Facing 3rd and 20 from the Wayne 25, West Point-Beemer Head Coach Troy Schlueter went into his bag of tricks and called a halfback pass, which was executed to perfection by Hunter Pilakowski, who found Ben Vander Griend for the game winning touchdown with about a minute left in the game to give the Cadets a 32-28 win over the Blue Devils at Bob Cunningham Field in Wayne Friday night.
Schlueter says it's a play the Cadets had worked on a lot. "We've been practicing that play for awhile, and honestly Hunter has been on the money in practice so it probably shouldn't have been surprising that he threw a strike. Nice catch Ben!"
Gage Vance finished with 136 yards rushing on 10 carries, and scored once. Pilakowski had 62 yards rushing on 15 attempts, including two touchdowns.
Blake Anderson racked up a team-high 10 tackles.
West Point-Beemer amassed 337 yards of total offense, 265 coming on the ground.
Schlueter says the win was nice, but the Cadets still have room to improve. "Every win is big, but we were looking to reach a level of play that satisfied us, and we were at the level at times, but still are looking to improve."
The Cadets (7-0) host Pierce (4-3) Friday night.
The Bluejays won 40-13 at home over O'Neill this past Friday night, and won 50-34 at home over Wayne the week before.
Schlueter says his squad is going to need to play well to come away with the win. "Pierce is a quality team and program with good athletes at every position, so I think it's going to take a clean game where we reach a high level of play for a full four quarters to get it done."
I feel this game is a toss up and can go either way, but truly believe West Point-Beemer can win.
Schlueter says it's exciting to be playing a meaningful game like this at this point in the season. "High school football is just fun regardless, but it's fun to be in a good position with a quality opponent coming to town for sure."
These next two games are no doubt two of the biggest games in school history, especially next week's game against Norfolk Catholic.
Schlueter says his squad just wants to play as well as they can this week, win or lose. "Wins are nice, but we really want to strive for a high level of play that is close to our potential this week, and if we do that we'll be happy with the results. It should be a competitive game that is lots of fun to watch for sure!"
With that said, you know the Cadets would really like this one.
Sure West Point-Beemer is having a great season and has already pretty much locked up a playoff berth, but wins over two of the most dominant programs in the state would do wonders for this program.
An undefeated regular season and a District Title has to be the goal now that 7-0 has happened.
You can bet there will be huge crowds and a lot of coverage at these games.
107.9 the Bull will broadcast the Norfolk Catholic game, and what a contest that will be.
First things first though, the Cadets have to focus on and do their best to take care of business against Pierce.
As well as West Point-Beemer has played this season, I feel the Bluejays are the best team the Cadets will have faced up to this point in the season.
So West Point-Beemer has to stay focused and must keep their eye on the prize. The Cadets can focus on and worry about the matchup with the Knights next week.
This week is Pierce week, and a chance for West Point-Beemer to continue their magical run and hopes of an undefeated regular season.
The Cadets have to make the most of their opportunity.
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