Goodhue maintains tradition, wins homecoming football game

Most wouldn’t want to be tackled by Ethan O’Reilly, nor would they want to tackle him. Sometimes you must let the hog run wild.

The star lineman for Goodhue ran the ball for the first time since seventh grade, scoring on a 1-yard play then immediately running the same play for the 2-point conversion. The score capped off a night in which the Wildcats (4-1) turned it up in the second half to win 38-6 over Kenyon-Wanamingo (0-5) on Friday.

It’s tradition in Goodhue for the Wildcats to get the homecoming king a touchdown in the homecoming game. The only problem is the homecoming king this year doesn’t play football. Ayden Horsman was selected as king this year and therefore was given a choice. He could pick anyone on the team to get the touchdown. He picked O’Reilly.

Ryan stopped short of the touchdown first on a run down the sideline, but the play was called back due to a holding penalty. Jack O’Reilly soon after got free on the outside after running through a gap in the middle and slid short of the end zone. That set up the Ethan O’Reilly for his homecoming play.

“We call it hog wild because we call Ethan ‘hog,’” Jay Ryan said. “Going into that drive I told Jack that I was going to go down if we had a first down and we were at the 2-yard line. Coaches didn’t know about it, I don’t think. We never told them.”

The crowd roared in anticipation after wondering why the Wildcats would give up a sure touchdown to run more plays inside the 2-yard line.

O’Reilly put his head down with the ball securely tucked ready for contact. There was none. Nothing but a giant hole in the offensive line to run through and no Knights able to get a hand on the big man. Same thing on his 2-point conversion run.

“He was a little frozen,” Ryan said regarding Ethan O’Reilly’s celebration after scoring. “Lots of people jumping on him at least.”

Ethan O’Reilly was involved in a crushing tackle on a kickoff in addition to the one-yard score.

“No one really wanted to touch him,” Ryan said about the “hog wild” play.

At the time, the Wildcats had the game in hand. Thanks to a much improved second half on both sides of the ball, the Wildcats extended a 2-point lead by scoring 30 points in the second half.

The first half didn’t begin quite how the Wildcats envisioned. The first play was nearly an easy pick-6. Immediately after that was an 80-yard score by Knights running back Nathan Keller.

Goodhue’s first play on offense was an interception. The Knights led 6-0 after one quarter of play.

Finally, the Wildcats took the lead on a fourth-down catch by Cam Agenten from the 5-yard line. He caught the 2-point try to put the Wildcats ahead 8-6.

Agenten, Cody Ryan each stepped up in the passing attack while Jay Ryan and Jack O’Reilly shouldered a majority of the carries in the second half without Owen Roschen available after he suffered an injury in the first half.

Notes

Goodhue has had a good run of success in the month of October in recent years. Their last loss in October in the regular season came on Oct. 12, 2023. That game was a 6-0 loss to Kenyon-Wanamingo.

Nathan Keller’s 80-yard touchdown for the Knights on the second play of the game was the longest play for either team.

Quotes

“First half, nothing was going the way were planning. We didn’t play together at all. ... We passed pretty decent in the second quarter, then continued to pass decent second half, too. But second half is where the running game started to get going and that helped us out a ton.” - Jay Ryan on key to getting to the offense unlocked after a slow start.

“They run a similar offense. They’re a pretty good team so we’re going to need to come out hot and not real flat like we did this first half.” - Ryan said on facing Cannon Falls next week.