Photo by Trent Erickson
Written By: Ryan Baker, Journalist
The Minnesota Wind Chill continued their undefeated season this past Saturday night, taking care of business at home with a 23-19 win over the Indianapolis AlleyCats.
Another record-breaking crowd filled Sea Foam Stadium, with 2,302 spectators attending the Wind Chill's second home game of the season. Even with the big crowd, it was a rather odd performance by both teams in a game with hardly any wind at one of the league's gustiest stadiums.
“It feels alien-like having no wind here,” Gordon Larson stated. “It’s fun, though. It makes for a clean game, especially on the O-line. It helps to have a clean, no-wind game. We still made too many mistakes, despite there being no wind, so definitely a lot to polish up on.”
Despite the easy conditions, Minnesota still struggled in the red zone, while Indy was undone by unforced errors and a hold percentage that won’t allow them to beat high-caliber teams.
With the heat and humidity playing a factor right away, Minnesota had a chance to open with a clean hold, but a Will Brandt drop in the end zone gave Indy the first break. The Wind Chill quickly answered with a hold, then a break fueled by a block from Cameron Lacy, and finished with a goal from Zach Morton.
Two points later, Noah Coolman rose in the end zone for a massive layout block that allowed Thomas Shope to score on a double effort from an errant Greg Cousins throw, giving Minnesota the lead again. Shope, playing his second game of the year, made a slight shift from defense last week to splitting time between offense and defense in this one.
Photo by Josiah Phifer
“I think it was nice to have a little buffer into defense to get back into the feel of the UFA field, the new disc, but I think it went pretty well transitioning back to offense,” Shope said. “It feels really good. It's fun to just run around out there.”
From that point on, the Wind Chill kept Indy from tying the game the rest of the way.
The second Cousins-to-Shope connection, followed by a Noah Hanson-to-Justin Burnett break on a short field, put Minnesota up 6-4 at the end of the first quarter. Two early turnovers by the AlleyCats, which the Wind Chill capitalized on, stretched the lead to four in a matter of moments.
After an offensive pass interference call on Nathan De Morgan and a drop by Paul Krenik, the gap closed to one midway through the second quarter. Right before halftime, Larson sent a huck toward Cousins, who made an unbelievable toe-drag layout grab at the back of the end zone, giving the Wind Chill a two-point lead at the break.
After a bit of back-and-forth, Minnesota broke open the game with a four-point run, jump-started by blocks from Justin Burnett and Paul Krenik. Indy responded with three quick goals, though Minnesota still led 17-14.
Photo by Josiah Phifer
The Wind Chill kept capitalizing on the AlleyCats' execution errors. After a score from their O-line with 40 seconds left, the AlleyCats turfed one of their first throws of the next point, allowing Lacy to pick up the disc and punch it into Hanson immediately. That swing at the end of the third gave them a 19-14 lead.
“We did a nice job with our pulls and pressure to generate those short field turns,” Head Coach Ben Feldman said. “That early point pressure helped us to separate ourselves in the third quarter, which made everything a lot easier.”
While Indy won the fourth quarter, outscoring the Wind Chill by 1 in the final 12 minutes, Minnesota still produced highlight plays. A Larson huck to a massive sky by Bryan Vohnoutka, right at the goal line, set up Shope for his third goal of the game.
The nail in the coffin came when Dylan DeClerck got a layout block, and Lacy and Lukas Ambrose cashed in on the break, putting the score at 23-18 with just a couple of minutes left.
Minnesota dominated possession, completing 70 more passes than the AlleyCats, and shot deep well, going 8/11. The Wind Chill offense has been playing incredibly well over the last few games, and Larson has led the charge, producing six assists for the third straight game. He also added nearly 700 yards through the air to his season total this weekend.
Photo by Josiah Phifer
“I got to give credit to the guys I'm throwing to,” Larson said. “I just catch it, and there's someone wide open, so they make my job pretty easy. Or, I just throw a punt to BVon, and he destroys someone. Honestly, they're doing the hard work down there.”
Lacy and Josh Klane gave the transition offense some sparks, both throwing three assists. The goal scoring was more spread out as Shope, De Morgan, Ambrose, and Krenik all posted hat-trick goal performances. Vohnoutka also continued his underrated season with over 300 receiving yards, pushing him over the 1,000-yard mark on the season.
For a team that boasts one of the league's best defenses, blocks haven’t come easily this season. With only seven on the night, the Wind Chill are averaging nine blocks a game, 10th-best in the league. The offense has offset that with just 12 turnovers, matching their season average and ranking second-fewest in the league.
“We didn't do a great job of getting the disc back,” Feldman said. “We had to rely on execution errors to get it back after we turned it. The defense from our O-line has to be better, especially in these conditions.”
Minnesota struggled against the AlleyCats’ deep game, allowing them to go 12-for-16 on hucks, an area where the Wind Chill is one of the league’s best. However, much credit goes to the improvements Indy has made over the first few games of the year.
“Their offense was totally leveled up with Elliot [Hawkins] and Sof [Sofiène Bontemps],” Larson credited to Indy. “It just put the pressure on our O-line, and made our job a little more important.”
“They are a good team over there,” Feldman also gave kudos to Indy. “Some of those guys had good games, like Jake [Felton] with his hucks, which were getting frustrating. We had plans in place to negate that, and he still managed to rip them on us. I wouldn't be surprised if we got to face them again when it matters more.”
Photo by Trent Erickson
Now, it will be a matter of maintaining that offensive momentum while improving on the defensive side when the Wind Chill travels out West to take on the Oakland Spiders, a battle that will give one of the teams its first loss of the season.
“I think Oakland's defense is going to be a lot harder than these other defenses we've been playing, so the discipline has to go up, the executions have to go up,” Larson said.
“They are one of the best teams in the league, if not the best, right now,” Feldman remarked. “It's going to be a huge challenge. We’ve never played them, and we're going to learn a lot about ourselves.”
