LA CRESCENT — Senior Will Allen was the jack of all trades for the Caledonia High School football team on Wednesday night.
Just five days after helping the Warriors knocked off second-ranked Chatfield, Allen led them to Earl Seaton Field for a rivalry game against La Crescent-Hokah to close out the regular season.
Allen then passed for a touchdown, rushed for a touchdown, caught a pass for a touchdown and returned an interception for a touchdown in a 40-7 romp that gave Caledonia (6-2) a fifth straight win going into the postseason.
“He’s a competitor who loves to win,” Carl Fruechte said of Allen. “He’s gonna do whatever it takes.
“All you want out of kids is for them compete, and Will does that.”
Allen returned an interception 20 yards for a touchdown and threw a 67-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from Grant King in the second quarter and ran 6 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter. That was more than enough for a defense that held the Lancers (1-7) to 162 total yards on 54 snaps and didn’t allow a touchdown until late in the fourth quarter.
“I feel like after the Triton loss (in Week 3), we’ve really started to figure some things out,” said Allen, who has nine touchdown passes in the past five games and has rushed for one score in each of the last three.
“We have to get things going and start faster. We didn’t do great with that tonight, but we’re working on it.”
Sure, Caledonia didn’t score on its first possession, but Allen’s pick and return of a Talan Einerwold pass put them on the board with 6 minutes, 1 second left in the first quarter.
After the defense forced a La Crescent-Hokah punt, Allen dropped back, gave junior teammate Jacoby Hammell ample time to run by his defender and connected with him down the right sideline for a 67-yard touchdown and 14-0 lead with 2:17 still on the first-quarter clock.
The touchdown pass from King to Allen came on the first possession of the second quarter and capped a 59-yard drive. Caledonia was rolling at that point.
Yards were tough to come by the La Crescent-Hokah, which scored 63 points in a win over Red Wing this season.
The Warriors made stops behind the line of scrimmage nine times and picked up a second turnover when Hammell recovered a fumble on a sack by senior teammate Noah Schroeder and third when Jack Schmitz intercepted a pass by Einerwold.
Schroeder and sophomores Cooper Allen and Mitchell Schmitz kept the pressure on Einerwold and running back Mason Conway, who carried 25 times for 114 yards and scored the Lancers’ touchdown.
“When you watch tape, they are moving the ball against everybody,” Fruechte said of the Lancers. “We told our guys they had to be locked in tonight, and they did a nice job.”
Schmitz had at least four of those tackles for loss, and two of them came on sacks.
Allen completed 4 of 7 passes for 126 yards and the touchdown to Hammell, and King caught two passes for 59 yards. Senior Hunter Frank rushed for 88 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, and sophomore Chase Hauser added 84 rushing yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.
As for the winning streak, Caledonia has outscored its opponents by a 138-22 since the 13-3 loss to Triton dropped its record to 1-2. Opponents have scored just 72 points — 9 per game — all season.
“I feel like we are communicating a lot and moving around well,” Allen said of the defense. “You have to do that on defense.
“I feel like we’re pretty good and feel good about the playoffs. Last week’s win helped a lot, and we have a lot of momentum.”
