Football playoffs began Friday with the Hodags making a journey to River Falls to take on the Wildcats in a level one playoff game. Winner moves on, loser goes home. The Hodags took on the largest school in Division 3 this season. River Falls also has a roster with almost twice as many players as the Hodags, including Division 1 recruit tight end/linebacker Joe Stoffel.

The Hodags went into the game hoping to beat the odds and get the win, but the Wildcats were just too much for the outnumbered Hodags. River Falls had the ball first and went on a scoring drive to go up 7-0. The Hodags would get the kick off and misplay the ball and start from inside their own 10 yard line. On the first play from scrimmage quarterback Quinn Lamers went back to pass and while being tackled in the end zone threw the ball away and was called for intentional grounding giving the Wildcats two more points and a 9-0 lead.

Drake Martin would kick off from the 20 and the Wildcats would get good field position and go on another scoring drive, but miss the extra point. That was about the only thing that went wrong for the Wildcats all game but gave them a 15-0 lead with 5:51 left in the first quarter.

River Falls would score another touchdown in the quarter giving them a 22-0 advantage. The second quarter did not go much better for the Hodags as the Wildcats would score three more touchdowns, one of them on a pick six by Stoffel on an attempted screen play. The half would end with the Hodags down 43-0.

The second half, by rule, was a running clock and River Falls played mostly reserves and did not score again. The Hodags managed a touchdown late in the game with a pass play from Quinn Lamers to Drake Martin and the two point conversion was run in by lineman Trevor Knapp to make the final score 43-8. Photos by Bob Mainhardt.