[Music] Hey everybody and welcome to episode seven of the Ranger football report. I'm Noah Casa. >> I'm Joel Gist. >> And week seven, we're taking on Mountains View this week. But before we get to that, we played a pretty dang good against pretty dang good game against Eastridge this week. And we'll start there. All right. Well, you >> want to start with your thoughts? >> Um, well, my thoughts, uh, it was a it was a really good game. Um, the defense played really well. Uh, there's no doubt about the the fact that they were definitely not wanting to give up yards or points, um, in the game and, uh, it took them till the fourth quarter to actually put anything on the board. Um, and, uh, >> well, they tried their darnest at the end of the first half. >> At the end of the first half and, you know, I'll talk some clarification. We got some clarification on that. I did I did some uh some clarification. So, >> uh the halftime score was what was the halftime score? It was going to be >> uh 10 nothing. >> Yeah. So, it was 10 nothing going into half and uh the Eastridge Raptors had uh gotten down to the 15 yardd line. I think I think it was right right around the 15 yard line. uh Force Lake made a big stop. Um and uh they forced him to kick a field goal and uh it was it was at the point where >> it was kind of on the far side hash. Um so it was on the right hash. Uh they went to went to kick it and the the offensive line got pushed back. Howie Johnson blocked the field goal >> about three to four yards before the line of scrimmage. >> Uh it wasn't it was actually a lot closer. I went and went and looked and it was right it was about a half yard shy. >> Okay. >> Um because Howie Johnson was the second line. He wasn't the first line. >> So he was on the second line and had his hands up. Um, and once he had his hands up, he was probably about maybe 3/4 of a yard past the line of scrimmage. Um, so the ball did get hit behind the line of scrimmage and therefore if the offense recovers it, they can advance it. Um, and then or if they were just down, they would get another fourth down play. However, that was within two seconds of the end of the half and the play would have been dead because they didn't have any timeouts. They wouldn't have had time to call a timeout. It would have just been done. Uh Forest Lake could have also recovered the ball and then returned it. Um >> instead, we were on the way to lock >> instead. Everybody kind of was celebrating and ran off the field. Um, while that happened, there was an inadvertent whistle because that ball is still alive on the ground. There was an inadvertent whistle from one of the officials. >> I believe it was the official on the force lake side. >> And if there is an inadvertent whistle, rule states that if there is an inadvertent whistle whistle, you will get a replay of the down. So, they would have had a rekick and that is an untimed down. So, it didn't matter if the clocks if the clock hit zero or not. Um because what had happened was the Eastridge Raptors, I don't know who recovered it, but they did recover it after the whistle had blown and then ran it in for a touchdown, which Force Lake didn't stop them. They did not know that it did not cross the the the line of >> line of scrimmage. and going forward. Forest Lake Rangers, I don't care what it is. You fall in the ball, you touch the ball, you pick up the ball, you try and attempt to run it back no matter what. And make the official stop you with a whistle >> and play to the whistle, please. Because that was it. It was also not explained very well by the official that it was going to be a replay replayed untimed down due to an inadvertent whistle. >> He brought up the inadvertent whistle, but he he never said because of it was going to be an untimed down or it was just like he threw it out there that it was just going to be a re redo, >> right? And so I did did some searching and found the actual rule that states that it is an ontime down, which also came into play in Sunday's game in London, which is part of the reason why I found that rule um with the ghost wire kick in London. >> Well, the biggest the biggest thing about it is it didn't get past the line of like the ball itself did not get past the line of scrimmage. >> Correct. If it would have gotten blocked and flown out of the back or, you know, in the field of play down to like the one yard line, but not gone through, it's a dead ball, >> right? >> But because it didn't get past the line of scrimmage, it was still a live ball. >> Well, at least NFL rules, that is not a dead ball. The defense >> high school, it is a dead ball. >> Yes. The So, >> cuz we saw that in the Woodberry game. >> Yes. Yes, we blocked the field goal and it landed at like the 5 yd line or it went I think we blocked it straight back but the guy that got his hand on it was like a yard past the line of scrimmage and so they just blew it all dead right >> and that's how we got that shut out but was it Woodberry or Park? >> One of the two. >> I think it was Park. >> One of the two weeks ago I forgot already. Um so anyhow um after looking at it with some clarification we got some decent clarification which I would have thought we could have gotten during the game. Uh we did not. Uh but um that came into play as far as like points point differential and things like that. Um turns out that they rekicked and they shank the kick wide right. I mean wide left. >> Missed it anyway. missed it by quite a bit. Um, and again, that was because it was on the right hash and he was trying to really push it to the left to get it over there and he just pushed it way too far left. Yeah. >> Um, so anyhow, uh, that is that play and that's enough of that play. We will not talk about that play again. >> Um, just looking into some stats now as we recap. Uh Connor had another well done night. Four for six, 41 yards, a touchdown, and his first interception of the year. Um we talked enough about that on the broadcast. I think it was just you're going to have one of those plays every once in a while with your quarterback that's trying to make a play. Maybe wasn't the correct call on where he was going for going with the ball, but what are you going to do? It's his first one of the year and we're into week going into week seven now. I think I'm more than okay with it being this late into the year that he gets his first >> uh >> first pick. Anyways, Micah with a huge throw and catch this week, >> right? >> He was one for one, 41 yards and a touchdown on the uh receiver screen to Westman. >> Yep. Uh that led into Westman uh having quite the day receiving wise. 63 yards and a touchdown on three receptions. 41 of that being the big one. >> Yep. And Rayfield comes up with another touchdown as well. Um, and uh, >> which we got to we got to look at >> continue talking >> the uh, and I was really happy to see Rayfield catch the ball one yard deep in the end zone. >> Yeah. So, cuz he has been robbed and multime at least twice this season, he has been robbed where he's caught the ball on the three yd line and he's had to make a great catch and just he's and he's he's made an amazing catch and then either tackles >> either a shoestring tackle or the defender that was coming in trying to go for the ball hits him and he just falls just a bit short. So, I was really glad to see that. >> Well, and he's had two that would have been walk-in touchdowns with nobody around him and they were just >> a little too far out of reach and >> Yeah, it was it was good. And I called that one especially I want go back on the broadcast and rewatch that one. I called that one right before the snap. >> Yeah. >> I I believe I called uh Johnson's carry too on one of them. But yeah, it's fun when you can like when you're the when you're the home announcer and you get to watch him every single week, you start picking up on >> some of the the the analytics, I'd say, of the Rangers. Well, all I'm going to say is it's a good thing there's about a 20 second delay between YouTube and them so they can't find out what we're doing because uh >> um but yeah, so the East Ridge game, we were just talking before the game, Mac with a sneaky 160 yards on the ground. >> Yeah, when I uh when I gave the player the game, I I >> know like I did not know that that was an that was a stat line. And yes, we knew Mack had a great game, but 22 for 160, come on. I don't understand how like we missed that as far as like >> watching the game. >> I was watching the game. I was watching the game and we had, you know, it it was a sneaky 160. Um and uh just a a good and you know, a lot of them were those 10 15 yard varieties. He goes right into his average of 7.3 a carry throughout the game. That's exactly what it was. He didn't really break. He had maybe two that he broke for like 20 25 yards, but other than that, yeah, they were probably seven yard plays that he just kept running between the tackles. >> Sneaky great game And uh yeah, >> I honestly I don't know what's more surprising, seeing that he got 160 or that Kevin only got 30 yards on the ground last week cuz I thought he was fairly consistent with his 8 to 10 yard a carry um kind of roll he's been on. >> Mhm. And I I don't remember I remember one him getting like stonewalled right at the line of scrimmage, but I don't remember him getting >> Yeah, that was that was like one of his first like tackles for a loss and it was it was only one yard. Like it was a tackle for a loss for one yard. It it barely even qualifies as a tackle for loss. um which you know that just it and he got hit behind the line of scrimmage and he fought for that extra like he got hit probably two or three yards deep and fought to get that one yard. Uh so he was only one yard deep on the tackle for the loss. Um yeah. And then uh as far as uh average yards, average yards per play, um five yards, five yards a play. We'll take that. You know, that's definitely down every two plays, >> right? I mean, and that's, you know, it kind of played into the game that it was just five yards in a cloud of dust, which is why M. Jerkovic looked like he, you know, didn't he didn't have the super flashy game to get you the 160 yards, but he still got him and it was sneaky. So, great job, Mac. Uh, great job. The diesel was a running. Um, so, uh, uh, rushing yards. I mean, we almost doubled Eastridge. We finished with 43 carries for 221 yards. They went 31 for 116. So, the rush defense again with a pretty decent game. The Rangers still only giving up 77 yards per game on average, which is a pretty crazy number if you ask me. Especially when you pair that with the fact that we're averaging 233 yards on the ground every single week. Um, that's a recipe for wins and a lot of them. >> And like previously I've spoken about how our rushing defense is where teams are really hitting us. >> I mean, >> we're not giving up a lot of yards on the ground. >> It's just a bigger percentage. And this is this is what I was kind of explaining to you in the booth the other day that this is kind of why like force rushing defense in no way, shape or form >> is a problem or a liability. >> The difference is is that's where teams find that they can actually get some first downs here and there. Yeah. And the problem is is like you're getting first downs, but you have to string 10 first downs or you know say four to five depending on where they get the ball. They're getting the ball typically at the 20 25. So that means that you're going to have to string you know seven or eight first downs in a row that just barely get past the sticks rushing against this defense that leads 6A in tackles for a loss. So once you get and and sacks. So once you get behind the sticks, yes, they can run on you and okay, so it's third and 15, we're going to give up 10 on the ground. Now it's now it's fourth and five. Okay, you're punting. Okay, >> so big deal. >> And we've also seen throughout the weeks a team will rip off a 15 yard run that you're like, "Holy cow, how did that squeak through?" But then the next play they roll out to pass. Howie comes in, sacks him for 15. That 15 yards on the play before is net zero, >> right? >> And so I I think for every big run that we give up, our defense more than makes up for it throughout the drive. And there's a reason that Rooney has the stats that he has in the punt return game right now. And it's cuz he's getting a lot of opportunities, >> right? >> He's been fielding a lot of punts in the last handful of weeks. and getting back to the tackles for a loss. Uh, these teams are trying their hardest to run away from >> Howie. >> And guess what? Guess who's on the other side? Cullen Christensen is on the other side. And Nife, Nichife and Cullen Christensen on the other side know that they're going to try and run at them. Cullen Christensen played one of the least selfish games I've seen out of a linebacker as far as stats. You look at a stat line and there's about four tackles in there that won't show up. That was him solo tackling, dead stopping the ball carrier behind the line of scrimmage and somebody else comes in and makes the tackle. But if he was not there, he basically posted up, made the ball carrier stop, slow down, or change direction directly into another player. And Cullen Christensen had an amazing game. And like there was probably at least three or four tackles on there that he did not get credited for because he did not touch the ball carrier. However, he was the one that made the ball carrier stop. >> Yeah. >> And so that's that's one thing where I'm talking about this bend but don't break defense. like it's a bend but don't break defense, but there's also a very big swarm on the other side of Howie Johnson. They know that they they know that they're not going to try and run to Howie's side. Like you'd be you'd be mad to try and do that. However, they still have to touch Howie with one, two, sometimes three guys just to chip him to keep him in in his in his spot. So then they know that now we got to go the other side. Well, when they do that, Cullen's kind of out there by himself and then has the other guys come in once their guy has kind of went to go and chip on Howy. Now, now Schlife is, you know, out and free. Also, Durago came in and Tomakung also came in and just made a dagger was in on a ton of them, too. >> Yeah. So like people are this defense is doing a great job in the outside seal and just slowing them down so everybody can get there and it it's the host of Rangers when we say and tackled by a host of Rangers like some of them it's in the stat line and some of it some of it's not and and like I I really want to shout out Colin Christensen's job last week on just stopping the ball carrier here and I I couldn't believe that the tackle that Tomakung made cuz like I didn't even see him coming >> like a missile >> like Colin Christensen stopped him dead and Tomakung came right around him came at him like a missile took out his legs and Colin Christensen was just standing there like okay uh I I I good job. >> Yeah. So, it's funny. Like, we're talking about Colin playing a very not selfish game, the least selfish game we've seen a defender play in a long time. And yet, in almost every statistical category across the board last week, he's still leading to the ranks at the end of the game. >> It's crazy. >> He had eight eight total tackles, three tackles for loss, and a sack. Yeah. And like we were just saying, I mean it the top four in tackles last week is Christensen, Johnson, Tomakonga, and Schlife. And then Daggerstrom and Durago. like th those those front I don't want to say front four cuz you know like while WY and like the guys playing in the middle do >> have their have their spot they're not making a lot of tackles but they make it incredibly hard for them to run between the tackles >> well and one one thing that that uh in between the tackles there is one standout in between the tackles Derrick Lumis is basically that guy that if you have a bigger running back which they did. Um, you know, they did have a bigger running back and Derrick Lumis has been great at like, hey, he's the guy that we're going to set in the middle. And if if they're getting pressure up the middle or they're getting runs up the middle, Derrick Lumis is the guy to come and block the hole immediately. And, you know, he's he's done a great job taking on those bigger backs. and that that spot where it's um not this week but last week against White Bearer. Um he did a great job doing that too uh where they had that bigger running back um as well. And so this this defense is is really coming together and I we didn't quite >> you and say they are together. >> Right. Right. Right. Right. But I mean, I think this defense is only getting better. Like it like like we didn't know what we had at the beginning of the season with the defense because there was a lot of guys like we lost a lot. Lumis, Dargerstrom, Dargerstrom played quite a bit last season, but he was kind of in the backup style role. He wasn't on the field all the time, so we didn't know what we had. Tanukong was definitely m I mean he's night and day difference from you know the first season the first couple of games last season and then he started to come on late in the in the season and this year he is lights out. I mean and and one thing that we can talk about um also is our coverage has been good and we got a couple of penalties in that last in that last drive. I can say that there was contact. I can say that most of the time that contact is not called. >> Correct. >> Um and so I'm not going to say that, you know, it was completely egregious and not should have been called, but to call two that were like that >> back to back >> back to back that were very questionable. >> I'm still mad about the Westman one cuz that was some beautiful defense. And I mean, everybody, everybody, no matter who you look at in high school football, if you're looking back for the ball and you're trying to fight for the ball, rarely are you going to get called unless you absolutely just shoved him, you know, with both arms trying to get separation. Um, if your head is turned around and you are looking for the ball and you're going up for the ball with one hand, rarely are you going to get called. And they like >> that was just one of the rare ones. >> It and it was two rare ones right in a row. Um so but I can say Westman Tokung you did a great job. Those penalties uh I would still want you to play like that every time. >> Yep. Completely agree. >> Um so that's that's my thought on on that. Um you got any more thoughts on Eastridge in general? >> Eastridge in general. um a better team a better team than we have seen you know from >> in the last few weeks for sure >> from the last couple of weeks and you know there's >> although they did they did check me two weeks ago losing to Woodberry >> the fashion that they did >> and somebody else that we are going to see >> about to get to them >> um you know little uh little foreshadowing is somebody else has also >> taken the Woodberry slide >> um >> you want to jump right into Well, I mean, yeah, sure. Why not? >> So, last week, two weeks ago, I guess last week during the podcast, we were talking about how Eastridge lost to Woodbury after we did a number to him. And, uh, we were wondering what this Eastridge team was going to be like, cuz we know that they historically seem to have been a bit better program than Woodbury. >> Um, and even with their players out, I mean, their quarterback was no slouch. by no means. Um, but >> I'm thinking to myself this week after the Eastridge game right away, like, all right, we're we're on to Mountains View. Mountains View kind of had their way with us last last year, >> right? And that was >> and crazy things happen when we play at Mountains View. So, I was a little bit I was a little bit nervous. And then I'm watching the uh I'm listening to the radio to hear all the scores and see Woodberry beats Mountains View 2817. So either Woodberry has got their swagger back or some of these teams are just not as good nearly as good as we thought they might be this year. Um, >> and you know, I will preface this with every week is different and and if the ball bounces one way or another early in the game, it can easily it can easily change the game's total trajectory by 30 points. >> We were just talking about this before the game or before the podcast. Anoka is a ball bounce away from being like 4 and two and they're sitting at 0 and six, >> right? because of that kind of like Anoka is a good team that just can't seem to get a win this year. >> I mean, when you lose 62-61 >> and 48 to 49, I believe was what the score was. >> Yeah, it was it it was ridiculous that they they are it's ridiculous that they are 0 and six >> and the fact that that happened to them backto back weeks has just got to be 42 to 41. Yeah, >> it's got to just be debilitating to your team, >> right? >> And we talked about this as well, like Anoka was a good team. Anoka played us solid. An NOA was a good team and they're 0 and6 and that just goes to show you how you know what you can play really good and stuff just happens. You know, >> it's a bumper sticker. That's why Yeah, we talked we talked about this last week of like anybody that's saying anything about like, oh, Forest Lake hasn't played anybody, >> right? >> It's high school football going going what are we now? 6 and0. >> Yeah, >> it's hard, >> right? >> It doesn't matter who you're playing going and have two shutouts. >> And to have two shut outs and Easter was >> should have been a shut out. We called that at the end of the game, but again, we already went through that. Um, yeah. So Woodberry beats Mountains View 2817. Looking ahead two weeks, Stillwater played White Bear this past week and Stillwater gets out of there with the win, but it was only 31 to 21. So 10-point margin in that game. And we kind of I want to say we beat the brakes off of White Bear, but it was it was it was a well done game by the Rangers. I will say that if you look at the score, the score amply reflected how the the game actually went. >> Yeah. >> Um like it it was fairly close at halftime. >> It was fairly close at halftime and then just >> everything everything that could go wrong for White Bear did. >> Injuries and just Yeah. the whole gamut. >> Um, so, um, but I I really think that I mean, we we had talked about this like we we keep talking about point differential and why it matters and people say, well, you know, we kind of feel I I kind of heard a couple of people, they're like, man, I started to feel a little bit bad that we were scoring so many points on these teams. I'm like, you you have to cuz guess what? If you don't, you don't get ranked in the top three. And then guess what? You get to play a NOA that's 0 and six and should be actually probably in the middle of the pack being like 14. >> So, you know, it's it's one of those things that there are sneaky good teams in high school and right now an NOA is one of them. And I mean, first week of the playoffs, I would not want to play them. >> No. No. keep keep us far away from Anoka in the playoffs. I'd rather let them lose by one point to somebody else than us. >> And let let me preface this by saying I fully believe that this Forceike team is >> better than >> better than Anoka. >> Yeah, >> Anoka is one of those teams that doesn't have any wins but has played so good they should have at least three. >> Yeah. >> Like they should be three and three. They're 0 and six. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, for the first time, it will real quick, we'll give an update on where the Rangers sit in standings and the polls. So, the standings for playoffs for the first time, I believe, all season, the Rangers now match their poll ranking with their standings. So, Force Lake finally into spot three. The only two teams above us in the overall standings is Maple Grove at number one and Minnetonka at number two. Then your Rangers at three. The only three undefeated teams left in 6A. Uh, and in the polls, we are also number three. So, >> okay. I think I I I as far as the polls go, I mean, that's a bit more subjective. The standings are based on stats. That's what playoff seating and everything is all about. The polls are a fun thing to talk about cuz it's where everybody thinks you should be. >> Um, and I I'll be honest, I don't think I don't think that we've played anybody good enough to put us over Maple Grove, especially off of historical value and everything. >> I think we are at the best spot we possibly could be. without playing and beating one of those two teams. >> Right. And this is this is where it comes into what I say and I've said this all season is you can only play who's on the schedule. >> Yep. >> And right now if you look at Minnotonka and Maple Grove schedule like they've played some really good teams and most of them are in the top 15 in 6A. Um and that's that's why they are number one and number two. And you're not going to uh like unless they take a huge loss, you're not really going to see a huge difference in those rankings. >> I don't know why it took me this long to click on either Maple Grove or Minnotonka, but I just did. I got a pretty good feeling both teams are going to pick up a win this week. Um, but the last game of the season will be number one Maple Grove going up against number two Minnetonka. >> Wow. >> Battle of the unbeatens. >> Battle in week eight, >> which will be a crazy upset happens, but that that should be I would expect that's the matter. >> Do you want to put a couple of jelly beans on that there will be a Kasa family member at that game? >> I would probably say so. Yeah. Yeah. I I would bet you Caleb's going to be fighting tooth and nail the guitar. >> Absolutely. You can check out >> unless he's got a nineman game to be at, I guess. >> He's been all over the state for some big matchups this year. >> Uh you can check Caleb Cas out, a former member of the broadcast crew, which who knows, maybe he'll make a make make an appearance or two, >> try for a playoff game or something. >> So, uh you can check him out at mnhs.com or on YouTube. Um Mhm. >> Mhs. work. Yeah. >> Um and uh if you want to check out the highlights to that game, he does an amazing job. Um I would I would pretty much guess that he's going to be at >> down on the border of Minnesota and Iowa last weekend for I think it was the the Sou Falls game or something like that. >> Got to love that night man. >> He's all over the place. Um but we'll uh run through the scores of Maple Grove a minute talk from last week. Maple Grove played STMA, beat him 35 to 24, and Minnetonka played Weisetta, beat him 28-0 up. So, still two absolute powerhouses that the Rangers are going to have to at least one of them they're going to have to get through at some point this season in order to win a championship. Um, but as the season goes on, I grow in confidence that I think we can actually hang with either one of those two teams this year. Well, I mean, the thing is is like you look at it and you can only play who's on the schedule and you can only ascertain by what everybody else has done. Like that's why that's why we've been saying like, well, what how did they fare against Woodbury? How did they how did how did this team fare against Prior Lake? Um, which Prior Lake has, you know, beat some pretty good teams recently. Um and so they they just beat Rosemount um last week I believe. Um so there and Rosemount was number three. >> Prior Lake Beach Shakape last week. >> Oh yeah. Prior Lake Beach Shakape and >> and Shaki is number six. >> Yeah. So um there's >> Yeah, they've played Forest Lake, Egan Rose Mount, Minnetonka, Lakeville North, and Shakipe. >> Right. And that schedule's a gauntlet of really good teams. And so, um, you know, you can kind of ascertain how they're doing against that. Force Lake played Prior Lake tough. Prior Lake has played a whole bunch of really good teams tough. So, if you want to say, well, hey, is this where, you know, we do really well in the regular season and then we just get blown out in the playoffs. No, that's not that's not how this is going to go. This team is built to play each opponent and play to its strengths, which right now, if you want to try and pass against us, guess what? You get to play against the interception leader in 6A. >> No, as of >> or tied. >> No, he >> Oh, he got passed. Okay, >> but Okay. So, he he's number two. >> Yeah. Um, you get to play against the number two interception leader and the sack leader in 6A, >> tackle for loss, >> tackles for loss leader in the team as a whole. So like if you want to if you want to play that game and, you know, try and go up top, >> okay, you can try and do that. Also, if you want to try and run, you can try and run and you might get five, six yards every time, but you're going to make a mistake. The loss of 15's coming, >> right? The tackle for a loss is coming and you will be behind the sticks. It will be second and 17. It will be third and 20. Like you're you're going to get into that spot. And that's what this defense really really excels at. And it guess what? When that happens, when it's third and 21 and they make another big sack right behind it, guess what happens? A punt. We have really good field position. We get a a pretty solid return from Rooney and then usually within four plays >> Mac breaks one. >> Within four plays, Forest Lake is >> celebrating in the end >> celebrating in the end zone because four plays after a great play on defense that turns the ball over either through an interception, a big sack, a big drive stop. That's when the big plays from the offense comes and it it's just really weird that it's happened that way. But >> it's like clockwork. it. You know, this is a big play team and you know, if you this it it feeds on big plays and big plays beget big plays, which is >> kind of a >> Well, I'm going to rapid fire through a couple of uh week wrap-up stats going into this week and then we'll uh jump into a quick overview and preview of Mount View and get out of here. Uh Force Lake currently sitting in third in points scored behind Andover and Maple Grove with 216. Uh Forest Lake still leads in completion percentage and quarterback rating. However, we have not thrown as much as some other teams, so it's a little bit skewed, but nevertheless, we're number Uno. Uh Force Lake sixth in rushing yards and fifth in rushing touchdowns. Forest Lake leads 6A with sacks with 16 and tackles for loss of 57. Forestlakes's defense is still only giving up 77 yards per game while we rush for 233 yards a game. Um, we've only allowed two rushing touchdowns this year and we have scored 20 on opposing defenses. So, with all that being said, how do you think Malti is going to try and slow us down this week? Well, I mean, you can try you can try and slow the you can try and slow the Force Lake offense down. I So, it's really kind of a a It's a two-headed monster. You have You have >> Matt Djkovich. Well, I'm just saying it's two-headed monster for one thing. You have Matt. Jerkovich and Durago, both of who can do completely separate things. Like Mack is your speed and agility guy and Durago is your I need tough yards up the middle guy. And you know, it depends on depends on what we see out of that defense and where we can really take advantage of it. That depends on who gets the ball a lot. >> Mhm. Now, you want to try and stop both of those things. And then we have one of the most efficient quarterbacks that yes, he does not throw a ton of passes, period, but why would you when we can run the ball for as many yards as we do when we're o averaging over 200 a game? Why do you need to throw the ball? You don't. But when you do want to, >> he's proven time and time again this year that he makes more than likely he makes the correct decision on where to go with the ball and how to put the ball in his receivers's hands and he's been very efficient. >> Yeah. I mean, and he and it's good. It's good that we got that one interception out of the way. We don't have to worry about, you know, we don't have to worry about zeros and goose eggs and all of this stuff. Let's just go and play a great game. like you don't have to worry about stats and all that. Like the completion stats that we've been talking about as far as this completion percentage, completely unattainable to say that we're going to go into a a game and throw at an 80% completion rate. That's just not going to happen. I mean, it may, but you can't expect that. Um like if we end up throwing 20 times a game, which I I mean, I don't think that would ever happen. Um, unless it was one of those like 61 to 62 shootouts that Anoka and Andover played like that might you that game you might see 20 to 30 passes in that game. But um, >> in this offense what we do, >> we run the ball. We we establish our authority through the offensive line playing amazing. And guess what? It's really hard to do once you come out from playing after halftime. After halftime, you come out, you just spent minutes, you go and get your stretches on. And then you remember like how much they were beating the brakes off of you on the on the on the offensive line like that that that hey, we got a one or a two yard push. Now that's a three or a four yard push that comes in. And the Force Lake Freightlininers have done a great job. Um, and after half is when they really like you, we used to talk about it in as Vikings fans with Adrien Peterson. He gets better and as the game goes on, third and fourth quarter now, nobody wants to tackle him. Well, nobody wants to get hit by this offensive line after >> nobody wants to try and take Drago down. Nobody wants to try and run all the way out to the edge to take to take down Westman. And >> yeah, and this team has done like what Draago, we've been talking about what Durago has been doing as far as >> as far as running the ball with authority. And man, his >> Durago has sprung Jerkovic multiple times on a lot of his big plays. His blocking his blocking that he's come down the line and also we've had a lot of a lot of pull blocks from most of the Forest Lake Freight Liners. there is usually one or two two people that are pulling on those tosses and they've been doing a great job um and uh you know our guards and centers have done a great job getting to the second level and and sealing those linebackers and as the game goes on in the in the third and fourth quarter man they just don't want to get hit anymore. They're like, I I mean, and that's when as an offensive lineman, it's really easy to get there because you know that they don't want you know that I don't want to be here anymore, you know, when it's >> they when they're down 20, down 30 like and that's what this force team has has done and it makes it really tough to even try and come back when you're just Yeah, we can go down and score, but we just have to we have to give him the ball back. What What happens when we give them the ball back? Okay, so now they take an 8-minute drive or they score a touchdown in three plays. Like you you can pick your poison. Like you can you can slow us down or you can just give us the touchdown. And one of those two things happens and it's just so hard to get back into the game. And um you know this a lot of announcers like to call it playing downhill. Well, you're playing downhill because you're you're ahead and you are imposing your will on somebody else. It's it's not, hey, we're reacting to this team. This is not a team that goes out and reacts to what everybody else does. This is a team that goes out and says, "We want to do this and we will do this." And that's what they do. And I it's a great job by Coach Biscow to come out with a game plan and say, "This is exactly what we're going to do against this team. I've seen this. This is exactly what we're going to do. And it just you you see it happening. Just boom, boom, boom. And every time they're they're taking advantage of something that they know and they've put in situations that, hey, we're used to doing we're used to, you know, we're used to running this play. We're used to running this play. And when Jerkovic was out, we found out a whole bunch about this team that we didn't know. And we probably wouldn't have known had Mack been in the game. And I think that this team has become a lot harder to beat because Mack went out for two games. And it it sucks that we were without him and it sucks for him that he didn't get to play and that he was injured. But it was really good for the experience of this team to play an offense without him and have to figure out ways that they can impose their will somehow. >> Yeah. And going into the stats for Mountains View, they a so we're averaging giving up 77 yards a game. They average just under 100. So, I think Force Lake brings their agame and I might have said it last week on the broadcast, but there's three certainties in life. It's death, taxes, and the Rangers going to run the football. So, I think I think that will be an interesting stat to see how high that average jumps up after this week because I imagine if you're given Mu has played some fairly formidable opponents this year, but they have also played the White Bears, the East Ridges, the Woodberry. They have to play the same conference teams as us, >> right? And so the fact that they're giving up 96 against some of those teams that the Rangers didn't even let out of their own field, their own side of the field for most of the game. Um be interesting to see how Mack and company attack that defensive line. Um passing, we give up about the same amount of yardage. We give up a little over with 98 yards. They give up 95 a game. um they pass more than we do. We average 78 a game. They average 140. But again, that's 140 on teams that >> really haven't been able to play defense this year. >> I mean, you would find that had Force Lake been behind in a lot of these games that we would probably have a lot more passing yards. >> Um so, it's one thing that we impose our will. we're playing our game and we are making them play our game no matter who they are. So if we were behind, I would imagine that, you know, we would be passing significantly amount more. But um and that's where, you know, Mountains use played some games that they were behind. They had to pass a lot more. Um, you know, they they've been in some games that, you know, they they dropped that they could have possibly won, but you know, it's it's something where when you look at um, you know, when you look, he's Beckham Wheeler, he's got 71 uh 122 attempts, 71 completions for a 58.2 completion percentage, but he's got five interceptions. >> Yeah. He's almost 50% across the board with attempts and completions. And then he's got seven touchdowns and five interceptions. So almost at the same rate that he's throwing touchdowns, he's throwing picks, >> right? And that's that's one thing that when you're behind, you're throwing a lot of those yolo balls. YOLO, you only live once. And you know, so if you're throwing a yolo ball, you're going to get you're going to get interceptions, but you're also going to get huge chunk plays if you complete it. So, um, so it's it kind of live by the sword, die by the sword in a passing offense if you're behind. You kind of have to, but that can also get that game out of hand really quickly. And that's how like if you were say a score or two behind a team like Woodberry that all of a sudden you're way behind if you get it intercepted and then they have a short field on you. >> Yeah. comparing the running backs here. Um, I mean, they got one feature back, Kaden Tran. He's got 69 carries for 377 and three touchdowns. He's pretty on par. I mean, he Mack has more yards than him on less carries, but statwise, not by much. He's pretty on par with how Mack is running. Mac's still a better running back statistically and biased. I'm going to just say he's a better running back than Tram, but he's he's a little bit lower level than what Mack has been this season. Um, >> however, the difference is when you look at the stat sheet, >> they don't really have a standout second tier running like next man up running back. Well, I mean, we have three of them >> with Durago and then Johnson out of the back field and then throw Richley and whoever else you want to fill in. They've all lighting up the stack >> out of the backfield has done a great job. But you look at Beckham Wheeler and Beckham Wheeler has 58 attemp I mean 52 attempts for 78 yards. If you if you go and look at Connor's stats, um if you look at Connor stats in that same in that same aspect, Connor is using his rushing as a way to get first downs. And like he's not he's not rushing for a ton of yards, but he's rushing just to move the chains. And that's, you know, that's the number one thing that that you have to do is you want to move the chains, but when you're basically just running for your life, like it looks like Beckham Wheeler is doing. He's running for his life and just getting a couple of yards and it's it's not I'm going to get the first down. Conor Johnson has run specific plays. You know, you run him up the middle. He does that draw play where he goes up the middle. Um good usually good for about five or six. Um and then if he is on a roll out, you know, he has the option to, you know, do the roll out screen. Um that like that has been one of the plays. And then also when he's rolling out, he likes to hit Rayfield deep. >> Micah Savage. Micah Savage, he's Savage Joe has almost been mainly on straight drop backs, but Rayfield has been more on the more on the option the the the throwing option plays. Um, so it's it's kind of one of those things that those drags across the field, Rayfield is there and he's kind of running with with Connor Johnson and then if Connor sees that he can get the first down, he'll he'll run for the first down and he's very effective at it. Um he's at uh what five yards a carry? >> Four. >> Four. Um on 49 at for 49 attempts for 200 yards. So that's almost double what Wheeler is doing. Um and it's one of those things where you're not looking for your quarterback. I'm not looking for our quarterback to get hundreds of yards. But if our quarterback can, you know, run out of bounds and get the first down pretty easily or do a quick draw play where it's not that not that risky of a situation. Um, absolutely. And and Conor's done a great job at at getting those those quick yards, getting what you need, get down, move on to the next play. I think the big story is that Mounds View statistically, if you're not looking at attempts, statistically they gradeed out really close to Force Lake in a lot of categories. But then when you start factoring in the amount of attempts that it's taken them to get to the same stats that Forest Lake is sitting at right now, that's where you see the big gap in play. and the Rangers have just been much more efficient in their play so far this year and it's shown in their record and on the scoreboard and I think that this week that's what's I I I just think that the Rangers and Mounds View might run a fairly similarish game. I think our defense is 10fold better. Um, but I wouldn't be surprised if statistically it's by the end of the game it grades out. I think the score is going to be different. Um, but statwise it might grade out pretty close, but just the attempts and pass completions, pass attempts, rush attempts, all that stuff is going to be much higher than where force likes at. >> Yeah. I you know I'm going to say this for this game. >> I Let's get into predictions. >> I I think Forest Lake should pull out a win. >> Mhm. >> I'm going to say that Mounds View has been an issue in the past a lot as far as >> especially at Mounds View. at Mountains View. We've had the last two times that we've played there, we've had some mental mistakes, some misplays that really could have changed the course of the game that were out of >> were out of our control. Yeah. >> Um, and I really want to say that Force Leg comes out with a a good statement win. Um, I think that even if there is a few of those mistakes that this team is good enough to make up for them and everybody's going to pick up whoever whoever falls off, but let's just look at this game. keep everybody super tight as far as keeping it under control. Um and let's not let them force us into playing a game that we don't want to play. >> Yeah. Um it because last year we had a number of pre-nap penalties that just absolutely submarined us from the get >> and a lot of poor tackling. >> Yes. And a lot of a lot of poor tackling. And so there was a number of things that just it spiraled out of control really quickly last season. And um you know I Mounds View is a good team and I I will say you know they're they're one of those mid-tier teams that you know hey guess what they can play um you know just like Anoka. Anoka is one of those mid-tier teams that's 0 and six but they can play really well against anybody. Um so it's one of those things that I wouldn't wouldn't be surprised if the score ends up being 30 to 20. I would not be surprised. I I would be surprised at a really lopsided win for the Rangers. That would that would surprise me. Um, however, I do not put this team out in saying that they can't do it. Um, but I I mean I I'm looking for, you know, kind of that two-score game. Um, and uh, >> where's your line at? >> I've been really bad lately. I You know what? I didn't even want to pull one up, but um, >> you know what? I'm going to I'm going to put my line at 45. 45 is the line >> total. >> 45 total is the overunder number that I'm going with. >> In our preeason video, I predicted end of this week the Rangers were going to be undefeated. And then I called this one the trap game and predicted this as Force Lakes only loss on the year. I think I was going straight homer with it the entire prediction video because I don't know if I necessarily to my core thought that we'd be sitting here at a 100% undefeated record going into Mountains View, right? >> I thought Prior Lake would maybe be a little closer. I thought the Anoka game >> Well, Prior Lake was close. >> Some weird Well, yeah, I >> was close. >> I thought that those two games in particular could go either way, but I was choosing the Rangers. Um, so now that we are sitting here undefeated and knowing how Mountains View has been this year, I just can't see the Rangers losing this game. I think it's more competitive than last week. >> Mhm. >> But I still think the Rangers win by a couple of scores. I'd go 2814, maybe even 35 if we sprinkle in a end of the game touchdown at the end. I'm I'm predicting it's a competitive game till the second half. Just like Whitebear, Rangers get a couple of big turnovers. Rangers score fast and momentum shifts and Mountains View just isn't able to dig themselves out of the hole. That being said, it's a huge trap stadium. If I if somebody told me on Saturday that there was a little bit of Mustang magic and somehow someway I was mad and felt like something weird happened to where the Rangers didn't win, I wouldn't be insanely surprised. But that being said, my official prediction for the game, wholeheartedly, the Rangers do win this one and we win it by at least double what Mounts View scores. Okay, that's what I'm going to say. And then I think we waltz into Still Water, kick some tail there, and we're into the playoffs undefeated. So, when I said it could be a 30 to 20 game, that's not what I'm actually saying. I said it could be a 30 to20 game. Like, it could be two scores. >> To get to my 45, my prediction is 35 to 10. >> So, you are predicting a blowoff. >> I am. >> Okay. >> It would not shock me if this was a two-score game, though. >> Okay. I I I fully >> That's where I'm at, too. I I fully expect I fully expect this team to play up to the standards that it has been playing, which is very high. And it is, as you like to call it, bank or bust. >> And you know, I don't think we've said that on air yet. >> Maybe we may have in a past podcast, but yeah, it's bank or bust, baby. like this. This team is playing well enough to play with the Minnotonkas, the Maple Groves. It is playing well enough to play with those teams. We will not see them for a long time. >> It's coming. >> It's coming. It's coming. This team is good enough to play in that and we are deep enough. Like it's not it's not that we're >> just good and we're relying on one person to do it. Like Howie Johnson is by far and away the leader of this defense and you know he he makes he makes this team really difficult to play against on defense. We have a lot of other players that are playing really well that, you know, make it so you can't double and triple Howe and just shut him down. He's How's going to get his and everybody else is going to get theirs because they know how they have to play Howie. And on offense, Jerkovich is always one play away, one one cut away from being gone. Durago, you better have four guys to bring and tackle him because you're gonna need four guys. >> Yeah. >> You know, Westman, super speed guy. And you know, from from the first two games to what he's playing at that level now, I mean, he has made a lot more decisive plays than he has in the first two, three games. We were kind of talking about you need to be more decisive and he has done that. Um he was making a huge difference on those ender rounds. And uh you know this offensive line, we weren't quite sure what we had. This offensive line has been playing amazing. Absolutely amazing. Especially those hard to get yards up the middle. So this is why I say that it's probably going to be closer to 35 to 10 because this team is so well-rounded. Offensive line, defensive line, linebackers, cornerbacks. Connor Johnson has been playing amazing. Our running backs are like it is a well-rounded team. Uh and I fully expect that it would not be a slight at all to Mounds View to say that, hey, guess what? This team is probably going to beat you by a couple of scores. And that's not a slight toss at all. Mounds View is a good team, but this team is just so wellrounded that it's hard to say that you're a team that's better than that. >> Yeah. I mean, that's I couldn't agree more with what you said, and I think that that would be my official statement on everything. And that's all that's about all I got. >> All right. Well, we'll uh see you tomorrow. >> We'll talk to you Thursday or just talk we'll talk to you tomorrow. This comes out on Thursday. We'll talk to you tomorrow. This has been the Force Lake Ranger Report with Joel G. Noasa. Rangers are going to get the win tomorrow. Like we said earlier, there's three things certain. Death, taxes, and the Rangers going to run the ball. >> Bank or bust, baby. >> Bank or bust. We'll talk to you tomorrow. [Music]