Goodhue rides O'Reilly's return to overwhelming section semifinal victory

The presence of Ethan O'Reilly on offense and defense was invigorating. He could have come out to a grand entrance when he appeared at practice for the first time.

Despite doing little in terms of exercise for the past four weeks, O'Reilly made his impact for second-seeded Goodhue in a Halloween bash of No. 6 Randolph, 56-12, in a Section 4AA semifinal Saturday.

Goodhue operated without the services of O'Reilly for nearly a month. After missing the last four games due to an unlikely infection in his leg, he was back on the field. While he was supposedly limited to how many snaps he could play, O'Reilly was on the field for everything but special teams.

It was obvious, based on the stats, what he provided in his first game back. The Wildcats ran the ball for 261 yards, averaging 6.2 yards per carry. After a few possessions, Randolph decided to try their luck getting past someone else on the offensive line. On defense, O'Reilly recovered a fumble and had two solo tackles. Once again, the Rockets were better off avoiding whichever side of the field he lined up on.

Head coach Tony Poncelet said O'Reilly still isn't 100 percent, but it was difficult to figure out a way in which taking him out for a series or two would be beneficial. He was doing just about everything the coaches would expect from him.

"He's started every game since ninth grade. It's great to see him back out," Poncelet said. "I didn't want to see his season end or his career end in jeans on the sideline. I'm happy for him. I'm happy for his classmates that just love playing football with him because he brings so much to it. It's pretty fun to see him out there. We tried to limit his downs, but hard to keep him off the field. Hopefully he gets in better shape over the week."

With everyone feeling good, it was collectively one of the better games for the Wildcats. Tim Strauss had two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown. Alex Loos made a great catch on a ball thrown just over the defender's hands for a touchdown and had three tackles for loss, plus a strip sack that was recovered by O'Reilly.

Owen Roschen ran for two scores. So did Jack O'Reilly. Max Lexvold and Jay Ryan each had one rushing TD.

Goodhue will face Cannon Falls for the second time this season. The two will meet at Triton High School for the Section 4AA final Friday, Nov. 6.

Notes

Cannon Falls, the No. 1 seed in Section 4AA, defeated No. 4 Central 38-7 on Saturday in the other semifinal game. The Bombers needed only two offensive plays to go ahead 20-0. The game was shortened in the second half, with the third and fourth quarters starting at 8 minutes instead of 12 due to injuries.

Quotes

"He ran out to practice yesterday for the first time in a while, the guys were pretty excited to see him. We have 18 seniors, they want to play with him. he brings so much to the team and the guys." Could he have come out to a WWE style entrance? "He should have. He probably could have. He just jogged out." - Head coach Tony Poncelet on what Ethan O'Reilly means to others on the team.

"With that offense, you have to assignment strong. It's going to be a lot of one-on-one battles. I'm confident in our guys to make corrections from the last time we played them. Even after it was said and done, we had a chance to win that game. We gave up 36 points and had three turnovers on offense and had a chance to win. We'll watch some film, make some corrections and be ready for it." - Poncelet said on the rematch with Cannon Falls in the section final.