FORT TOTTEN — After getting in the win column last week against North Star, Four Winds football played its most complete game yet Thursday night.
Quarterback Kashton Keja Jr. threw three touchdown passes. Two of them were caught by wide receiver Marial Deng. On the defensive side, the Indians prevented any scores all night. It led to a well-rounded, 30-0 victory over St. John in front of the home fans.
“I feel like this game has gotta go up to our offensive and defensive linemen,” Four Winds coach Travis Mertens said. “We switched into, we call our ‘predator defense,’ almost a five-man front to kind of shut down that option.”
Mertens and co-head coach Mark Bishop named Francis “Frankie” Belle, Jadyn Robertson and Jeremiah White as those who particularly stuck out, along with ends Judah Young and Tyler Black Jr.
“I don’t think we could have taught it any better,” Mertens said. “They were all studs tonight.”
Four Winds started with the ball, but had a quick three-and-out. Kashton Keja Jr. overthrew a pass to Deng, and neither Keja nor Wakinyanho Greybear could gain enough yards to avoid having to punt.
Then St. John had a drive that lasted nearly the remainder of the first quarter — but it didn’t result in a score. The Woodchucks kept getting marginal gains on carries. Four Winds almost had a stop at the 25, but the defense committed encroachment on fourth down.
St. John got the ball as far as the 21. But a holding penalty finally gave it more yards than it could handle. Deng got his hand on a fourth-down pass, and the Woodchucks turned it over on downs with 1:59 to go in the first quarter.
“That drive is what forced us to go to predator,” Bishop said. “We decided we better bring that extra big guy in there.”
Keja Jr. carried the ball for 11 yards between two separate plays before the clock ran out.
After the brief quarter break, he made a pass to Richard Cavanaugh for a gain of 13, then had back-to-back quarterback carries of eight yards each.
“Give me the ball and go make a play,” Keja said of his mindset. “Be a leader out there.”
On third down, Keja connected with Deng, who ran breezily into the end zone for the game’s first touchdown with less than eight minutes left in the half.
“Just give the ball to my cousin, and let him make a play,” Keja said. “And he made it. So I can’t complain.”
A sack by Greybear gave the Indians the ball back. Deng, after making a long run on the punt return, caught another of Keja’s passes for his second touchdown.
“They’ve been doing that since they were probably four years old in Tokio,” Mertens said. “But that’s what we expect of those two, if I’m being honest.”
Keja Jr. ran both two-point conversion attempts into the end zone. Four Winds owned a 16-0 lead before halftime.
Keja also helped on the other side of the ball, with two tackles on the Woodchucks’ opening drive of the second half, forcing them to punt.
Freshman Kaleb Keja briefly went in for Kashton Jr. and got intercepted. But the Indians’ defense held strong once again. Black Jr. and Greybear had big tackles, while Belille came up with a sack to force the ball over on downs.
“It’s just great to see,” Bishop said. “These first two weeks, we’re such a young team; so many new guys playing in new roles.”
With Kaleb still in there, Four Winds had a delay-of-game penalty that set it back five yards. But almost out of nowhere, sophomore Dayson Dubois emerged from the pack while hardly being touched. He sprinted for 69 yards, all the way down to the end zone on the opposite side of the field.
“He just does everything you ask of him,” Bishop said of Dubois. “He’s kind of a utility player for us… And even when he’s not getting the ball, he’s right there ready for you. And so, I was so happy for him to find the end zone and break that big one.”
It was a Four Winds rout at that point, up 22-0 with less than three minutes left in the third quarter.
St. John appeared to have an 84-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter, but a holding penalty brought it all the way back to the six-yard line. The Indians eventually took over on downs at the 13.
Four Winds fumbled and turned it over, then committed its second defensive encroachment on the next drive. Despite all that, St. John still couldn’t come up with a first down and had to punt.
The Indians extended their lead on the next play, despite an aiding-the-runner penalty leading to fourth and eight. Keja Jr. made a long pass in the corner to Cavanaugh, who just barely kept his feet in bounds at about the two-yard line and stepped in for the touchdown.
Cavanaugh also caught the subsequent two-point conversion pass, making it a 30-0 game.
“Receivers want the ball,” Bishop said. “Your playmakers, your athletes, they want to touch the ball. That was the first time that Rich was able to get that ball in his hands. And so it’s good for him to get in and score.”
Black Jr., Lander Guy and Grantley Dubois recorded tackles on St. John’s final offensive drive. The Indians let the clock run from there, safely securing their second consecutive victory.
“Last week in that win against North Star, we felt like we could have done a lot more things better. We don’t feel that way tonight,” Bishop said. “Tonight, we feel like we were clicking on all cylinders. We’re doing it at the right time because region play starts next week. And we’re excited for that.”
Now, in a sense, the real season starts. After going 2-1 in non-region play, the Indians will face their first region opponent in Larimore next Friday on the road.
“As nice as these last two games were, in all reality, they don’t mean anything, other than maybe confidence and some growth,” Mertens said. “But from here on out, you gotta be locked in and focused, and be ready to play, because you’re gonna have a dog fight on your hands.”
Watch the full interview with Bishop, Mertens and Keja Jr. at this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6HFitjr8fQ
