Signing, scoring make Wednesday a winner for Andover's Wilkie

With the stroke of both pen and jump shot, Andover's Connor Wilkie enjoyed an historic day in his sports life.

Wilkie, a senior, solidified his football and basketball legacies last Wednesday. He took part in a morning signing day ceremony, inking a national letter of intent to play quarterback at Southwest Minnesota State.

Later in the evening, the Huskies basketball team traveled to Blaine for a game critical to both conference and section seeding. Wilkie took the floor just seven points shy of 1,000 for his career.

Proving good things come in threes, Wilkie drained a trio of three-pointers early in the first half to reach the milestone. He sparked Andover's victory with a career-high 30 points. Former Huskies coach Nick Tibesar, now with Wayzata, was on hand to help celebrate Wilkie's monster day.

"It was a pretty fun day," said Wilkie, who was recognized during a stop in play and was awarded the game ball. "My dad said I should buy a lottery ticket, but I don't turn 18 until [Feb. 15]."

More than three decades into a decorated hockey coaching career, Mark Loahr experienced something new last week.

Loahr, coach of the Totino-Grace boys' program, watched his Eagles mount an improbable comeback against Benilde-St. Margaret's.

"I can't remember ever being down four and coming back to win," said Loahr, who earlier this season notched career victory No. 500. "It was really nice to see the boys not give up."

Already sporting a 4-0 second-period lead, Benilde-St. Margaret's was awarded a penalty shot and a chance to torpedo the listing Eagles. But the Red Knights player fanned on the shot. The turning point was at hand.

"After that the guys said, 'Let's do something here,' " Loahr said. "Benilde was still playing hard but our guys picked it up a notch."

Three Eagles goals cut the Red Knights' lead to 4-3 after two periods. Kai Barber tied the game with his third goal. Two additional tallies by Nick Tandeski completed the comeback.