Football: A rivalry renewed for Litchfield Dragons, Annandale Cardinals

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Nov. 7—COLD SPRING — The rivalry between the Litchfield and Annandale football teams enters a new chapter on Saturday.

Whether playing through the Wright County Conference or in the same district, the Dragons and Cardinals look forward to squaring off. They share a rivalry trophy, the Battle for the Paddle during the regular season. Litchfield head coach Jim Jackman has a long-standing friendship with Annandale head coach Matt Walter.

"We know Annandale very well and I know Matt very well," said Litchfield head coach Jim Jackman. "We went to college together and played football together."

Jackman and Walter played on the offensive line at Wisconsin-River Falls. Jackman played left guard. Walter was the left tackle.

"That was a long time ago," Walter joked. "It was a lot of fun with him back (in 1992)."

Walter continued, "Jim made me look good. We'd have these double team things and when we'd get to the line, he'd always say, 'Don't worry, I got it.' I was like, OK."

The stakes are much higher this time for Jackman's Dragons and Walter's Cardinals.

Paired together in the Class AAA state quarterfinals, Litchfield and Annandale are playing for the right to play at U.S. Bank Stadium.

The Dragons and Cardinals square off at 7 p.m. Saturday at Blattner Stadium on the Rocori High School campus.

The Paddle isn't making the trip. But that won't lessen the intensity of the quarterfinal game.

"There has always been the rivalry," Litchfield senior lineman Noah Dietel said following the team's 23-6 win in the Section 6AAA championship over Albany on Friday. "I think it'll be a good game for sure."

Annandale is 10-0 and got the top seed in the North portion of the bracket. Litchfield is 8-3 and is the fourth seed in the North.

"Having three losses, we kinda knew that we were probably going to get seeded fourth with just how things worked out," Jackman said.

Walter knows the challenge Litchfield brings to the table. It's why he voted the Dragons over Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton during the state seeding meeting.

"I was a little surprised they got the four seed," Walter said "They're probably the best four seed the state tournament's ever had."

Litchfield is back at state for the first time since 2006. Its efforts begin with its pair of 1,000-yard rushers.

Listed at 6-foot-3 and 197 pounds, junior running back Anthony Taylor has run for 200-plus yards in back-to-back games. He's also scored 11 rushing touchdowns in the postseason alone.

"I've got to give it to our o-line," Taylor said on Saturday. That line is led by Dietel, a University of South Dakota commit who measures in at 6-8 and 305 pounds. "They've really been doing the job, making it easy. And our receivers have been doing a great job catching the ball and that opens things up."

Medina has carried the ball 43 times for 286 yards and three touchdowns in three postseason games.

"Medina may be the quickest kid besides (former Esko standout and current Minnesota Golden Gopher) Koi Perich that we've faced in the last three years," Walter said. "That kid can scoot."

"Anthony Taylor, he's a dude," Walter added. "You gotta get his legs because he's strong. A lot of teams are tackling him high and he's breaking a lot of tackles."

To counter that, the Cardinals sport a defense that has allowed just 5.0 points per game. That's second in the Class AAA field behind Pine Island's 3.3 points allowed per game.

"Our first-team defense has only allowed two touchdowns all year," Walter said. "They're been lights out and to be honest, that's surprised us a little bit. We returned nine starters from offense … but we only had four or five kids coming back from defense last year.

"We tackle well. I don't think we're overly big … but we're really athletic on the D-line and linebacker. And we're tackling really, really well."

Annandale's top playmakers are out on the perimeter with wide receivers Gabe Westman and Colton Purcell.

Westman is a 6-foot-3, 205-pound senior that's committed to Division II Winona State University. Purcell is a 6-3, 200-pound junior.

"They're just big receivers that can block and can go up and catch the high ball," Jackman said. "The balls where the quarterback just chucks it up there, they're able to high-point the ball and go get it. And they can run."

Senior Isaiah Turner went from being the district running back of the year in 2024 to playing some slot receiver. That has opened things up for 5-8, 200-pound senior Cam Ergen to score 17 rushing touchdowns.

"We feel we have six or seven guys on offense that are pretty good weapons either running the football or guys that we can throw to," Walter said. "It's really tough for teams to line up and say OK, we'll take away Westman or we'll take away Purcell."

And, the Cardinals play a two-quarterback system with senior Michael Kovall and junior Braylon Fobbe trading drives.

"Both of them can throw the ball and both of them have game experience since last year," Jackman said of the QB rotation. "They have some weapons and they do a very, very good job of moving the ball around to different people. They're very unselfish, too."

This fall is the first since the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season that the Dragons and Cardinals didn't play in the regular season. From 2021-24, Annandale is 4-0 against Litchfield. That includes a 28-20 victory in the season opener in '24.

With more than just the Paddle to play for, the Dragons are eager to get one over on their rival.

"I think we'll come out and be able to punch them in the face," an exuberant Dietel said of the Cardinals.

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