Rangers keep 'the paddle' in defeat of White Bear Lake

The Forest Lake football team has defended last year’s victory in the “battle for the paddle” by defeating White Bear Lake by a 28-21 final score on Friday night. Both teams remained scoreless for most of the first half, but by the end of the second quarter, the Rangers began to run up the score as Forest Lake found their footing over the Bears for their second consecutive victory in the “Battle of the Lakes” matchup. (Prior to last year, Forest Lake hasn’t faced WBL since a 20-14 victory over the Bears in 2016.)

Forest Lake used 474 total yards, with 339 of those yards coming from a patient Rangers rushing attack, keeping the Bears at bay for a 2-2 record.

“I’m just really proud of our kids. I’m really happy with their resilience and their ability to get right back on track. If things ever started to go negative, they were able to pull it right back to something positive,” head coach Brad Beeskow said. “You have good plays and you have bad plays. That’s football in general, but the ability to keep going back and forth and knowing what you have to do to win games is huge, and it worked.”

The Rangers took to a flashy start that fizzled before it could get going. Following a Bears fumble on the first play of the game, the Rangers recovered the football deep in enemy territory. Hoping to capitalize quickly on the turnover, the Rangers instead wound up coughing up the football into the end zone, resulting in a touchback and possession for White Bear Lake.

The rest of the first quarter proved to be a hard-fought matchup as a scoreless first quarter of play gave out hints of a low-scoring game, with several possessions by both teams ending without points.

In the second quarter, the Rangers almost recorded a key takeaway that would have set the team up in scoring position, but were unable to scoop up the loose ball in the backfield. Later, Forest Lake ultimately forced a punt to gain back possession, but missed on a long field goal attempt, keeping the zeros on the board.

But in the waning moments of the first half, senior receiver and defensive back Ethan Lashinski came up with a timely defensive interception, which set up both a magical and unorthodox 7-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Connor Johnson to Rehfeld with 36 seconds remaining.

“That was huge,” Beeskow said, regarding the wild play. “[Connor] is a great player. To make a play like that when it’s not always there, that’s what wins us football games. It’s not always drawn up perfectly or is exactly what’s on the white board, but at times you just have to make a play, and he did that,” Beeskow said, then later joked: “It worked out in our favor, but I’d like it to be a little more cleaner next time.”

Coming off a locker-room high at the half, the Rangers offense began to grind into gear.

Junior halfback Kevin Ndirangu punched in a whopping 87-yard house call to give Forest Lake a convincing 14-0 lead midway through the third quarter. Ndirangu would come up big in crucial moments throughout the night, compiling 138 rushing yards off 12 attempts to go along with his lone score of the night.

With the two touchdown lead, the Rangers almost had the game within wraps, but White Bear Lake soared back within reach. The Bears scored its first points of the night in the late stages of the third quarter before a Forest Lake fumble gave the Bears the ball back the next drive, where they scored again to knot the game up at 14 apiece.

Sophomore running back Mack Jurkovich ripped off a much-needed 80 yard touchdown to give his Rangers the lead back at 21-14, before Johnson found Rehfeld for a second time from 39-yards out, as Forest Lake began to put the game away at 28.

Jurkovich ended the game with 17 attempts for 183 yards and a score, while Johnson had his most efficient night of the season, going 9-for-10 passing for 135 yards and two touchdowns.

“To me, it all starts with the run game,” Beeskow said. “It’s about getting off the football, making blocks and being that guy who continues to move the ball forward.

“But you have to be able to throw it too, because teams are going to come in and stack the box, and that’s their job. To be able to have the balance that we do, with the run setting up the pass, I think that’s so important.”

Beeskow acknowledged how hard the wins are to get, and is proud of the work his boys put in.

“Every game in our league is huge,” Beeskow said. “When you play 6A football and you’re in a big class, every game is big. To get this rivalry win and to keep the paddle at home, that’s major for us.”

The Rangers now shift their focus on its upcoming homecoming battle against the Stillwater Ponies, who are 3-1 on the season, on Friday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. The Ponies will be coming off a 33-14 victory over the Mounds View Mustangs.