Well, that turned into a barn-burner.

It looked for most of the fourth quarter like the Cardinals were going to cruise into the championship game on the strength of their defense, but desperation time brought out the best in Hawley.  With four minutes to go, the Nuggets fashioned their first sustained touchdown drive of the game, with Beau Sorenson hitting Taylor Harms with 2:11 to go to bring them back within a touchdown.

The onside kick failed - just a note for reference, if you’re a kicker, it’s never a good idea to fake out the rest of your team, regarding when exactly you’re going to take an onside kick - but Hawley got the stop they needed on the ensuing drive, and got the ball back with just over a minute to go.

A hook-and-ladder moved the Nuggets out to their own forty, two more short passes got them into Luverne territory, and a bomb down the sideline to Harms got them to the fifteen.  A pass over the middle put them on the three, a false start penalty after the spike moved them back, and with three seconds to go, they had one chance from the Cardinal eight.

Luverne, smartly, double-covered Harms on the right side.  Sorenson tried to look left, but he didn’t have time, and his pass into the left flat, aiming for Andrew Ulven, fell incomplete… and Luverne held on.

Joy for the Cardinals, who move on to face Caledonia in the Prep Bowl.  Despair for the Nuggets, who might have turned the tables had they been able to get anything going prior to the last four minutes of the ballgame.

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Kickoff for Wayzata-Rosemount is set for about 8:15.  One more game in the state semifinals; we hope you’re ready.

For a minute there, it looked like the Cardinals might run away with this one.  They opened the second half with a great kick return, then swept down the field in eight plays, capped off with Brent Hoff’s second touchdown pass of the game, this one to Brett Dinger.  That made the game 21-0, and with Hawley stuck in neutral on offense, looked like it might be all Luverne needed for the win.

Kevin Olson had other ideas, though.  The Hawley tailback broke through for a 67-yard touchdown run just a handful of plays later, and suddenly the burgeoning blowout looked like a much closer game.

As we begin the fourth quarter, Luverne is driving again.  Another touchdown looks like it might more or less close out the game…

… but we’ve said that once already tonight.

Forget Glencoe-Silver Lake - Luverne put together perhaps the most dominating, and certainly the longest, drive of the day.  It covered 79 yards, took 20 plays, and used up nearly eight minutes of the clock, and ended with Phillip Paquette plunging over for the score.  The whole thing was nothing but third- and fourth-down conversions, interspersed with four- and five-yard runs.  I can’t imagine how tired the Hawley defense was by the end of that drive.

It could have been worse for Hawley, too - the Nuggets fumbled on their own 22, but just as Hawley couldn’t capitalize on great field position in the first quarter, Luverne could do nothing with the gift in the second quarter.

The Nuggets did move the ball right at the end of the half, driving to get into position for one final shot at the end zone, but a rainbow pass was batted away.

Both teams have yet to have consistent success on offense, but Luverne leads thanks to one big play - a 53-yard pass from Ryan Hoff to fullback Zach Olson, who got behind a defender on the right and rumbled for a score.  As the first quarter ends, though, the Cardinals are starting to move the ball a bit better.

Hawley had their own chance, as Beau Sorenson stepped in front of a Luverne pass, returning it all the way to the Cardinals’ 18, but the Nuggets couldn’t get so much as a first down on the ensuing possession. They have only 18 yards of offense so far.

You might say that Hawley has been -Smoot tariffed so far. (But only if you were looking to make the worst joke in the history of the internet.)

These teams run similar offenses - lots of two-tight-ends, three-back sets, lots of runs up the middle, although Luverne will split guys wide and throw down the field more than Hawley will.

I can’t really say anything about the fourth quarter that I haven’t already said about the first, second, and third quarters: Glencoe-Silver Lake dominated, on both sides of the ball.  For the game, the Panthers were led by Aaron Lueders, who carried 17 times for 97 yards and a score, and caught a touchdown pass as well.Mitchell Nowak added 63 yards and two scores for Glencoe-Silver Lake.

So in the Prep Bowl, we’ll have a rematch of last year’s Class 3A title game, as GSL takes on DeLaSalle at noon on the Saturday following Thanksgiving.  The Panthers won that 2007 matchup - and their second consecutive state championship - 56-20.

One note: We’re running ahead of schedule today, and so tonight’s Class 5A semifinal may start a bit earlier than expected.  We’re headed for the Luverne-Hawley kickoff about 5:30 or so, fifteen minutes ahead of schedule; if you’re heading to the Dome for Wayzata and Rosemount, you may want to be here slightly early, in order to make sure you’re in your seat for kickoff.