Top-ranked Windsor holds off No. 2 Mead for thrilling victory in Class 3A showdown

MEAD — The Mead High School band played Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” at halftime.

Quite appropriate for the night after Halloween, and for a Class 3A, white-knuckle showdown between No. 1 Windsor and No. 2 Mead.

In the end, the Wizards knocked the Mavericks from the ranks of the unbeaten and took control of the North 2 League with a 13-7 victory at Mead Stadium.

Mead, set up by a 37-yard halfback pass from Ethan Elmore to Ryan St. Aubin, appeared to be driving to the game-tying score in the final moments, but another Elmore halfback pass was broken up inside the Windsor 10-yard line.

“Our guys came up big at the end,” Windsor coach Chris Jones said. “But man, they had a third-and-12 play and we were telling the guys, ‘Halfback pass, halfback pass.’ But we still bit on it.

“But we came through. That was a good game, and that’s a well-coached team over there. Jason (Klatt) has that team well-oiled over there. They are fundamentally sound and it’s a tough team to beat and make plays on.”

The Wizards emerged from the rugged affair with an 8-1 record and a perfect 4-0 league mark. Mead tumbled to 8-1 and 3-1.

Windsor’s kicking game gave it a 10-7 lead with 4:26 left in the third quarter. Senior Matt Zenger pinned Mead at its own 4-yard line. The Mavericks went four-and-out, giving the Wizards a short field. The Wizards didn’t do much with it but Kale Frederick drilled a 33-yard field goal.

Early in the fourth quarter, Windsor began feeding the ball to junior Adrian Czyszczon and he delivered with runs up the middle.

“It was just 3 or 4 yards on every play,” Czyszczon said. “They just gave me the ball over and over again. Their (defense) started making adjustments and we were getting hit in the backfield, so we finally said, ‘Let’s not go with any trickery or anything like that. We are just going to run it right down their throats.'”

However, a holding penalty wiped out Czyszczon’s 5-yard touchdown run and Frederick was called on to make another field goal. He was perfect again, drilling a 29-yarder to increase the lead to 13-7 with 10:10 remaining in the game.

“We knew it was going to be close,” Frederick said. “They are a hard team to beat. They battle on the ground, we battle on the ground. So making the kicks was what we needed, at least this time around.”

Frederick felt the pressure, but he didn’t let it spook him.

“I just knew I had to do my job,” he said. “I could hear the fans in their stands getting loud and I just wanted to shut them down.”

The two rivals were deadlocked at halftime, 7-7, with jarring defense the predominant theme.

The Wizards opened the game making two big statements. They stuffed Mead on the game’s first possession and promptly scored in four plays for a 7-0 lead. On a third-and-seven play, Windsor used a no-huddle offense, and senior running back Tripp Thomas found a seam, cut outside and jetted 55 yards to the Mead 3-yard line. On the next play, Thomas slipped into the end zone for the touchdown.

“We do hurry-up from time to time and we kind of had a tell from their defense that tells us, ‘This is what’s coming next,'” Jones said, referring to Thomas’ breakout play. “So we checked into that play and it hit big.”

Mead struggled offensively for most of the first half. The Mavericks put together a nice drive late in the first quarter but a false-start penalty on second down at the Wizards’ 38 short-circuited the possession.

A huge defensive play set up Mead’s only score. Early in the second quarter, junior defensive back Carter Woods, timing his blitz perfectly, hit Windsor quarterback James Beets just as Beets released the ball. JD Hamilton gathered in the dying pass for an interception, giving Mead a first down at the Windsor 33.

The Mavericks fed Elmore for four consecutive runs and he finished off the drive with a 16-yard TD, cutting back against Windsor’s pursuit.

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