On fourth down, with the ball on Woodbury's 22-yard line, the Royals were set to punt when Mounds View senior Jeff Galdamez got the call from his sideline to not set up a return.
Blocked punts helps Mounds View get upper hand in win over Woodbury
October 15, 2016 at 4:33AM
With his coach's blessing to go after a block with under a minute left in the first half, Galdamez saw an unblocked lane and burst through.
The ball hit his outstretched hands, and he scooped it up on the 1-yard line before he was tackled. Three plays later, Mustangs quarterback Ryan Nickel scored on a 1-yard rushing touchdown, giving Mounds View a 13-7 lead. The Mustangs (5-2) never trailed again and went on to a 28-26 victory over Woodbury.
"I feel like that is going to bother me the rest of my life," Galdamez said of failing to score on the blocked punt. "But our offense scored, and I'm glad they did."
The Royals (3-4) nearly executed a fourth-quarter rally, scoring 13 points in 2 minutes, 15 seconds. But Mounds View recovered an onside kick attempt with 1:28 left.
"The way momentum swung back and forth in all the special teams tonight was unbelievable," Mounds View coach Jim Galvin said. "[Woodbury] has the best athletes I have seen this year, but our defense was outstanding tonight."
Ellis L. Williams
about the writer
The interiors of both lines require a rebuild, and the secondary is unsettled. Helpful for the team: General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has some salary-cap space.
