Shakopee football escapes with 17-15 win at Chanhassen

Shakopee Sabers junior kicker Alexi Johnson hung his head after his field goal attempt was blocked in the final seconds of Shakopee’s football game at Chanhassen on Friday.

Johnson thought the Sabers’ chance at remaining undefeated had slipped away. He didn’t initially see the head referee come in and blow the previous play dead.

The referee had his back to the play when Shakopee had snapped the ball. Chanhassen’s coach was on out on the field and the referee had ordered him back behind the designated line. Responsible for setting the play, the referee hadn’t singled the start and wasn’t ready for the snap of the ball when Johnson’s first attempt was blocked.

The referee turned and ran back in, pointing at the ground and ordering the ball to be replaced. Johnson would get another chance.

“I was freaking out,” Johnson said. “I thought we were done. And then I see the flag on the field. They call it back and I get another chance. But then I’m sitting there freaking out once again with my knees shaking.”

Johnson converted on his redemption shot, hitting a 30-yard field goal with 10.6 seconds left to lift the Sabers over Chanhassen 17-15.

Senior Zak Hoffman had two short touchdown runs, and completed a 2-point conversion on a pass to Taylor Johnson as the Sabers stayed undefeated at 2-0.

“We’re dropping the ball, we don’t tackle, we’re sloppy and we’re lucky we won, that’s what I told them,” Shakopee head coach Jody Stone said. “But we’re happy we won.”

The Sabers are still trying to find themselves after losing 17 starters from last year’s section runner-up team. Stone wants to keep as many players as possible playing on just one side of the football, but was forced to play several against Chanhassen.

Hoffman started at quarterback, but was later shifted to tailback with Nick Larson taking over at quarterback. The switch worked as the bigger Hoffman was able to have success running the ball later in the game and Larson hit on a couple of key passes.

“We need a playmaker,” Stone said. “We’re still finding that. We’re still finding someone who can step up when we need a play. Certainly in a game like this, we knew Chan was going to be an excellent opponent…but we’re still trying to find those guys. This helped.”

Stone knows he has a playmaker on defense.

Nicholas McBeain had 27 tackles, forced a fumble and had two fumble recoveries against the Storm. Colton Clarke added eight tackles and a
forced fumble, and Daniel Hennes and Brady Fish each intercepted a pass.

“Relieved, excited, all of the above,” McBeain said. “We stuck together at the end. We had some errors, but we made it up.”

Shakopee led 8-2 at halftime, and turned it into a 14-2 game in the third, but Chanhassen scored two straight touchdowns to lead 15-14.

The Sabers appeared to be going in for the go-ahead score late in the fourth, but fumbled on the Storm 15-yard line. The Shakopee defense
held and forced a punt. Chanhassen committed a personal foul penalty on the punt, giving the Sabers the ball at their own 42-yard line.

On the first play, Hoffman rushed around the end for a 31-yard run putting Shakopee in scoring position and eventually leading to Johnson’s heroics.

“Zak’s a stud,” Stone said. “Zak can carry us through stretches, but teams are going to load up and take that away.”

While the Sabers are still working on things, they found an unlikely way to win on Friday.