Cougars/Titans Advance to Second Round

Cougars Cruise to 
First Round Win 
Over Wolves
Wins don’t get much better than Coleman’s 62-0 walloping of Manawa in the opening playoff round on Friday.
Manawa did not get its first down until over 16 minutes had gone by. In that time, the Cougars had already built a 32-0 lead.
By halftime, it was 38-0, and the game finished at 62-0. The only possessions that Coleman didn’t score on were the two that ended the two halves.
The Cougars racked up 458 yards of rushing without throwing a pass, compared to the Wolves’ 106. 
Will Bieber led the way with seven carries for 162 yards and three touchdowns, with the right side of the Coleman offensive line getting a lot of credit for the team’s run game.
“We’ve had issues running right most of this year, and tonight the right side of the line showed up a lot better, so that helped get Will going,” Cougars coach Jeff Bronson said.
Peter Kuchta ran eight times for 111 yards and two touchdowns and Brady Gross carried 15 times for 108 yards and a score.
Owen Kinziger, Coleman’s top offensive workhorse for much of the last two years, is out, but Coleman’s offense kept on ticking.
“We miss Owen a ton, but we have seven guys that we have confidence in running the ball,” Bronson said. “It was the one area where, we never wanted to, but it’s the one spot if we took a hit, we could find a replacement.”
Isaiah Nowak ran for 31 yards and a touchdown on four carries as well.
Defensively, Kuchta’s five tackles were a team-high.
Coleman hosts Cedar Grove-Belgium on Friday. The Rockets are 8-2 on the season. After losing their first two games of the season, they’ve won eight straight, including a 48-27 win over Howards Grove in the first round on Friday.
“Both have really good offenses,” Bronson said of Cedar Grove-Belgium and Howards Grove after Friday’s win. “The Big East is a very good conference, so we’re going to have our hands full.”
The Rockets’ Colton Sellin threw for 24 touchdowns this season and ran for seven, tallying 1,474 passing yards and 878 rushing yards.
The Coleman secondary will be an important factor in next week’s game, but their growth this season indicates that they’ll be up for the task.
“The coverage guys just keep getting better and better, and that was our question mark at the beginning of the year,” Bronson said. “They’ve grown in that spot, and that really helped. They’re going to have to play very well next week.”
That game kicks off in Coleman at 7 p.m. Friday night.
Titans Rally to 
Beat Vikings in 
Playoff Opener
The Lena/Saint Thomas Aquinas Titans have only been beaten twice in the past two seasons. Once was by Gibraltar this year, and the other was by Laona/Wabeno last postseason.
The Titans got revenge over one of those foes on Friday when they beat Gibraltar 30-21 in the first round of the 16-team eight-man playoffs. 
This week, they’re out to avenge last year’s defeat, as they take on No. 3 Wabeno/Laona on the road Friday night.
Lena/STAA was beaten 54-50 by Gibraltar on Sept. 30, allowing Braden Kita to throw for 246 yards and run for 129, with six total touchdowns.
Kita did not play Friday, and the Viking offense struggled to cope with his absence. They ran for just 155 yards and passed for 64, but early on, Gibraltar still found success courtesy of Braden Sitte.
Sitte scored two touchdown runs in the first half on runs of nine yards and one yard, giving his team a 13-8 lead at halftime.
In the second half, the Titans’ Sam Marquardt got going. He ran for three touchdowns in the half, including a 17-yarder that gave his team a 16-13 lead 2:45 into the third quarter and a 58-yarder with 53 seconds left in the third that made it 22-13.
That lead held until there was 2:24 to go in the quarter, when he scored his third touchdown to take a 30-13 lead.
“In the first half we had several holding calls which killed some drives, but we were still in it, down 13 to 8,” Titans coach Dale Lange said. “At halftime, we made some adjustments and in the second half avoided the flags. We were able to get the offense clicking and put 22 points on the board while the defense stepped up and held them to one score at the very end.”
Gibraltar’s Giovanny Mercier passed for a 67-yard touchdown with 1:26 to play, but the Titans held on to win 30-21.
Marquardt ran for 194 yards on 28 attempts, scoring three touchdowns. He threw for an 11-yard touchdown to Sidney Sylvester in the first quarter.
Logan Graef took eight carries for 70 yards and Tyler Shallow had a 41-yard reception along with a defensive interception.
That brings up Wabeno/Laona. In last year’s contest between the Rebels and Titans, Lena/STAA didn’t complete any of its seven passing attempts, throwing four interceptions.
The Titans ran for 245 yards on 47 attempts, but could manage only 10 points, with the interceptions hurting the Titan cause. Adam Seeber, now a senior, had three of them.
If Lena/STAA can take care of the ball, they’ll feel a lot better about their chances this time around.
Wabeno/Laona (7-2) is coming off a 30-22 win over Florence in the first playoff round.
Carter Janesch is the focal point of the Rebels’ offensive attack. running for 581 yards and 16 touchdowns this season and throwing for 1,422 yards and 25 touchdowns.
Wolverines Eliminated 
by Defensive 
Minded Bears
Crivitz wasn’t able to string together long drives against a stout Bonduel Bear defense in regional action on Friday.
Of 11 Wolverine offensive drives, just two went for more than 17 yards and one ended in points, a 75-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter.
Bonduel scored first. After an interception gave them the ball, the Bears needed just 20 yards to punch in the first points of the game, which they did on a nine-yard run from Louis Hrabik.
The next Crivitz drive began with about two minutes left to go in the first quarter. After five minutes and 36 seconds, the Wolverines pierced the end zone with an eight-yard touchdown run by Sean Christiansen. Stephen Allard completed the extra point to tie the game at seven.
The teams looked poised to head into halftime tied at seven, as with less than a minute to play in the second quarter, Tegan Werner intercepted a pass to give Crivitz the ball. 
Three plays later, the Wolverines were giving the ball back to the Bears, however, and Bonduel needed just 15 seconds to drive 40 yards and take a 14-7 lead into the break.
The Wolverines’ first drive out of halftime ended in a turnover on downs of four plays and five yards. Bonduel’s four plays on its ensuing drive went for 55 yards for a touchdown. The Bears led 20-7.
Crivitz would force punts on each of Bonduel’s next three drives, but the Wolverines’ next three drives ended in two fumbles and a safety. After one more Crivitz drive, the game ended 22-7.
The Wolverines weren’t able to put together enough chunk plays of 10 to 12 yards that sustain drives, Crivitz coach Matt Bernier said. The biggest problem, however, was turnovers.
The Bonduel defense held Crivitz to 224 yards of offense, but that was more than the Bears managed, as they had just 190.
“The turnovers were killers in this game. We know in tight games, especially in the playoffs, we can’t do that with our offense,” Crivitz coach Matt Bernier said.
Bonduel’s Hrabik had two touchdown runs. He carried 21 times for 122 yards. Noah Weier threw 13 times, completing seven for 57 yards.
For Crivitz, quarterback Cashton Mertens was again unavailable due to injury, thrusting Christiansen into the passing role. He completed 2-9 passes for 32 yards and ran 16 times for 45 yards and a touchdown.
Mertens, a 6-foot-3, 176-pound quarterback and defensive back, is one of 20 seniors on the Wolverine roster. Not having him on the field Friday hurt the Crivitz offense, and he’ll be missed next season.
“When these guys came in as freshmen, their quarterback had moved away, so we kind of asked a couple people who wanted to be quarterback,” Bernier said. “They all kind of looked at us wide-eyed, and Cash ended up tackling that role from his freshman year on, and started the last two years for us. He’s been a good player, he commands the offense, he knows where to be. The timing with all these guys is super important. Sean stepped up nicely tonight, but we did miss Cash.”
Along with Mertens, Logan Goltz, Christiansen, Karson Bins, Daniel Desing, Dillan Gehm, Kyle Guy, Tyger Golla, Dominic Thoreson, Karlie Goldberg, Aiden Diaz, Caleb McCullough, Landon Suennen, Seth Sellen, Brady Tadisch, Keaton Wagner, Kalev Nelsen, Kaden Spalding, Tyler Rymer, and Hunter Vania all graduate this year.
“These guys have battled all the way through. Some of these guys have jumped in and started as freshmen and they’re starting again tonight,” Bernier said. “It’s a long ride for these guys. The good thing for them is the majority of them are three-sport athletes. Even though football is done, we’ll continue to watch them and support them in their upcoming sports seasons.”
Werner, a junior, ran 11 times for 55 yards Friday and intercepted a pass. Gehm carried 11 times for 37 yards and led the team with seven tackles. TJ Mueller, another junior, had six tackles.
Panthers Drop 
Opening Round 
Contest to 2nd 
Seed Irish
The Oconto Falls defense couldn’t contain Carter Kriewaldt and a potent Freedom offense in a 49-22 regional defeat on Friday.
Kriewaldt ran for 212 yards and four touchdowns on 18 attempts, while Matt Wyngaard passed for 129 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 80 yards and another touchdown. 
Freedom had 535 yards of total offense in the game to the Panthers’ 123.
Cole Bozile had two interceptions, including a pick-six to keep the Panthers in it early. 
After three Freedom touchdowns, the Irish led 20-0 in the second quarter, but Oconto Falls got on the board with a seven-yard touchdown pass from Carter Hill to Kody Vorpahl. After a two-point conversion, the score was 20-8.
Shortly after, Bozile intercepted a pass and returned it 40 yards to the house to cut the lead to 20-14. In the blink of an eye, the Panthers were in striking distance.
Freedom, however, would score two more touchdowns and add a safety before halftime to take a 35-14 lead into the break.
The Irish scored twice more in the third quarter before a three-yard touchdown run by the Panthers’ Skylar Dalton in the fourth quarter wrapped up the scoring, 49-22.
Dalton had six carries for five yards and the touchdown. Alex Haines ran 13 times for 66 yards.
Carter Hill completed four of nine passes for 40 yards, two interceptions, and a touchdown to Kody Vorpahl, who caught all four of Hill’s completed passes.
No. 2 Freedom faces No. 3 Berlin this Friday. Berlin advanced with a 35-34 victory over Denmark in round one.
The Panthers lose 15 seniors this season, including Vorpahl, Dalton, Hill, Caleb Clark, Mitchell Kallies, Cy Vizelka, Alex Joshua List, Logan Kramer, Tyler Smits, Jordan Kempke, Devon Dorn, Christopher Freeman, Caden Birr, Braden Vandermoss, and Grant Bouche.
Menominee Nips 
Kingsford to Qualify 
for Post Season Play
Menominee clipped the Kingsford Flivvers on Friday to wrap up the regular season with a 42-41 win.
The Maroons found great success on the ground, with Kaeden Calcari running 18 times for 201 yards and three touchdowns, Landan Bardowski taking 19 carries for 131 yards and two scores, and Trevor Theuerkauf recording 24 yards and one touchdown on five carries.
In total, they ran for 356 yards and six touchdowns. Theuerkauf also  threw 27 times, completing 14 for 137 yards and two interceptions. Aaron Brunelle caught four passes for 49 yards to lead the team.
On the other side, the Flivvers ran for 332 yards, led by Cole Myllyla’s 15 carries for 156 yards and two touchdowns and Nic Nora’s 20 totes for 158 yards and two touchdowns.
Nora also caught a 79-yard touchdown pass. It was one of only two completed passes in the game for Kingsford passer Nic Novara.
Menominee faces Calumet in pre-district competition this week. 
Calumet is 6-3 on the season. After losing their first two games of the year by 25+ points against Gladstone and Negaunee, the Copper Kings rebounded quickly, winning six of their next seven.
With a win, the Maroons would face either Negaunee or Houghton.
 

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