WAGNER – Aberdeen Roncalli relied on a staple as well as a few new ingredients to grab a win over Wagner in the opening round of the Class 11B football playoffs Thursday night.

The Cavaliers used a few new plays on offense to go along with their usual stout defense on the way to a 17-6 victory.

Roncalli opened up its playbook on its first three possessions that included a tailback option pass as well as a flee-flicker to catch the Red Raiders off guard.

“We didn’t have many more trick plays to pull out,” said Roncalli coach Billy Young. “We used the three that we had all on consecutive possessions.”

The most impactful new play accounted for Roncalli’s first touchdown of the game when tailback Keegan Stewart spotted James Behan for a 65-yard touchdown. Young said the plays can be useful in certain situations.

“It’s not something we depend on, but it’s something we have,” Young said. “The double pass is something we threw in early this week.”

Young said the Cavaliers used the special plays to keep the Wagner defense honest.

“Sometimes you just need something like that to get people off their heels and make them kind of loosen up defensively, so we did it,” Young said.

Once the Cavaliers had the lead, their defense helped to make sure they didn’t lose it.

While Wagner scored on its second possession to close to within 7-6, Roncalli foiled a two-point attempt after the touchdown, and the Red Raiders never threatened to score the remainder of the game.

After an Aiden Fisher 34-yard field goal, Roncalli recovered a Wagner fumble at the Raiders’ 22-yard line and Kaden Larson scored four plays later. The Cavaliers forced four turnovers on the night.

“That’s always been our thing is to try to win with our defense. We preach winning the turnover battle,” Young said. “There’s been times this year where we’ve been losing the football and we lost the turnover battle, and it’s usually resulted in a loss on the scoreboard.”

Once Roncalli had a double-digit lead, it turned to its running game which controlled the time of possession and also field position. While Roncalli did not score – Wagner had a goal-line stand in the final quarter – the Cavaliers did what they needed to do to secure a postseason road win.

“I don’t know when the last time we won a road playoff game was,” Young said.

Because the Cavaliers have hosted many playoff contests through the years, it has been a while since the team’s last road playoff victory.

“That was big for us to kind of get that monkey off our back, too,” Young said.

The Cavaliers improved to 7-2 on the season. Young is proud of the way his squad has responded in light of adversity this year.

“This group is really resilient. They’ve overcame a lot of injuries,” he said. “We’ve got three starters out right now: quarterback (Zane Backous), tailback (Brody Weinmeister) and guard (Carter Samson). They’ve just kept finding a way to get it done.”

Roncalli now heads to top-seeded and unbeaten Winner on Thursday for a quarterfinal contest. Young understands the difficult task that lies ahead.

“We know what we’re up against with Winner,” Young said, “but I told our guys if you want to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best. We’re excited to get a shot at them.”

Aberdeen Roncalli (7-2) 7 10 0 0 – 17

Wagner (6-3) 6 0 0 0 – 6

First Quarter

AR – James Behan 65 pass from Keegan Stewart (Aiden Fisher kick), 9:00.

W – Gannon Knebel 8 run (run failed), 4:03.

Second Quarter

AR – Fisher 34 field goal, 5:18.

AR – Kade Larson 4 run (Fisher kick), 3:11.

Third Quarter

No scoring

Fourth Quarter

No scoring

OFFENSE: Aberdeen Roncalli, rushing 38-102 (Larson 22-76, Fisher 13-25), passing 7-12-0 101 (Stewart 1-1-0 for 65, Fisher 6-11-0 for 36), receiving (Behan 1-65, Noah Kramer 5-19, Jett Johnson 2-17), first downs 11; Wagner, rushing 30-120 (Jhett Breen 17-60, Knebel 13-60), passing 5-15-2 for 67 (Knebel 5-12-2 for 67), receiving (Breen 2-40, Riley Roberts 1-12, Hunter Lhotak 1-10, Carlos Galindo 1-5), first downs 11.

DEFENSE: Aberdeen Roncalli, Landon Zikmund 7 tackles, Josh Schaunaman 5 tackles and 1 interception, Tom Niederbaumer 4 tackles, Brad Harms 4 tackles, Kramer 2 tackles and 1 interception; Wagner, Kahle Hill 9 tackles, Braxton Knudsen 6 tackles, Breen 6 tackles, Parker Petry 6 tackles.