Photo by Rich Moll

Written By: Ryan Baker, Journalist

Back-to-back Central Division Championship winners. That’s the title that the Minnesota Wind Chill claimed this past Saturday night with a dominating win over the Madison Radicals, 23-14. 

“We expected to be here. We're not too surprised or anything, but definitely happy. It's going to be sweet going out to championship weekend. I think we're all hungry to get back there, especially after last year's heartbreak,” said Will Brandt. 

There were very few moments throughout this game where Minnesota didn’t have control. In the first point, an Ian McCosky hand block led to a McCosky to Paul Krenik break score. An odd stat related to that score is that Krenik also grabbed the first goal in the Central Division Championship last year, leading Minnesota to be 2-0 in Central Division Championship games when Krenik scores the first goal.

Fast forward to midway through the second quarter, right before Minnesota turned on the jets to propel themselves into a great situation the rest of the way. A mistimed jump on a huck from Madison led to a huck attempt from Sam Berglund that ended with rookie Thomas Shope coming down with it on a second effort, eventually punching into Krenik for his second goal of the game. 

The very next point, Madison turned it in their own endzone that gave Cameron Lacy an easy score to Anthony Jirele for Jirele’s first of four goals on the night. Next thing you knew, the Wind Chill had a three-point lead on the Radicals. After two more goals to conclude the half, Minnesota was up 9-5 at the halfway point of the game. 

“It feels really good to build to this point, defend the home turf, and defend the Central Division crown. You can just see the emotion on the guys throughout the game, everyone was so bought in. Everyone was just locked in from the start of the game, and I think this was our best overall effort,” said Quinn Snider.

Coming out of half, it was all Minnesota. A turn from the Radicals gave the Wind Chill yet another short field that resulted in a Berglund to Jirele break score to go up by five. After that first point of the second half, the Wind Chill went on a 6-3 run that saw them up eight with just over three minutes to go in the third quarter. The last three minutes of the third quarter was, arguably, the only duration of the game where Minnesota wasn’t in control as they gave up four straight goals to end the quarter. 

“The guys took care of business. I’m proud of them. I said every team is going to get theirs. All the good teams, they're going to get their goals. I said we got one quarter left, we got to win this quarter. That's all that matters right now. We held that first point and that was all that we needed,” said head coach Ben Feldman. 

“We had a huge lead thanks to our D-line. As the guy picking up those roller pulls with the double teams, it was a little scary, but we got one across the field that really worked out. Shout out the D-line, they went crazy,” said Brandt. 

The run that Minnesota let up went straight behind them very shortly into the final quarter. The first point of the fourth started with Brandt picking up the disc in the middle of the field just over 30 yards out from the endzone. That same point ended with a Gordon Larson to Snider score, which was one of Larson’s four assists, and one of Snider’s four goals. 

“We've got such a core group of veteran guys, and our coaches do a great job of righting the ship when we need it. I think it came down to B-Von [Bryan Vohnoutka], [Josh] Klane, and all those veteran guys playing just telling us to take a deep breath. To use our legs, use our throws, and win the right way as opposed to trying to do too much,” said Snider. 

From there, Minnesota ran up the score, putting up four straight, and ending the game on a 6-1 run. This was one of the most complete games the Wind Chill have had all season. They held 69% of the time and had 12 breaks. Not to mention, they added on 12 blocks and achieved a red zone conversion rate of 76%. 

Individually, the stats were incredible. Josh Klane had four assists, while Dylan DeClerk made some of the biggest catches in the game and had three assists. Krenik had three goals on the night alongside the three that Jordan Taylor put up. Shope, Bret Bergmeier, and Lacy all had two blocks. Finally, yards-wise, Taylor and Snider both had over 200 receiving, while Larson and Klane both had over 240 throwing.

This game was a great bridge for Minnesota heading into Championship Weekend in Salt Lake City. The last month of their regular season included two bad losses and two wins over Detroit, so to bounce back with this type of performance was everything they needed. 

“Our season continues, right? It's going to be the biggest test of the year for us. We're excited for it. This is why we play. We want these big moments and the toughest games. These guys are going to leave it all on the field. Give us the underdog status. We'll take it. We had that last year and almost did something really special, so our guys will be ready to fight come Salt Lake,” said Feldman. 

Now, the Wind Chill will look to pack their bags and hop on their flight to Salt Lake City for a matchup with the D.C. Breeze on Friday, August 23.