REPLAY: Stillwater Topples Tartan 35-7, Will Take on Mounds View in the Semi Finals

Tuesday was Nate Ricci’s 17^th birthday.

He celebrated it in a big way with his teammates, scoring three touchdowns in a 35-7 Stillwater victory over Tartan in the quarterfinal round of the 2AAAAA football playoffs.

More impressive, Ricci did it at three positions.

His first, a quarterback sneak from 1 yard out to give the Ponies a 7-0 lead, which was the score at halftime.

In the third, he set up the drive with an impressive reception out of the backfield for a 42-yard gain.

Ricci tight-roped the sidelines to put the Ponies in the red zone.

“Try to give him a couple creases and hang on for the ride,” Ponies coach Beau LaBore said. “That’s the kind of player he is.

“Nate would have got a first down regardless, which was important, get the chains moving and get another opportunity to move the ball. He did do pretty nice at tight-roping it there though.”

He later plunged in from the 2 on the same drive.

Finally, Ricci was set deep for a punt return after Stillwater shut down Tartan’s offense.

Catching the punt at the Ponies 44, Ricci made one quick burst and was past all the Titans punt coverage team and literally walked in from the 20-yardline on in.

“Never done that before,” Ricci said. “I don’t think I have even played three different positions in a game.”

Switching Positions

At the start of the season, Ricci was the main signal caller, but LaBore and the coaching staff have kept Ricci away from quarterback for a significant portion of the season now.

Instead, the Ponies have found ways to implement his speed and vision on the perimeter and in space to give Stillwater its best chance to operate on offense.

“They thought they were limiting me, so after the first two games they moved me away from quarterback for the most part,” Ricci said. “Aaron (Romportl) has done a nice job and can make all the throws we need, so it has worked out for us.”

An Explosive Third Quarter

It was a tough third quarter for Tartan. At one point keeping the game close, Stillwater roared out of the locker room at the half and scored 28 points in the third to break the game wide open.

“You give a team like that an inch, they can take advantage of it,” Titans coach Tim Murtha said. “I tip my hat to Stillwater. They kept their composure when the game was close and opened it up in the third quarter.”

Another solid performer for Stillwater was Mike Wicker.

Mullet and all, the senior linebacker corralled an interception at Tartan’s 26, ran as fast as he could to the corner, barely beating his opposition to the end zone for a score.

“It was such a good feeling,” Wicker said. “I don’t think I have made an interception since my sophomore year.”

With the ball in his hands, he admitted his speed burst might have been a little higher than usual.

“I might have ran a little faster,” he said with a smile. “I’m not the fastest guy in the world, so to get in was pretty cool.”

On top of that, Wicker recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter, had his hands on the quarterback all night and delivered some big tackles on Titans running backs.

“He did it all tonight,” LaBore said. “He’s been the guy we have relied on in between the tackles for most of the season. Tonight it was nice to see him do it, not only between the tackles, but on the edge and on pass coverage, on the blitz. Great game, beautiful game.”

Moving on to Mounds View

Stillwater will take on Mounds View in the sectional semifinals at 7 p.m. Saturday at Mounds View High School.

The Mustangs received the No. 2 seed in Section 2AAAAA and sets up the fourth consecutive time the rivals will meet in postseason play.

Mounds View has eliminated the Ponies from postseason play the past three times, including two straight section final games.

“It is going to be a fun game,” Ricci said. “They are always close games and we had one with them this year already.”

“Should be an exciting one,” Wicker added. “Hopefully we can come away with a victory.”

After the regular season finale against Hastings, senior captain Zach Krenz said he and the Ponies wanted another shot at Mounds View.

That chance will come, but at least on Tuesday night, maybe even into Wednesday morning, he and his teammates can at least celebrate a dominating victory against the Titans.

For Tartan, its season comes to an end, a 4-5 overall record, which included some games against heavy hitters in Class AAAA such as Mahtomedi, Hill-Murray, South St. Paul and St. Thomas Academy.

“We just want our younger players to realize what these seniors did for this program and the future of Titans football,” Murtha said. “It is not going to show up on the scoreboard, but we have a young team and played some tough teams. These seniors left it all on the field for us and they deserve a lot of credit for what this program is going to do in the future. They played hard until the end.”