Prep football: Cards face top-seed Otters in semis Saturday

The Willmar football team’s solid performance against Thief River Falls earlier this week helped the Cardinals snap a four-game playoff losing streak.
But Willmar will need to play its best game of the season to get past Fergus Falls in the second round of the Section 8AAAA playoffs.
The Cardinals travel to play the Otters at 7 p.m. Satudray. Willmar is the section No. 4 seed with a 4-5 record. The top-seed Otters are 7-1 and haven’t lost since a 14-7 loss to Albany in the season opener.
The Otters score an average of 34 points per game while surrendering just 11.
They are somewhat the opposite of the Cardinals offensively, rushing for 1,865 yards - more than twice the Cards’ rushing total - and 22 touchdowns.
Fergus Falls throws about half as much as Willmar but Otters quarterback Isaiah Lemke has hit 57 percent of his throws for 929 yards, 15 touchdowns and just one interception.
The Otters spread out of the work on offense, with Rylie Sheridan leading the team with 742 rushing yards. Lemke has run for 308 yards, and both he and Sheridan have seven rushing touchdowns.
When Lemke does throw, he goes big. Leading receiver Tosten Mann is averaging 19.3 yards per catch on 27 receptions and he’s hauled in 11 TD passes.
On defense, the Otters’ Luke Velde, Daniel Kowalski and Peter Johnson have all be in on more than 50 stops, Gabe Enderle has four sacks and Reece Kramer has three interceptions.
Willmar has yet to surpass 1,000 team rushing yards and averages just 2.94 yards per carry. Forced to throw probably more than it would like, Willmar has 18 passing touchdowns but has also surrendered 20 interceptions.
Sam Kerfeld leads the Cardinals with 509 rushing yards on 111 carries and he’s scored seven TDs.
Quarterback Zach Radermacher is completing 54 percent of his throws for 1,761 yards and 18 TDs. In the victory over TRF, he hit 15 of 27 passes for 277 yards, four touchdowns and no picks.
Max Doering leads the team with 43 receptions for 540 yards and eight touchdowns, and Colten Carlson leads the corps in yardage, with 39 catches for 620 yards and seven TDs.
Carlson is Willmar’s leading tackler with 66 total stops. He also had four tackles for lost yards and he has two interceptions.
Tyler Johnson is second with 63 total tackles, six for lost yards, and Nate Ackerman is third on the team with 59 tackles and he leads the Cards with five interceptions. Willmar scores about 25 points per game but also allows 24 per game.