Exeter-Milligan nabs another 8-Man football title.

Exeter-Milligan's Kyle Jensen tries to escape the grasp of Humphrey St. Francis' Wemhoff in a semi final win.

A spectacular 23 touchdown reception by Derek Luzum with 8 seconds left in the half, plus some nifty halftime adjustments by Coach Dean Filipi paved the way for a 40-26 win over Anselmo-Merna in the D-2 State Championship game. In a game blistered by sustained, swirling winds of over 30 mph, defense and the running game took center stage.

The 1st half was a story of defenses capitalizing on turnovers, with both Anselmo-Merna and Exeter-Milligan converting a turnover into a score. The Coyotes won the statistical battle in that first half, but the highlight reel catch by Luzum propelled the Timberwolves to the 2 point lead at the break.

Anselmo-Merna stuffed Jensen and the Timberwolves on their 1st possession, then promptly took their opening drive 59 yards in 4 plays to hit the board 1st. Trent Geiser, one of twin 1000 yard runners for the Coyotes, did the honors on that 4th play with a 6 yard TD run to stake A/M to a 6-0 lead. The Timberwolves scored on their 3rd possession when 2000 yard man Kyle Jensen bolted in from the one. The double conversion was good and E/M led 8-6. A Troy Gilligan fumble set up the Timberwolves drive at the Coyote 24.

Anselmo-Merna took advantage of a failed 4th down attempt to get excellent field position at the Timberwolves 15. Five plays later QB Troy Gilligan took it in from 5 yards out and the Coyotes would have the lead at 12-8.

The half ended with the Luzum catch and things just continued to jell for the Timberwolves from that point forward. Exeter-Milligan had the 14-12 lead at the break.

Anselmo-Merna, seemingly not phased by the Timberwolves TD at end the half, stopped Exeter-Milligan on another 4th and 1 at the Timberwolves 32, then took it straight down the field in 3 plays to regain the lead on a pretty 30 yard Gilligan touchdown pass to Shaun Christen. With 8:16 left in the 3rd, the Coyotes had their last lead of the contest, 18-14. That's the way the 3rd quarter ended.

Exeter-Milligan then placed the hard rushing Kyle Jensen in the QB position in the Wildcat offense and the tide turned. The 190 pound senior, who ended the year with 2,433 yards, alternated snaps with regular QB Sam Zeleny and it worked like a charm. With 8:52 left, Zeleny connected again with Derek Luzum on a 7 yard TD strike and with Jensen's 2 point conversion Exeter-Milligan was off and running with a 22-18 lead.

The back breaker, im my opinion, came on the Timberwolves next possession when Kyle Jensen skirted the left end and sprinted 49 yards for a score. Up to that point, Anselmo-Merna had kept the marvelous running senior under control. The Jensen touchdown was part of the clinching 26 point, 4th quarter scoring explosion for Exeter-Milligan.

Jensen added another scoring run of 8 yards and vicious hitting Dustin Axline broke a 21 yarder to complete the scoring for the defending D-1 champions.

Anselmo-Merna's Gilligan added a 9 yard run with 46 seconds left in the game to add to the final 40-26 count.

Kyle Jensen led the rushing attack for Exeter-Milligan with 187 yard on a grueling 37 carries. Jensen scored 3 times. In a game that saw only 15 passes, Sam Zeleny led the Timberwolves with 55 yards and 2 TDs on 4 of 10 accuracy. The twin 1000 yard runners for Anselmo-Merna both broke the century mark in the game. QB Troy Gilligan led the way 118 yards on 30 carries. Trent Geiser was not far back with 112 on 22 tries. Gilligan was hounded all day when he atempted to throw and completed only 2 of 15 passes for 41 yards and suffered 2 sacks. Some of Gilligan's incompletions came against the wind in the 4th quarter.

Exeter-Milligan finished the season with a spotless 13-0 mark and added a second straight state football championship for head coach Dean Filipi. Anselmo-Merna finishes the year 12-1 and had an exceptional season for head man Matt McGinn.

Attendance for the game was 1,581.