Andale holds off Collegiate

For the third straight week, Andale football beat a ranked opponent. So, business as usual, right?

Not quite.

While Andale’s first two wins were by three touchdowns each, the Indians needed a go-ahead touchdown in the final seven minutes and then needed to grind out the final 4:23 of the game to hold off Collegiate 34-28.

“It was exciting to see us run it there at the end, when we had to, when they cranked it up a bit,” Andale coach Gary O’Hair said. “It got more intense, and we were grinding it out.”

Andale relied heavily on Luke Walstad to drain the clock, running eight plays in the final 4:23 and converting two third-and-1 plays to extend the drive.

But little else came easy for Andale, which is 3-0 and ranked first in Class 4A-Division II.

The Indians have had big games from senior running backs Hunter Knoblauch and Hank Eck, but Collegiate held them in check. Knoblauch had 92 rushing yards, with four plays of double-digit yardage.

“They stopped the sweep pretty well,” said Andale quarterback Luke Walstad, who had 101 passing yards and a 60-yard touchdown pass to Jason Hermreck. “And our bread-and-butter plays, they knew them.”

Collegiate coach Mike Gehrer, whose team is ranked fifth in Class 3A, was especially pleased with his team’s defense.

“Tonight we found out we have a hell of a football team,” he said. “That’s a hell of a football team there, and we have a hell of a football team.… The other thing we found out about our team is we can play defense. They believe. They’re working hard at it. Troy Black has done a good job of getting these guys prepared.”

Andale also needed to survive a stellar performance by Collegiate junior quarterback Austin Waddell, who completed 12 of 19 passes for 229 yards. He threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Root, and a 39-yard scoring pass to Jaques Williams.

Williams finished with 114 receiving yards, while Root had 96.

“I didn’t realize how good Waddell was at quarterback,” O’Hair said. “I knew he was good, but he had a really good game, running and throwing.”

Gehrer agreed.

“Austin had a big night,” he said. “He’s going to get better and better and better.”

It was Waddell’s second touchdown pass, late in the first half, that proved this would not be another Andale blowout of a ranked team. Andale beat Buhler 41-20 and McPherson 42-21.

With Andale leading 14-7, Waddell found Williams, who used his sprinter’s speed — he’s the defending 100 meters champion in Class 3A — to score on the 39-yard touchdown.

But this game was far from done, as it went back and forth until midway through the fourth.

Collegiate took its first lead following a fumble by Andale to open the third quarter. And wth the score tied at 21-all and Collegiate facing a third-and-16, Williams raced down the right side with two defenders squeezing him.

Waddell placed the ball perfectly over Williams’ shoulder for a 50-yard gain. Six plays later, Collegiate’s Levi Aldag scored for a 28-21 lead with 44 seconds to go.

But Andale answered again, this time with a 60-yard touchdown pass from Walstad to Hermreck.

“I rolled out to the left, and they had a defensive end coming pretty hard,” Walstad said. “Jason Hermreck was streaking pretty hard, so I let it fly.”

After Eck gave Andale the lead at 34-28 with a 35-yard touchdown run, Andale desperately needed a defensive stop.

“We’re used to a lot more teams that run a lot,” said Andale’s Sander Hanson, who had a sack. “They really executed their short passes really good. We changed up our defense a lot, ran some stuff, it didn’t work. It just came down to who’s heart was bigger, and I guess we had it.”

Collegiate faced a fourth-and-3 from the Andale 37 when Waddell threw to the left side for a first down. But Andale senior Hayden Bugner got their first, swatting the ball into the grass.

Now all Andale needed to do was run out the clock, 4:23.

Another quality opponent, another win.

“McPherson and Buhler are really good gootball teams,” Walstad said. “Collegiate is, too. Those two games were tough to come back from. Emotional highs. And then we came back to play these guys. Luckily we got the win.”

This story was originally published September 19, 2014 at 11:59 PM with the headline "Andale holds off Collegiate."