Football: Red Wing falls in Missota finale

Already hit hard by injuries this season, the Red Wing football team got dealt another blow during Wednesday’s 28-0 Missota Conference loss at Chanhassen.

Working their way down the field in the second quarter, Wingers quarterback Ricky Turcotte rushed towards the sidelines. But during the play, a defender hit Turcotte with a helmet-to-helmet hit, resulting in a late hit penalty and knocking the senior signal-caller out for the rest of the game. Red Wing head coach Matt Schultz said Turcotte suffered a mild concussion.

With starting quarterback Isaac Toivonen already out with an injury from last week, the Wingers (1-7, 0-7 Missota) went to sophomore Ben Miller, one of the team’s wide receivers.

“He hadn’t taken a rep yet in a game, but we warmed him up a little bit this week,” Schultz said. “He knows the offense really well, so we didn’t have to change up too much.”

The Wingers’ offense could not get in sync against Chanhassen, as the Storm outgained Red Wing 341-116 in total offense. But while Chanhassen was able to move the ball, the Wingers’ defense made scoring a tough task for the majority of the night.

With 7 minutes, 27 seconds left in the first quarter, Chanhassen (5-3, 5-2 Missota) got on the board after a 3-yard touchdown run by Nathan Johnson. The Storm would not get in the end zone for the rest of the first half. Jordan Shull led Red Wing with nine tackles, and Andrew Sandstrom, Frankie Drazkowski and Levi Hanson each grabbed an interception apiece.

“The first half was great,” Schultz said of Red Wing’s defense. “We were able to stop the A-gaps. The guys played with a lot of intensity and heart, and we’ve done that a lot this year. Just the teams we’re playing are pretty dang good.”

In the second half, Chanhassen quarterback Ryan McGuire accounted for a pair of touchdowns, connecting with Alex Riley for a 12-yard score late in the third quarter, and running his way to a 6-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. Kyle Anenson added the final touchdown with 1:59 left on a 6-yard run into the end zone.

Red Wing finds out its playoff fate in Section 1AAAA today after a coaches’ vote to determine seeding in the six-team section.

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