that penalty. We've got Matt Montgomery here on the binoculars. Edstrom under center, looks like a handoff and some things happen down there. Riley Keenan on the run. Riley Keenan, I think he's got enough for another first down. Again, see, when people say the power T, it's old school and some people say it's kind of gadget plays. That's the one where Edstrom has his back to the defense—they don't know which guy's getting the ball. That time, enough for a first down, but there were two options. The defense has to see who's got the ball, and when they run it as well as the Bombers do, it's tough to see. It's like you just got to tackle them all. [56:15] Rob Stahusky: All right, just under two minutes to go here. Bombers first and seven from the seven, so first and goal. Looks like we've got a handoff to the left side... Marcus Banks! Riley Miller... Marcus Banks with a touchdown! [56:40] Matt Montgomery: I just have a counter, a little bit higher table here too... that would not be a bad thing. So here we go, going for two. 12-7 Bomber lead. Looks like we've got a handoff back up the middle. Touched! Absolutely great hole, the line did their job. Edstrom—that was untouched with ease. Again, left side. I'm not saying they're winning that battle on the left side of the line, that was so wide open you or I could walk that one in. [57:26] Rob Stahusky: All right, well, I can barely walk, so I'm not sure if we can do that. But if I had some crutches or maybe one of those little scooters I see that kid behind school on that goes down to the elementary every morning... all right, so 1:44 to go, Bombers up 14 to 7 here in the section championship game. The last game of the season here at John Birch Park in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. The leaves are down this time of year; usually it would be a big playoff run, and right now here we are, John Birch Park. We play at home, section championships going on all over the state of Minnesota today with the governor lockdown of events taking place coming up at 11:59 tonight. So Bombers looking to kick off and try to hold the Crusaders with 1:44 left, up by seven. Spencer Crinkey back to kick. What do we expect the Bombers to try to do here in this 1:44? [58:11] Matt Montgomery: You know, we've seen the deep kick, we've seen the squib. Not sure if the squib was intentional, I'm not sure about the return man. I would expect a regular kick. See how it goes... probably go deep. [58:43] Rob Stahusky: All right, I'm gonna guess that Crinkey is ready to kick... and it's a squibber right up the middle. It's got a rough time bouncing, picked up in a gang of Bombers tackling. 1:40 to go. All right, what does St. Croix look to do to try to get this thing tied up or a lead in half? [59:29] Matt Montgomery: Oh, absolutely, they're—I wouldn't be surprised if they pass, pass, pass right here. Open it up four wide, look for Rash, see if they can air this one out because they don't have a whole lot of time. Time is the great defender right now. Looks like we've probably got a timeout, the Crusaders didn't see something they wanted. They want to make an adjustment there. What kind of adjustment did they make? Maybe to not let the Bombers scout them. I'm not sure, that looked like they had triple receivers to our left, their right. From my—you know, just as they were lining up, coach must have said no, we don't want trips, we'll figure something else out. Not sure why, but that's why we're here and they're there. [1:00:16] Rob Stahusky: All right, so Bombers' defense... they are coach Dan Myers there, the defensive coordinator getting everyone pumped up for this final game of the 2020 season. Final game for football for these seniors, just a great group of boys. You probably remember when they were just little guys, right? You've taught how many years here in Cannon? It's like 85 years or something now. This is the group that taught me what the "dab" was. All right, so here we go. Okay, so they got man-to-man with one safety deep over there. Not sure if that's something that St. Croix wanted to see or if they called a timeout to see how Cannon would come out, but that's what we're seeing over there with the wide receiver set. All right, so we got Edstrom over there as the safety. They're holding on to the ball. All right, nothing happened where you said stuff was going to happen, Matt. What happened? [1:01:01] Matt Montgomery: Got to be honest, who's calling the timeout now? That was Hamm, Hamm going right up the middle. They're trying to spread it wide, they went for the dive, not really expected, four-yard gain. But you know what, now they're playing the clock game, now they're saying let's see if we get another chance to score, see if we can hold them. Like I said, I would still expect that... St. Croix, they're gonna go to the air or they're gonna try to run out the clock. It's one or the other. They're gonna try to get some points on the board, I would guess, right here before half. So with an interception earlier, they might also just want to make sure that they aren't going to turn the ball over here before the end of the half and they can make their halftime adjustments, talk it over with their coaches and get something figured out. So coaches are walking off the field now. Second and six from the 34 with 1:32 to go to half. Four wide, two on each side, they got it balanced. I haven't put the binoculars up but I'm assuming empty backfield... maybe Hamm is back there? Hamm is back there with them, four wide. All right, we've got Edstrom and Sasse back deep. Oh, they did a short toss and that's an incomplete pass, intended for Sasse. Sasse—would you say Sassy or Saucy? I thought I heard Rod Johnson, the professional guy, say Saucy. Well, we can agree to disagree. I'd say Sassy, maybe even Sass. Maybe his last name is Sass. Well, maybe we can ask one of these St. Croix Lutheran people how you say the name. I did the PA one time and I forget who the team were playing, but when I mispronounced somebody's name they yelled and then they all laughed. So as long as somebody gets a chuckle out of it, I'm gonna go with Sass. [1:02:32] Rob Stahusky: Well, this is playoff football here, there's no chuckling here. There might be a "chuck" in here—we got trips to the right side. Longville back to pass, hits the short guy and that's incomplete. So that brings up fourth and six from the 34. What do you think is going to happen here? 1:23 to go. Boy, I assume they're punting. If they go for it, Bombers are in prime real estate to get some more points on the board, and that's exactly what they're trying to avoid. I assume it's a punt, but you never know. Trickery, like you said, this is the last game, although you got to put all the cards on the table on this one. But we're not even at half yet. We'll see what they do. And you gotta know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run, know when to throw... you name it, we got it. Did you do all your writing? Are these things that you've had in your pocket for years or is this just for tonight? You got the notebook out and "The Gambler"—that's, you know, you don't hear that reference very often in high school football. [1:03:17] Rob Stahusky: Well, you know, you try to bring some things to the table when you're, you know, 85 years old like I am. You want to make sure that as many times as you can, you can try to bring back the old school to all these new school Tick-Tockers. So, how is your TikTok channel coming? I don't do TikTok, I do Tic-Tacs. Social media with kids, that's a different story. You could write some good stand-up with that: "Kids these days." You know, you think you could be one of those observational comedians where, you know, kids... you got a couple young ones right there, they're writing that prime social media. I'm sure—I won't say his first name, he's playing here tonight, I don't want to call him out—but he's probably got some TikTok and Snapchat and all that stuff. Yeah, in my day TikTok was what the clocks made—that noise. And they have a big, big father clock now—they think they call it a grandfather clock, but when I was growing up it was a father clock. All right, 1:23, fourth and six. What's going on? Looks like they're lining up to go for it. Let's see, is he deep? All right, they are going for it or they're gonna try to pull somebody off. Oh no, they're gonna punt. And the punt is up! [1:04:03] Rob Stahusky: ...by the Crusaders at about the 40-yard line, 38-yard line. So 1:15 to go, first and ten. Ball on the 38-yard line. What are the Bombers looking at? [1:04:49] Matt Montgomery: Well, from our angle that looked almost like... you remember the Randall Cunningham punt where it's like you line up like with a deep shotgun? So you kind of get them to think that you're gonna do a regular play, but then you end up kicking it anyway? From our vantage point it didn't look like that was a long snap, it was just a little bit deeper than shotgun. The punt—what do they get, about 20 some yards out of that little bit of real estate? So let's see what the Bombers do here. Timeout situation... Bombers have two? I think the Bombers might have three, not a hundred percent sure. I'm not sure if the scoreboard is accurate on there or not. But Doug Flutie was my favorite quarterback. [1:05:34] Rob Stahusky: All right, Owen Edstrom, T formation. He's going to keep it, he's looking to pass right out to Marcus Banks. He's got a man open! There's a flag on the play. Tackle there by Tom Truth. Flag's back at the 30. The location of this flag, the majority of times you'd say that's going to be a hold, but you never know. Let's see what the officials decide. All right, everybody in here waiting with bated breath. Lots of hand-waving... trying to see who he's pointing to. Roughing the passer! I think that's roughing the passer. They made the tackle inbounds. Wow, so first and ten, let's do it again. [1:06:31] Matt Montgomery: Looks like we got a handoff there up the guts. Carson Hamel with a good maybe four or five-yard carry on that one. Looks like it's more almost a first down. That was a good carry right up the middle, power run. Under a minute to go. All right, second and one on the 30. 43 seconds and counting down. Edstrom with the handoff there to Marcus Banks... he brings it up to first down. So that'll stop the clock, they'll reset the ball. 37 seconds to go. That'll be first and ten from... they spike it. All right, clock stopped here, 32 seconds. Looks like I think they've got at least two timeouts left in their pocket. They're probably what, about the 14-yard line from our vantage point? 11-yard line. Oh, there it is, 11. Yeah, they can do anything here. I would expect run. There's no sense in putting it in the air unless they get it to third and goal or maybe even fourth and goal, but they'll expect to run here in the power team. [1:07:17] Rob Stahusky: All right, looking for the run. We've got Cam Dickey is on the left side, the far side of the field. Looks like we're running up the middle, Riley Miller on the carry. Looks like we've got a timeout. Timeout for the Cannon Falls Bombers. So Riley Miller up the middle. So we'll have 25 seconds left here, the ball is on the 4-yard line. You know, seven-yard gain right up the gut. Expect more of that. You still got the timeouts. I think the Bombers, if they update the scoreboard, will have a timeout left with 25 seconds left. You know, 25 seconds, they still could get a first down also—I know that gets it down into the one, but they could get that first, clock stops, and pound it up the gut again. [1:08:04] Rob Stahusky: All right, we'll see what coach Quinlan has up his sleeve. He's probably got a couple layers of sleeves on today, so who knows. Maybe even that secret smartwatch or something too going on there. So, 25 ticks to go. Third and three on the four. Bombers up by one touchdown here in the section championship game. Bombers' undefeated season. 5-1 for the Crusaders. 25 ticks til half, and here we go. 25 seconds, third and three from the four. Looks like you've got a handoff and a touchdown to the left side! Marcus Banks with another touchdown. Power run. That's what they're doing, it's... [1:08:51] Matt Montgomery: ...what we expected. You know, really good for the Bombers. The only points they've given up was the first play of the game. Like I said, that punch in the face—they woke up since then. They never had to go away from their game. We'll see what they do here if they go for one or if they go for two, but three scores in the first half after giving up that big one, you got to feel pretty good about that. [1:09:38] Rob Stahusky: Yeah, the defense really doing its job here in this first half after that big first play. All right, going for two and it's a pass over to Marcus Banks, complete! Two-point conversion is good. The power T play action—look at how it sucks everybody in. Banks was wide open, good ball from Edstrom. That was good all the way around. All right, Bombers up 22-7 at half... 21 seconds to go. Lots of 20s going on here. I don't even remember my 20s anymore, it's been so long. So we've got—Bombers are going to kick here. I'm not sure if we're looking for a squib kick or a deep kick. Special teams can be crucial in this. Special teams have been wrapping up pretty quickly here lately for the Bombers, so we want to make sure that we kick it and get a tackle. That's my normal thing to say. I was just checking my phone, we got texts from Josh Olson—I think he wants to join us. If we do this next year we could be like Monday Night Football, we could have a three-man booth. He could join in here, give us all that tight end and lineman play-by-play and their vision. [1:10:24] Rob Stahusky: And also he's country strong. I don't know if you've seen him, he's a big guy, he likes football. I don't know who that is. All right, Crinkey to kick and it's almost right... that's about the what, 45-yard line, 47-yard line? Wow. You at home can text us letting us know where that ball is. One second ticked off the clock on that one. Did you see that? That was an attempted squib but it ended up being a line drive. That guy should be on the hands team, that was a great catch and he just took a knee right away. Unfortunately, no time and the placement... I mean, that's probably the last thing the Bombers wanted to see happen with that squib. [1:11:09] Rob Stahusky: All right, special teams once again being crucial here. Let's hope this doesn't hurt the Bombers, but those Crusader fans probably want 20 seconds here, they want some good passing to get them down here and score. You know, they got a timeout too, so I mean, we were joking about being halftime, there's 20 ticks left. They've got two plays here plus the timeout. We'll see what happens. Now, they scored in 13 seconds at the beginning of the game. Looks like the big wide receiver is out on the far side up against Dickey. Single back set, back to pass, rolls... timeout for the Crusaders. So, bringing it down to about the 32-yard line. You know, you hear people say, "Take what they'll give you." [1:11:56] Matt Montgomery: And that play, Bombers' defense is thinking they're going to go deep, they're dropping everybody back. They got a single back set and Hamm just slips out there into the flats. That pass wasn't that good of a ball, but he brought it in and then boy, yards to gain afterward—he must have gone, he got a good run after the catch. All right, so St. Croix... Danny Myers coming out, his defense. 10 ticks left in the first half, Bombers up 22-7, ball's on the 34-yard line. What's coming up at halftime? [1:12:42] Rob Stahusky: At halftime, we will probably leave this broadcast and see if we can figure out these microphones. See, we were gonna do an interview, but if we don't have the mics working, we're gonna take care of—you know, clean house here, figure things out, and then we'll be back to join the second half. All right, so we'll probably make a run to RadioShack quick, hopefully they're still open this time of night. Or Circuit City or... who knows, maybe Musicland? We'll go there and see if we can get some good audio-visual assistance. Somebody said Luke Nowinski. All right, here we go. We got trips right from their vantage point, single receiver man this side, we'll see what happens. All right, Longville shotgun formation, he's looking to throw right down the middle—that could be hitting us in the face! Incomplete pass. Three seconds to go here. What'd you see on that one? [1:13:27] Matt Montgomery: You know, that was a pretty good ball. If that was another yard, 11 has a shot at it. Banks broke it up, but you know, like they say, don't let anything get behind you. If you look at that, that guy broke up, but 11 was behind them. We've seen this play obviously in the pros, you see it all the time; you don't see this much in high school. If that ball has a little bit more of that Russell Wilson arc to it to come down and it's behind you, that's a touchdown. Defense has to drop back on that. Nice Russell Wilson drop here on the baseball field. Somebody who also played baseball... well, we're more of the potential farmers market portion here of John Birch Park. All right, we've got two wide receivers out to the right, to the left. Drop back, this will be the last play of the half. Time's off the clock... we've got a sack there! Number 46, Beau Zimmerman. [1:14:14] Rob Stahusky: Beau Zimmerman with a nice sack. Bombers holding St. Croix from coming down and scoring before half. The St. Croix Lutheran Crusaders have one touchdown in the first 15 seconds. Now we're going to halftime. As the Crusaders are walking our direction, we're going to sign off for a little bit and we'll see if we can come back. Have a good halftime break. [1:32:40] Rob Stahusky: All right, not sure if we're on but getting everything switched up there. We had some mic issues, get some batteries changed. Bombers to return. Not sure if we're on or not... [1:34:03] Matt Montgomery: He is definitely a tough guy to bring down. Welcome back from halftime. I think we've got some mics figured out. Maybe some of you are wishing we didn't have the mics, but we'll just go with that. Second-half adjustments... [1:36:20] Rob Stahusky: All right, he's on the soundboard. Hopefully this mic works; if not, maybe we'll call it for ourselves. We're having a good time. Could we sound worse? I don't know if we could try to work. We'll take your mask off, I trust you. [1:38:14] Matt Montgomery: Third and ten, 9:40 to go in the third quarter. Bombers up 22-7 in the section championship. Up over the top! Quarterback was under pressure, he actually had a defender grab him by the leg. I'm honestly surprised he threw that, I thought he was going to eat it and take the sack instead. He says you're gonna put that up again? That was a toss-up, that was a 50/50. Dickey... great! Did you see Dickey with one hand? Gets it back into his body before he hits the ground while he's falling down. He ends up bringing it up to his activity dog, that was awesome! Oh my gosh. Now we'll watch the Bombers getting close together on your caterpillar, ready to move your way. Right, left, right... looks like a handoff. [1:39:44] Rob Stahusky: That's Banks! First and ten Cannon Falls from the St. Croix. 9:13 to go. So in these first few minutes here, we've had some changes. Just like that, shazam, the Bombers are inside the 20. Who knew? [1:40:48] Matt Montgomery: Took it out to the left, bounced it back, avoided the tackler. Sure he wants that one back so we could try to dive in for the touchdown. But good situation here, first and goal from the one, looking good. All right, coming down to 8:15 left here in the third quarter. Bombers at the one. Edstrom mcadam up the guts... touchdown! Enough of a hole, he got in there. And you know, I'm surprised there wasn't more celebration or there wasn't an earlier call. He just stood up with the ball and was—he was in. Good touchdown. All right, Bombers... I'm guessing here there, and if there is anybody out there, maybe Colton Leshke's mom can text us an update. We can have an update on what's going on with Colton there, injured earlier. All right, going for two. [1:42:07] Rob Stahusky: Number 36, that would be Camden Dickey. That was a little misdirection, looked like they were going to be going left, get it off, go the other way. Yeah, and they're easily 110 yards away from me and I have no idea who had the ball, so I'm glad you brought the binoculars here so that we can see what's going on with that. So I'm very—it's nice to see that touchdown there from the Bombers coming out of the second half. And you know, losing the ball and then getting an interception and bringing it back down and scoring. So, 8:08 here to go in the third quarter. We got to be right by the Saint Croix Lutheran Crusaders here at halftime and they were getting pumped up; they're like, "This is the last game of the year." So, coaches getting them fired up for the second half. [1:43:31] Matt Montgomery: I did not see who ended up with that. A lot of Bomber cheers on that one. I can't tell who made the tackle, but you could hear the pads pop from here. And that was—whoever was getting the return, I could see through the crowd, he got knocked straight back. That was definitely a high impact on that one. Looks like he got into the pack and then just got popped. Kind of got stuck up there in a sticky wicket, huh? Well, nice reference, sticky wicket. That's the kind of situation where the pros, when they're moving a little bit faster, they try to get that wedge so it's not happening. That was a pack that got together and then somebody got the free hit that you could hear it over here. [1:44:16] Rob Stahusky: All right, 8:02 to go. Looks like we've got quads, four wide receivers out. Quarterback looking different actions, drops back, pass over the top. We got Cam Dickey there... oh, almost caught there by number 88, Andy Rash. You know, Andy Rash, that big target that we saw early and then got kind of quiet. Looks like they're going to try to feed it back to him. I don't know if Cam Dickey is always in this corner situation or if they said, "Let's put one of our bigs against their big," but it seems to be working. That ball overthrown a little, but Rash did get his hands on it, just didn't come down with it. All right, so we had Cam Dickey over there, he was just underneath him like water under the fridge. Had to experience that today, that was a lot of fun to clean up. [1:45:02] Matt Montgomery: All right, here we go. Second and 10 from the 29. 7:55 to go. Looks like handoff up the guts, cut from behind. Not sure who the carrier was on that. What'd you see on that one, binocular guy? Looked like a dive right up the middle to Hamm. Again, when they're gonna go dives, they're gonna go Hamm. What'd they gain, about six on that? Seven, three... gain of about six. We got third and three from the 34. 7:30 to go here. Looks like we've got one wide receiver on each side, two backs. Looks like the veer, right up the middle, stopped by the Bombers. Crowd cheers, this is a good indicator for it. Rob, when you're down by this much, you've only got that score on the first play of the game, they're going to go for it. [1:46:06] Rob Stahusky: All right, he's predicting they go for it. So if you win this, maybe I'll give you a Willy Wonka's golden ticket. I am gonna guess they're gonna... well, we got two wide receivers on the near... oh, four wideouts. Fourth and three from the 36. Flag on the play. Is that something they're going for? No, false start is definitely not what they wanted there. But you know, now this makes you ask the question: when it's fourth and eight, you're even going further back now, 31. Now do you change your mind? I don't know, I'm still gonna guess that they go for it, just... we're reaching that desperation level time where you gotta go, gotta go. Well, I fully disagree with the fourth and eight from the 31. It's 30 to 7, you know, you can probably come back from this with the amount of firepower that the Crusaders had, at least on that first play of the game. But it is kind of "back against the wall." I don't know if you want to give up this kind of field position at this point in the game. But might be some trickery here. You know, we're seeing four wide, you got two on each side, separate twins. See what happens. Drop back to pass, look over the top... he's gonna be running and... up in the air, that's an incomplete. Turnover on downs on the 31. 5:57 to go. [1:47:39] Matt Montgomery: Is this what the Bombers' offense wants to see? He missed Zach Arndt—he had him, just overshot him. Decent coverage there, but he makes that catch, that's the first they had an opportunity. Right now, Bombers no need to do anything but run, run, run, get that clock moving. Well, this power T in this team is definitely built to run the clock down as quickly as possible. That clock will be ticking along and St. Croix will start to probably have to use up some timeouts here because this will be a healthy dose of the run is my guess here from coach Quinlan. [1:48:24] Matt Montgomery: All right, Edstrom under center. It's a pass! Going for the jugular. Pass complete... pass to Riley Keenan! I catch over in the third base area. You know, we're not professional analysts, but when we say run, run, run, work the clock, and they come out with a pass, it surprises everybody. I think there's probably a lot of parents watching at home saying, "Why'd they pass there?" But hey, it worked. Successful. It's great to see these guys get a chance to do those routes too. But the power T, boy, it's working tonight. Yeah, that might be like the 17th pass of the year right there. [1:48:55] Rob Stahusky: All right, looks like power T, handoff to the right side up the guts... that's a Bomber touchdown! 10-yard run there. 30-7. Dylan Anderson. They scored in two plays! This—we were expecting them to grind the clock down, run, run, run. They're getting in the end zone in two plays. This one, they're—we'll see what happens if after this, if the mercy rule is gonna come in here, because it's gonna be three points. All right, we're at 36-7. Looks like we're going to go for an extra point here. Spencer Crinkey in. Spencer had a great soccer season this year. We've got a timeout for... oh, Cannon Falls timeout prior to that two-point or that extra point attempt. 5:35 to go, Bomber in the third quarter. Bombers up 36 to 7, just scored and I'm gonna go for a two-point conversion. We do have a plastic table in front of us and it's covered with frost. What do you say about that, Matt? [1:49:41] Matt Montgomery: See, you're talking about frost, that talks about weather. The halftime information that we were gonna share is I actually did a little trivia research for nicknames of high schools. That's why I mentioned Miss Miller before and Eastview Lightning. There's only one school in the entire state that's named the Lightning, and that's Eastview. There's different categories, and if you had to guess, what do you think is the most common mascot name in the entire state of Minnesota? People at home, go ahead, play along. We'll give you until the next possession after the kickoff, but the most common mascot name... all right, Crinkey back to kick. Ooh, it's a little bit of a botch. Crinkey gets it, throws it incomplete. So no conversion there for the Bombers. No good. Bombers up 36-7, 5:35 to go. The Crusaders are going to return the kick. So this is the section 4 3A championship game. At this point, kind of going away from St. Croix and for the Bombers... but with the amount of high-powered offense that we've seen in that first play of the game, this could really go the other direction. We got an update on Colton Leshke—he went to the emergency room, he is feeling a lot of pain. It was a dislocated elbow. It says a lot of swelling and the pain levels are making it difficult to treat, but he went to the air... our thoughts are with him. That play happened really early on in the game. So obviously the update is from his mom, Heather—thank you for the update. So our thoughts are with him. Severely dislocated elbow. [1:51:13] Rob Stahusky: All right, we wish the best for him. Our hopes and prayers go out to him as he's recovering. We're already getting some guesses coming on the text feed here, the text hotline from our three viewers. Crinkey back with the kick here. Oh, "Gophers"? Gophers is a bad guess, someone just got shot down. All right, Crinkey squib kick this time, Crusaders bringing it up the middle. All right, so Crusaders will take over first and ten. Looks like they're at about the 40-yard line or so. You could probably see better at home. 5:31 to go here. So what are we going to see? Lots of throws, runs, variety... what's going to happen here? [1:51:58] Matt Montgomery: You know, I don't think they're going to give in here, but their last possession we were seeing a little bit of a variety, nothing seems to be clicking for them. So you never know. They could be expecting the dive with Hamm, they could be trying to air it out to Rash. Hard to tell. They're just going to see what they can get to start working and try to gain any momentum. All right, looks like they're going to run up the middle and tackled by a gang of Bombers there. So if you've been doing a little bit of scoreboard watching with the state rankings, the Annandale Cardinals were ranked first in class 3A and the Bombers were ranked second. So Annandale had a game tonight against Milaca for their section final. They won 34-0. So Annandale is not going to be dropping in the rankings. A very unique season not getting a chance to go to state, but going for the section title. So Annandale wins 34-0. So Cannon Falls fighting to go for the unbeaten season, and that would be the first time in school history as well. [1:52:45] Rob Stahusky: All right, quarterback going out to the right keeper... oh, brought down outside on the Bombers' sideline. I guess that was Sam Hamm, the running back, number eight. So that'll bring up looks like third and about three maybe. Yep, third and three. 4:48 to go here. Ran out of bounds, stops the clock. Ball's on the 45. [1:53:30] Matt Montgomery: And another scoreboard watch for state rankings: Albany and Pierz. That was—Albany's third in state, Pierz was fourth. 41-8, Albany Huskies win that one. That's a huge win, that was a top-ten game: three versus four. Big win. Like a top-ten weather day. All right, here we go. What station is that? We don't plug any stations, but Channel 12 right here at Cannon Falls! All right, looks like—I'm not sure what happened there, give us the lowdown, Matt. [1:54:15] Matt Montgomery: I was honestly—I wasn't watching that one. Let's see... we've already lost your interest? No, I was doing the scoreboard watching, trying to see... oh, what do we got here? Turnover? Nope, the chain gang is still... trying to see. When you say "what happened there" and I look at the chain gang and they're not moving and I don't know what's going on... it looks like it was a first down, short run up the middle but enough for the first down. Chain gang's got it set, they're about at midfield. So again, nothing necessarily working, it's not clicking. They're probably gonna be hoping for a big play here. It looks like they need four touchdowns with some extras on top of that in order to come back here in this game with 4:09 to go. Looks like we're... pitch out to the right. Bombers wrap them up nicely. Looked like number... Lucas Blomquist with the run. Not sure if that was Beau Zimmerman on the tackle. Was 36-7 the final of the NFC championship game between the Eagles and the Vikings? Had to be something close to that, right? [1:55:37] Matt Montgomery: [Laughter] You can't see my facial expressions right now, but my mouth is totally dropped as I rarely remember the score of this game. It is 36 to 7 as the Bombers are trying to slow down the Crusaders. Second and two, pitch short side, number 11... is that Blomquist again? So they're bringing it down the field. So for people who are texting, I'm seeing the Bears, Eagles, and Tigers. The official winner is Eagles. The top three there are 24 schools with Eagles, 23 with Tigers, 17 with Panthers. So how many do you think there are for Bombers and Crusaders? That'll be the next question: how many Bomber schools, how many Crusader schools? That's an easy question. Why do you ask the easy ones? Come on, you gotta bring it here! I'll give people to the end of the third quarter if they want to text you: how many schools are nicknamed the Bombers and how many are nicknamed the Crusaders? [1:56:22] Rob Stahusky: All right, here we go. We've got Longville back to pass, airing it out to 88 there... Dickey there! Dickey with the interception! Oh, we got a flag on the play. Flag on the play. I got to believe that's going to be on the defense, absolutely. Flag on the play. Dickey seemed to be holding them up the whole time, the ball was underthrown, but he was fighting back for it. That's going to be pass interference on the defense. Yeah, you could see Dickey's arm was kind of out a little bit. I'm sure a lot of coaches will watch the replay on this and totally disagree with us, especially if they're from Cannon Falls. I can hear the people on the sideline: "Are you kidding me?" You know, it's funny, some of the things that parents say. That's okay. Where they're at, honestly, our perspective looking in, Dickey definitely had the inside track and had his arm extended and was pushing him back. But from the back side, it probably didn't look that way. So, you know, it's all about perspective, right? [1:57:53] Matt Montgomery: Yep. And I just watched the replay again inside my head and I saw him kind of with an arm out. So like I've told my son before, it may not have been, but I can see why the official made the call. So "it may not have been pass interference, but I can see why the official made the call"—is that a good answer for a father-son conversation? Yeah, that is, it's a great answer. It's very diplomatic. You can say "I can see..." You're not saying it's your opinion, you're just saying I can see why they did it. It's very down the middle, it's a good way to do it. That's very political. Yep, and opinions are like noses. [1:58:41] Rob Stahusky: All right, looks like a quick handoff to the right side, wrapped up right away by a host of Bombers, especially number 66... I think that's Kronberger? Yeah, Carson Kronenberger. I have a feeling that people are Googling your question at home. Who knows? I think it's... a lot of these texts that I'm getting seem like very Googled. I don't know, you know, it's... no, I see somebody said "two for each." That's not—that's a good guess but that's not right. All right, Crusaders trying to go up the middle again there. Number 14, Zach Corrada... Joe Corrada. 1:41 left until the end of the third quarter here. Joe Corrada—you think he does karate? I think he's more of a jiu-jitsu kind of guy based on some of the early warm-up. I do do some scouting early on, even though you don't think the Bombers do good scouting on the defense of the Saint Croix Lutheran Crusaders. [1:59:28] Matt Montgomery: All right, pass over the left side, caught and dropped. That was an incomplete pass, didn't have it long enough. That was basically a naked bubble screen; he has nobody out there for a block. Man-to-man, try to get it out to him and make a move. Obviously, this is the cliché: he was thinking of running downfield before he got the ball in his hands. He turned his head, he was either afraid of getting popped or trying to put a move on. Either way, incomplete. I do not ever remember seeing "naked bubble screen" on the list of Madden potential plays in my football knowledge. So, you know what, if I had to write up the play cards, that's what I'd call it. [2:00:14] Rob Stahusky: All right, here we go. Fourth and five, minute 16 left. We got twins on their left, it's going to come right in front of us here. So looks like we've got a pitch out on the veer to the left side... go up, drop down there... nice tackle by Camden Dickey! Flag on the play. Flag is dropped. My guess is probably "horse collar" or "neck tackle," whatever they want to call it—that's what it looked like. We'll have to see the refs getting together, but that is definitely around the neck area where he got the grab. Looks like it's going to be a horse collar, so that'll probably be a half-the-distance. Yep, it'll be a first and goal halfway. All right, coach Myers shouting out some directions. And for those of you at home who are color-blind, the flag is yellow that went on the field. Illegal helmet contact is the call, Rod? Illegal helmet contact. [2:01:00] Matt Montgomery: All right, so we're first and five, 1:06 to go. The play is right in front of us. We got two wide to the right side, the far side. Owen Edstrom moves to that side, he's looking that way, he throws left... oh, hits him in the helmet! Incomplete to number 31, Evan Sass... or Sassy or Saucy. Well, we had a Sherry Sass that taught in Cannon Falls, so we're gonna go with Sass, and whatever Matt says goes apparently around here. That's not true. You know what, that was actually a good ball, hit him in the hands. Honestly, in that kind of route where he's cut into the middle, he was looking to get hit—I think that's why he kind of got "alligator arms" there. [2:01:45] Matt Montgomery: All right, coming right in front of us here. Shotgun formation, two on each side. Quick handoff to the right, stopped by a host of Bombers there. We got Kronenberger in there, we got... let's see who else... Loudon Bell in there. Nice to see all those guys get in there. Also Beau Zimmerman. I got to be honest, the Crusaders are not establishing the power run up the middle; the Bombers are really lit up the second half. There's nothing going up the middle with these guys—those tackles, they're hitting hard. You got to be thinking slants, you got to be thinking fades to the corner. Those power runs aren't going to do it. All right, two wideouts, far end of the field. Quarterback looking that way and the veer... keeping the veer, QB keeper! Touchdown! Number 12, Zach Longville. Touchdown for the Crusaders. [2:02:24] Rob Stahusky: Now, I was saying the power runs weren't going to work, but going out there and spreading it out, that did work. That was... and he had a good option there too, that's the veer, that's what we talked about earlier. And Longville has a couple rushing touchdowns on the season, so that works for him when he gets around that edge. Fourth quarter, you can probably expect to see more of that because the power game is just not going to work. So expect stuff off the edge, expect passes out in the flats and trying to go deep. That's about all they got. All right, Crusaders going for two here, 36 to 15. Looks like he's moving to the right, another veer QB keeper... stopped just short? Oh, you know what, I was with you—it looked like he could have been down, but he extended himself. You know, if this was the NFL, we'd go through about a five-minute replay. They're giving it to him. The tackle right at the line, he extended himself, they give it to him. [2:03:10] Rob Stahusky: All right, so the Crusaders cut it to 21 with 23 ticks left here until the fourth quarter when everybody will run around with four fingers up in the air waving around like they just don't care. So that Crusader touchdown puts a little life into them, you see a little pep in their step over there. Yeah, you know, they're at least they're back a little, they're happier about that one. It was a solid drive, but here's the thing—would have been turnover on downs if not for that penalty. All right, what do we got? Oh, oh, snuggle closer to stay warm? Jesus. No, you know, it's actually pretty nice out here. We were talking about the weather—we couldn't ask for anything to be nicer. We've seen plenty of years where there's snow on the ground and schedule got pushed back. We're lucky, this has been great. John Birch Park is a great place for football, the field is in great shape. Lucky night. [2:03:57] Matt Montgomery: All right, I get a lot of questions about the trivia here, so let's wait till the fourth quarter to get those guesses in. Go to that "one Twitter question thing" dot com and we'll see what your answers are. Hopefully that's not a real thing or a real bad thing. I'll give everybody a hint: the number is the same. There's the same number of Crusaders as there are Bombers, and it's not two... Carey already answered, it's not two. But they're the only two nicknames in the state that have the same number. All right, so there you go, you can let that sit in your craw for a little bit and try to go through... don't go get on the bingo-bongo machine and see if you can find out what the answer is. No asking Siri or Sarah or Tina or the Google or Iris or whoever... what's the one on Microsoft? I don't even know. All right, here goes the onside kick. Who goes through? Two Crusaders... [2:04:42] Rob Stahusky: Bomber lets it run out of bounds. We got a player for the Crusaders that is down and he's holding his ankle up and it looks like it's bent the wrong way. For those at home watching on TV, we don't see what you see, but he is in a lot of pain. He's got trainers there, he's got his leg up in the air. Chances are that's probably a snapped ankle. Yeah, I hate to see this in any game. This is, looks like a second pretty major injury here in the section championship game. He's getting up... oh, he's hopping off the field! Not sure if that's trainer-supported or not. I gotta say I've never seen that. He's angry, he's in pain, and that was an aggressive hop and he is down on the ground. Not looking good. Obviously, all jokes aside, I'm surprised that if it hurts that bad you get off and hop like that. Get a little assistance, get off to the side, let the trainers do their job. Hope that kid's okay. Honestly, that onside kick—we can't tell the depth from where we're at if that went 10 yards or not—but that was as good an onside kick as you'll see. Oh, did it not go? Or they're calling a false start? They had an opportunity to receive that. That was, if it didn't go out of bounds, they might have two guys that had a shot at it. [2:06:13] Rob Stahusky: All right, Bombers are going to take over at the 50. First and ten, 50 yards to go. 23 seconds left here in the third quarter. We'll try to get an update on the player that hopped off the field here with the ankle injury. T formation for the Bombers, near side of the field. Looks like you've got a quick handoff... Banks, not much of a gain, but looks like maybe a yard or two if that. Oh, no-gainer. All right, no gain. Clock ticking down to nine, eight seconds... we'll see. Looks like we are going to let it go to the fourth quarter and the Bombers will be moving to the left side. I was all excited and then we'd have more Bomber football today. So going into the fourth quarter, Bombers up 36-15. They'll take over at the 50 after this break. Now, trivia and the answers are coming in here. Okay, I see another person saying "two." Nope, that's not it. What do we got? Nope, I'm seeing a lot of people guessing two. [2:06:59] Matt Montgomery: The answer is four. There are four Bombers and there are four Crusaders. Four Bombers, four Crusaders. And out of all the nicknames—this, I think, is a MinPost article that had it broken down by different categories—and out of all the categories, there were only two schools in the state that shared "four." And it just so happens to be Bombers and Crusaders. Was that the lowest? No, there was a... like I said, there was a whole—there's not more than one "Awesome Blossom"? No, one Awesome Blossom. There's a whole string of schools that have one. There's a few, and they had them split by, like, "Knights" is the most common for, like, a person or occupation. They broke down Knights was the most for that one. Eagles was the most overall. And then "Lakers" was the most for weather-related, which is my alma mater, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winstead—alphabet soup. Lakers... six of them. Prior Lake Lakers, Howard... Lakers. Other than that, you know, some popular nicknames out there. Fascinating! [2:07:44] Rob Stahusky: Absolutely fascinating. We were the Roosevelt Teddies, for Theodore Roosevelt. All right, Bombers take over. Power T moving to the right side, Cam Dickey. It looks like coming up the middle for a first down! Nice run there by the Bombers. Cam Dickey, you don't see him run it too much, but there you go. How many yards did he go with the guy on his back? I mean, that was like doing a piggyback ride. He just—I think he did at least five yards with that strong run. That's what they're gonna go for here. [2:08:30] Matt Montgomery: All right, so Bombers looking to eat some clock, put a little gravy on it, maybe a little chicken and a biscuit in the gravy... and Thanksgiving, there's plenty of food analogies we can make here. You looking forward to Thanksgiving? All right, here comes the Bombers, handoff to somebody... Carson Hamel brings it up the left side of the field! Nice run by the Bombers, just eating the clock here with 11:18 to go. You know, five-yard gain on that, they can do that all day long as long as Crusaders don't figure out how to stuff that, put more people in the box. We're gonna see that run—it's gonna go left, it's gonna go right, maybe a little misdirection counter. That's what we're gonna get. [2:09:16] Rob Stahusky: All right, sensing some body language changes here for the Crusaders as they're getting on and off the field. Owen Edstrom under center... handoff to Riley Keenan to the right side of about two or three. You know, the game isn't over, obviously. Third and short here, you want to get this first down and in fact, this possession you want to pound it in, you want to take the time, you want to get the score. That pretty much makes it a done deal. But if there's a stop here or a turnover, there's still time. We're talking three touchdowns, these guys are already thinking onside kick. It's at that point where you can really, you know, put the nail in the coffin here on this drive right here. Third down, gotta get it. [2:10:02] Rob Stahusky: All right, Matt was right, the game is not over. 10:14 left. Owen Edstrom under center... we had a jump there by the Crusaders. Yep, that's the, like we said, the... I forget what they nickname it, if it's "freeze" or whatever, but that works for me. What is this, the third time tonight? It's very effective. That's, you know, that shows that they've got a disciplined offensive line, it's a good job. Yeah, a lot of times I haven't seen a lot of penalties from them this year. I think prior, the game against Lourdes had the most penalties that I saw this season. But we'll see here... we go first and ten from the 28-yard line for the Bombers coming right at us. Looks like we're going to the right side as opposed to the two people... oh! [2:10:50] Rob Stahusky: See, this is one of those things where the game is not out of hand, but there's people on each side getting a little fired up because they thought the whistle maybe got thrown down after that. To be honest, I don't think it was that much after the whistle, it looked like it was still in the field of play. Not much to get fired up about there. [2:11:36] Matt Montgomery: All right, I did not see much of the tomfoolery and skullduggery in there or any shenanigans for that matter. Owen Edstrom under center, handoff... let's see, we're going right up the middle, coming right at us. There is that—Marcus Banks? Riley Miller with that run up the middle? They disguise the ball so well. They do. I mean, honestly, they're coming right at us here in the south end zone, so it's so much more fun to see it from this side than the back side. It is hard to see when Edstrom turns around, you can't see who's getting the ball. I mean it's not a trick play, it's straight-up power football, but you got to find out which guy's got it. You gotta identify and then make the tackle, and by the time they do... look, another first down, clock ticking. [2:12:31] Rob Stahusky: Yeah, these linemen are really doing the job here in the trenches with Kronenberger and Steinable and Otto and Anderson-Rosebear. We've got Beau Zimmerman at tight end. All right, Edstrom under the middle... looks like we got a Devon Sexton touchdown! Devon Sexton! See, again, power T. Decent amount of surge there at the line from the Crusaders, but Sexton was the last one through, had the ball. That one looked easy. Well, I just watched the replay in my mind and his knee was definitely down and that ball came out with about a foot up. What was the penalty here on the Crusaders? It's going to be a personal foul... I don't know what the act was. Personal foul, but it didn't really say what it was in the backfield. I don't know if they hit somebody without the ball after they got rid of it or what. We didn't see that. Maybe the people at home saw it, not sure. But first and goal now... it's so hard to see who has the ball you might think so. We're on the two-yard line, 8:33 to go in this game. 21-point difference, Bombers looking to push it in. [2:14:02] Matt Montgomery: Like I said, we got Steinable and Zimmerman and Lucas Hoffman, Anderson-Rosebear. We've got Beau Zimmerman in at tight end. All right, Edstrom under the middle, looks like we got a Devon Sexton touchdown. Nice job for the senior, Devon Sexton, getting a touchdown. A couple nice plays for him on the day. So, 42 to 15 for the Bombers, 8:23 to go in this game. Looks like we are going to be setting up for a kick by Spencer Crinkey. Snap is up, kick is up... and it's good! That almost hits you in the head, Matt! Are you okay? You know what, that one would have been good from about 25, that was a good kick. Yeah, he was hitting some 30-yarders before the game—he saw in advance, which would be before the game, because that's what advance is. You know, aside from that, the Crusaders are definitely still fired up because if you saw there, they weren't just, you know, special teams "let them kick it." There were some guys in the front that were trying to catapult... to be honest, I'm surprised there wasn't a flag thrown. There were some guys that jumped, they went right over center trying to take them out. We'll see if they get a little chippy here. We got eight and a half left to go, you don't want to end it on a bad note. But they're still fired up, they're ready to go. [2:15:34] Rob Stahusky: All right, a lot of those Crusaders are seniors too, their last game of their season as well. We got the coach—is still fired up with the official, the Crusaders, so they're not quitting here. 43-15. You know, the Crusaders have won this section for a number of years in a row and gone to state and state tournament victories. We've played them, they've played us. Most of our games have been there at the turf of the Crusaders' field, and I remember playing in this... they were in the snow and it was super cold. But right now the Bombers hosting this one, up 43 to 15 with 8:23 to go. Yeah, this one, you know, like I said, do you break their back on that? You know, you pretty much do. Let's be honest, they've got 15 points on the board, there's eight and a half left to play, but these guys still—I mean you remember your last game of the year. You know it's your last game of the year, you want to go out on a high note. You're still going to play hard and these guys have a lot of pride and their coach is still fired up. So they're going to keep going. Don't expect anybody to just hand the ball off or, you know, we're not going to see victory formation yet. There's a lot of football left. [2:16:21] Rob Stahusky: All right, we've got a holder on this one because apparently they're not using a tee, or the wind that isn't here is too strong, or they lost the tee. You think with the T formation you'd have extra tees around. There's a lot of "T" jokes that we could make for Mr. McGrath. But no, I don't know why they're not putting a tee or why they're holding, that's not making sense to me. Well, there's Spencer Crinkey talking to the holder, he said "up dog." What's that now? He said "up dog." What's up-dog? Not much, we got the Bombers winning here, 43-15 with 8:23 to go. There's the tee! They found the tee. The Crusaders came and took over the tee and tried to bring it to their sideline. That's really a power move. You know, "spill the tea"—that's another thing that the kids, the "homeboys" like to say: spill the tea. I don't... you gotta have backup microphones, you gotta backup tees just in case things like this happen. All right, and there's a squib kick... [2:17:07] Matt Montgomery: ...fielded cleanly there by number 57. That would be somebody who's not listed on the roster. So, shout-out to him. Crusaders take over. Bombers will be on defense here, up 43-15. That's almost a 30-point lead, Matt! That's great math right there. You know, it's not about the leads though, it's about just finishing this the right way because you don't want to get chippy, you don't want the other team to get chippy. So you want to hold them, get the ball back, and then just run. Let's end this the right way. Don't let them get too chippy, don't let them try to get something. You still want to hold them back, right? We're still playing ball, the game is not over, like Matt said before. If you were the Crusaders here, look at this, they're making—I'd just be airing it out. This is like playing Madden, you got to go for it. Oh, look at this trick play! Up over the top... looks like that's picked up by Camden Dickey! Cam Dickey with the interception! 8:07 to go, Bombers up 43-15. It was a trick play—coach Myers must have said "cover Rash no matter what, don't leave him," because that trick play, nobody bought into that. I'm kind of... [2:18:39] Rob Stahusky: ...surprised they did that on first down instead of trying to establish something and then... you know, it's like the fastball-curveball, you got to set it up. They just did that right out of the gate. Dickey was in position, that was an easy one. It's nice to have a 6'5" corner back there to get up with the long arms and take that ball away. So we're going to get a healthy dose of running, I think, right here up 43 to 15, 8:07 to go. It's going to be tough for us to see from this angle but it looks like Edstrom pitched it out, not sure who that went to, but tackled for a loss of about five yards on that carry. But the clock keeps ticking. Now, both teams with timeouts here in this half. [2:19:28] Rob Stahusky: We are looking for somebody to text us how to say Lori's last name. Oh, first name? He might go by Rich, Richie, something like that... can't remember. Somebody will let me know. All right, Bombers up the right side... he could go all the way! That looks like a Bomber touchdown! Carson Hamel, Bomber touchdown! Right in front of us, that was nice. That was a nice play there. Jake McAdam just told Carson "let's go!" That was fun to see. I mean, once he gets past those safeties, it's hard to catch up with that guy. That was, you know, well set up and these guys, you know, they're playing hard. That was just—you get a chance to get out there and run and he was off to the races. Which races? The John Birch Park races, I don't know... the "Camptown Races"? I don't know. [2:20:14] Matt Montgomery: We used to have bike races. Oh, he did! That was fun. And then they got rid of it. Why did that happen? Ever since you became City Council, that's what happened! The kick is up and good for Crinkey. Up and good. 7:14 left in this game. 44 to 15 Cannon Falls... with a... no, 50 to 15. What's that lead? I think it's 35 points? [2:21:57] Rob Stahusky: All right, 35-point lead for the Bombers. So, teeth are starting to chatter if that's what you hear, either that or it's my mask froze to my gray goatee. We'll see what goes from there. So here the Bombers are going to kick off. Are we going to see another squib kick? No, I think the Bombers—there's no reason to squib kick, they can kick deep, they can play defense. Oh, wait a second, they just now... score correction of the score. So what's the math with that? That's why I was messed up, because I'm like, that score does not seem right because we just had a 28-point lead... or 27-point lead. So I'm like, oh, my math must be really messed up. They only put up the extra point, they forgot the touchdown. Yeah, well, there is a scoreboard issue that I also know how to fix. But good job for the scoreboard guy and Rod Johnson with the PA announcing. You know, he's done that before a few times, I think. Yeah, I think he was for the Lynx and the Timberwolves, right? There you go. How many years did he do that? [2:22:43] Rob Stahusky: It was at least two... oh, it was longer than that. Oh, you were right—another squib! And it's rolling around, 14 picks it up and he's cutting to the left, cutting through the middle... number 14 Joe Corrada, 5'9", 165 sophomore, trying to cut through on that. And remember, he's into jiu-jitsu. I thought "Joey Karate," isn't that a Parks and Rec reference? I think it is. Joey Karate. Was he related to Joe Isuzu? That is going way back, Joe Isuzu. The car... oh, that's a guy! Really? Joe Isuzu? I don't know, I thought it was the pitchman for Isuzu, the cars back in the '80s. Yeah, they called him Joe Isuzu. Yeah, I remember that, he was a guy. The car didn't talk—the car talked, that was Knight Rider. That's right, Knight Rider with Michael... David Hasselhoff. But you know, they all have names. [2:23:28] Matt Montgomery: All right, here we go. 7:05, 50 to 15. Back to pass, Longville. Nice connection there right in the middle of the field to number 11, Lucas Blomquist. Looks like Mr. Blomquist is only one off... first down. First and ten. That pass right in the middle of the field helps the clock continue to run. Yeah, but you know what, hey, coverage... there's no need to, you know, you can relax a little bit, but there's no need to—you don't have to do this whole "give them what they want" here. They're still going to be governing tight. I don't know, it looks like they don't have—they might be getting some extra guys in here for, you know, some reps, give some people a chance. A nice pass there once again to Blomquist. [2:24:50] Matt Montgomery: It looks like maybe they have some of their younger players out there, maybe some JV guys out there. Haven't seen big number 88 Rash out there—he went down on that interception by Dickey and he went down. He wasn't super slow to get up, but he stayed on the ground. He was holding his leg, one of the coaches went out and talked to him, so we might not be seeing him back out here, he might be done for the night. All right, we got six minutes to go, Bombers up 50 to 15. Second and two from the 45. We got the veer, handoff right up the middle... is that Blomquist again? Blomquist. 50-15. Looks like we got that veer handoff up the middle. You know, we're not saying they're giving in, but if they're gonna just power and power and power, that's almost a reflection of what the Bombers can do. It's just power run, power run. Maybe some second-teamers are getting their reps in there right now, which is good. Get everybody on the field, last game of the year. Five minutes to go, get them out there, let them play. [2:25:38] Rob Stahusky: All right, we're gonna update on Colton Leshke from his dad—elbow's back in place, they're waiting on a third X-ray to confirm that. So, good news as much as possible there. Looks like number two from long distance, he got away! Whoever run up the middle, but boy, when he blocked, when he got away from that first tackle, he just pushed back and kept going. Got out to the right, forced out of bounds. Let's see what yard line they're gonna spot him at. From our vantage point, hard to tell. They move them to the 12. Okay, from the Bomber 12-yard line, 4:45 remaining in the game. All right, we got the name update on "Rich" Knight? Lori was the carrier? So, sorry we messed that one up... now, that was more Matt than me, I'm sure. All right, carry to the right side, looks like Blomquist again... touchdown, Lucas Blomquist. [2:26:43] Rob Stahusky: Yeah, you know, I am a little surprised that the defense... I mean, like I said, you don't want to give them too much. This game, obviously, a 35-point difference, but you let them go, they're going to onside it here, we'll see what happens. Well, they might go for two before they onside it, but you know, who am I to tell you what's gonna happen here in this next play? And maybe it's an onside extra point? Could you opt for that? That'd be really interesting—an onside extra point. Try to kick it into the end zone and recover... would that count? We could change the rules of football right here. I think you could probably do that, why not? You can do it in Madden, you can do it in anything. All right, looks like they're going for two... we're gonna pass... oh, incomplete pass. So 50 to 21. Good. Four minutes, 30 seconds to go until the end of this game. The game is not over. No, it's not. We've still got a job to do, we're professionals here. And when is it usually over? When the clock reaches all zeros and then you hear the noise, that's usually the end. All right, well, it's not over until it's over, so you... wanted me to say the "fat lady" joke? It's not over until the fat lady sings? Is that what you wanted? Yeah, let's not get into that now. That's going in the wrong direction. [2:27:29] Matt Montgomery: All right, let's get some more trivia. Four minutes and 30 seconds to go there, Pudge. 50 to 21 Bombers lead. Here's your trivia. So the category is Keith Myers or Joe Mauer? We know that both of them are top-ten quarterbacks in Minnesota State High School League statistics in pass attempts, completions, touchdowns, and yards. So who has more yards: Joe Mauer or Keith Myers? Keith Myers. Keith Myers is fourth all-time with 3,071; Joe Mauer is ninth with 2,800. Uh, how about attempts, pass attempts? Mauer... Joe Mauer 358 to Keith's 340. Completions... we'll have to wait on that one as the kickoff comes out here. Blasted to the right side and that one goes out of bounds. Completions—is it Keith or Joe? I would have to say that is Joe. Wrong! Keith 166. Touchdowns—Mauer or Myers? Myers. Mauer 41 to 33. 33 passing touchdowns. See, look at that crack research and staff here, going to the Minnesota State High School League website, clicking drop-down menus... passing, all that stuff. You know, it's fun though, honestly. It's cool to see that Keith had such a great career, top ten in all those stats. And Joe Mauer—it's just kind of cool good conversation stuff. And if you had Josh Olson here, he'd probably tell you more about that '96 football team as well and rattle off some of his stats. So if anybody knows what his stats are from his time as a Cannon Falls Bomber, text those to us and we'll get you a prize. [2:29:48] Matt Montgomery: All right, Bombers taking over. I didn't even see who was under center with all the tomfoolery and skullduggery going out here. Probably a break to the right... oh, nice cut back! A big run! How'd you see—I like the blocking on that one. You know what, that was just a great cut. He was going—he started off to their left, he goes all the way back. He might have gained almost 60 yards, but he probably ran about 100 because he had to go all the way over there and then cut it all the way back. Is that mathematically possible? We'll have to do some equations for that one. Edstrom with a handoff to... touchdown! Dylan Anderson with his second touchdown in this game. Dylan Anderson coming in and scoring. Nice blocking by that O-line to get that opened up there. Wow. I mean we got a lot of guys that can power run. This is a solid team—there's a lot of running backs if they get their chances, they're just literally taking the ball and running with it. [2:30:50] Rob Stahusky: All right, like we said, we get some... Isaac Failing in to hike the ball, sophomore. Spencer Crinkey to kick. They're rushing it and it's up, and it's short and right. Looks like some of the JV guys are getting in there, you'll have to look for them. 56-21 with 3:52 to go. After the game, there will be an award ceremony presentation. I'm not sure if Matt's getting any awards since he is beyond the best commentator that I've ever worked with named Matt Montgomery in my life. And he's a trained professional, I'm just a goofy middle-school teacher and he's got... I think he's got stamps on his card for broadcasting. There's no official club, you're never really in the "circle"—it's just you do what you do. And yeah, there's no backspace like the green room that we all get to hang out in, it's just a job. It was fun, it was a good run, but now technically you could be my boss! I'm a paraprofessional, I help out at the school, so I'm just having fun being here at the game. [2:32:24] Matt Montgomery: All right, we appreciate you being here at the game and your time as an educational assistant for the Cannon Falls Area Schools. And I won't tell you all the complaints I hear from the students that you don't know what you're talking about, but we'll just keep moving on that. Oh, we got a little bit of a botched fumble there. Special teams, Cannon Falls looking excited. It was Evan Sasse who had the return for Saint Croix Lutheran. I don't know who made the tackle, but that ball—we could see that popped right out. Let's see the official... oh boy, there's some pushing and shoving. Look at that, we got guys putting their hands up. Oh, this is what we don't want to see, and these are pretty much the fellas coming in here getting some section championship time. Bombers recover! First and ten, Bomber football. We've got some of the JV guys coming out on the field now, pumped up, ready to go. This is some good time for them. Yeah, you know, this... you don't want to say what some people would call it. There's still game to be played, but you get your other guys in there, there's still time on the clock. It's fun to get them out there. You feel bad for the kid who just muffed the kick because you know these guys, they want to get their chances too. And it looks like they're not going to—they're going to run this one down. [2:33:55] Rob Stahusky: Well, we can't sell the Crusaders short on their season; they had a great year this year. Five and one, number-two seed in the section. Just a great job in that division that they're in as well. But here we have Bombers leading 56 to 21. 3:47 to go. Owen Edstrom's still in. Looks like the keeper... some rough tackles here going on. Crusader helping him up, that's a classy deal right there. Just a great group of kids here. That was Tom Truth making sure that Edstrom was okay. And Edstrom is walking slowly to the sideline. Looks like we're going to get somebody else in there under center. I believe that's going to be Colton Otto. Colton Otto, and the JV quarterback this year, number four. We got a timeout for the Bombers. Coach Quinlan's gonna work on some equations and get these boys moving in the right direction. Yeah, you know, I like this. I like seeing "get your JV guys in there, give them their chances." You know, these stats are going to go in the record book. Section championship—try to get them in there and I'll get their picture in there and everyone will be pumped up because they got to play. I know my son will be out there playing... I think he's out there now. If you see a 67 out there, that would be Drew Stahusky. But these are all of his teammates here. We got 35, Callahan Anderson out there... I think I saw Will Regenscheid, Carson Kronenberger... I can't get all the numbers from here, I'm just guessing right now. [2:35:23] Rob Stahusky: ...up 30, that's Dylan Anderson. He's still out there. 59, Kendrick Otto on the run. So not only does he kick, he also carries... first down right up the middle. All right, we're at 2:47 to go. If I did my math right, we are at the 35-point mark which I believe is "running time" in the fourth quarter in high school football—and basketball too, I believe. Yeah, basketball has to get inside of 28, 27. All right, Colton Otto from the center, gets the handoff, come to the left side... oh, we had a little bit of a fumble there. That was good old John Banks... Jonathan Banks for the Bombers. You know, he's a really tough guy to take down as well as I've watched a lot of JV games. So Jonathan Banks with a nice carry to the right side. Second and four with just under two minutes to go. Everyone's getting excited and pumped up on the Bomber sideline. Great year here for the Crusaders as well, got a lot of the guys in there. All right, Colton Otto from the center, gets the handoff, come to the left side. Nice carry for Callahan Anderson! Boy, he used to barrel people over when he was in sixth and fifth and fourth grade and seventh grade. Yeah, he got held up there, he took a shot, but that's all right. He's getting in the game, that didn't phase him at all. Oh, here we go, we got some more guys getting in here. [2:37:31] Rob Stahusky: All right, we got more guys coming in. Camden Dickey's still out there. Looks like maybe some seniors are coming out for that final run here—seniors, juniors. Looks like victory formation... or is this power T? Nope, it is victory. All right, victory formation. 54 ticks left. One more snap, I have to get one more snap in. So, what do you think of this Bombers game overall? [2:38:18] Matt Montgomery: You know, honestly, after that first-play touchdown and then after the injury, it looked like the tone could have been a little bleak. We were thinking, "Man, this maybe is going to be a game." The Bombers—they know what works for them. This was just... I mean, this is a blowout. This is a solid win. This is a section championship that they will remember. This is a unique season. Undefeated. They should be happy about this. You know, it'd be great if this could have been a regular year and you make it to U.S. Bank Stadium... this is unique. This is worth remembering. Unbeaten—it's a great thing. First team in Cannon Falls history unbeaten season as we tick down... three, two, one... that's the ball game! Bombers win 56, Saint Croix Crusaders 21. As the teams wave goodbye to each other with all the COVID situations going on right now. 56-21. Bombers first undefeated team in this 2020 season—for the Cannon Falls Bombers of all time, for the undefeated season. This is really, like Matt said, this is one of the teams that would like to see continue to go in the playoffs and move their way. But just really a nice game here today for the Bombers. Even though it was, what was it, 7-6 at the end of the first quarter? [2:39:04] Rob Stahusky: Yeah, you know, I'm not sure if the Minnesota State High School League is going to come out with postseason rankings, but number two in state. And like I said, Annandale was one and they had a big blowout win over Milaca, but this is another big blowout win. So if you want to be one of those people that keeps track of that, a number-two finish in state and undefeated—if you were to go that route, that is a tremendous season. Yeah, maybe we'll just have them get together and play in some U.S. Bank field or some other place with turf and just have them go out... a little flag football or something? No, we could—you know, it'd be like the black market of high school sports. We'll just have that state championship. Cheerleaders and players, we salute you. All right, let's give a chance here to... Saint Croix Lutheran, please come forward. Great job for the Crusaders, good season. Championship game. Cannon Falls Bombers, please come forward to receive... [2:41:18] Rob Stahusky: And there you have it, folks—the section champions for section 4 class 3A. Congratulations! Once again, congrats to the coaches and the players on a great season. Thanks to the parents for all their support of their players. Thank you for the fans that showed up outside of John Birch Park to watch, those of you at home... and any last words, Matt? [2:41:35] Matt Montgomery: No, just exactly what you're saying—thank everybody for making this season such a success because there was a time where we were thinking we weren't going to be playing football until next March. And the way it finished, it still was a great season. [2:41:50] Rob Stahusky: Great season. That is Rob Stahusky and Matt Montgomery signing off from Cannon Falls. Thank you for spending a little time with us and maybe we will see you another time. Have a good one. [2:42:07] [Transcript End]