Titans/Cougars Stay Undefeated; Move to Level 2

 

 

Football is one third offense, one third defense and one third special teams, but special teams doesn’t often result in 22 direct points like it did for Lena/St. Thomas Aquinas Academy on Friday.

The Lena/STAA special teams led the way in a 30-point win over Florence in the first round of the eight-man football playoffs on Friday, the first home playoff game in Lena history. 

The Titans returned one kickoff for a touchdown and returned two blocked punts for scores.

The teams were scoreless after one quarter, but the Titan special teams unit jump started the scoring with a Josh Kristof blocked punt in the end zone, recovered by Mason Sobeck 14 seconds into the second period.

Logan Shallow converted the two-point conversion. He then doubled the team’s advantage with a two-yard touchdown run four minutes later. Sam Marquardt converted the two-point bonus.

After a Marquardt touchdown run, Florence’s William Kelley got the game back to two scores with 1:01 to go in the half, but it didn’t last long.

Marquardt returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards to the house to take a 32-8 lead into the halftime break, and the Titans broke the game open further with a Logan Shallow touchdown run and a Kristof scoop and score after he blocked a punt with seven minutes to go in the quarter.

“It’s great for the team and the fans love it and it’s a momentum swinger. It’s an absolute momentum swinger,” Lena/STAA coach Dale Lange said. “Two blocked punts, we scooped and scored them for touchdowns, and if you look back through the year, we’ve been doing that, but that is one thing we practice on. We practice on our special teams and it shows.”

In addition to the two scoops and scores and kickoff return touchdown, Lena/STAA also recovered two fumbles on kickoffs.

“All season we’ve been working on our special teams: our kick returns, our blocked punts, all of our stuff. We work on every phase of this game every practice and once again, the team has always played together as a team,” Lange said. “That’s our strong point: we play together as a team, we win as a team, and when everybody functions, you can see good things happen. It’s great to see these young guys going.”

Kelley scored on a fourth-quarter touchdown run to make the score 44-14, but this one was all Titans.

They posted 281 yards of total offense and held the Bobcats to 143 yards.

“Everything felt good tonight,” Kristof said.

Marquardt led the Titans offensively with 116 yards on 15 carries with one touchdown. Shallow ran 15 times for 74 yards and two touchdowns and Whiting carried 11 times for 47 yards.

Shallow caught Marquardt’s only two pass completions for 44 yards. Marquardt was 2-for-5 with two interceptions, one by Kelley and another by Dustin Williams.

Kelley finished the game with two rushing touchdowns. He was 8-for-22 passing for 131 yards. Trent Watkins caught four of the passes for 94 yards.

Florence was the No. 4 seed in the bracket. Top-seeded Lena/STAA hosts No. 2 Wabeno/Laona on Friday at 7 p.m. Wabeno/Laona is coming off a 20-6 win over Three Lakes/Phelps last week.

“We’re going to have another week just like we did this week, a good hard week, a good game and show up to play,” Lange said.

The other three remaining matchups in eight-man football are No. 1 Luck vs. No. 2 Shell Lake, No. 1 Gilman vs. No. 2 Prairie Farm and No. 1 Newman Catholic vs. No. 3 Belmont.

 

Cougars Ground 

Rockets in Level 1

Playoff 44-6

The Coleman Cougars beat New Lisbon by a 44-6 score on Friday to advance in the playoffs, with a high-powered matchup with undefeated Pacelli looming.

Coleman, a No. 2 seed in the Division 7 bracket, faces No. 3 Pacelli on Friday after Pacelli beat No. 6 Assumption 46-14 last week.

Pacelli comes into Friday’s matchup with nine wins and no losses. Coleman is undefeated as well.

In the opening round, Coleman did its thing, posting 406 total yards of offense and holding New Lisbon to 185.

The Cougars scored first with a 23-yard run by Peter Kuchta, who scored again in the second on a three-yard run to make it 14-0.

Up 14-0, the Coleman defense made a big stop. As New Lisbon went down the field, it looked like the Rockets would get on the board, as they had a first down at the one yard line.

“I thought that was a big turning point as far as momentum in the game is concerned,” Coleman coach Jeff Bronson said.

The Cougars forced a five-yard loss on a first-down outside run, then kept the Rockets out at the one-yard line on fourth down.

Coleman didn’t throw a single pass in the first half. In the third quarter, the Cougars’ first pass of the game went for a 36-yard touchdown pass from Noah Nosgovitz to Will Bieber to stretch the lead to 22-0.

“I thought we surprised them with the touchdown pass to Bieber,” Bronson said. “We prefer to run the ball, but we can pass and we’ll probably need to throw more moving deeper into the playoffs.”’

Nosgovitz would finish the game 2-for-7 for 54 yards, with Bieber catching both passes.

After six points by New Lisbon later in the third, Coleman got touchdown runs from Trent Mongin, Owen Kinziger and Braxton Darga in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

It was again a balanced rushing attack from Coleman. Kinziger ran 17 times for 148 yards and a score, Bieber ran nine times for 83 yards, Mongin had six carries for 35 yards and a touchdown and Peter Kuchta took his five carries for 47.

Darga’s only run was his nine-yard touchdown. Nosgovitz also ran three times for 30 yards.

“All our backs are unselfish and block well for each other,” Bronson said.

Cougar defenders also intercepted four passes, with Nosgovitz, Mongin, Tieg Sadowski and Kuchta intercepting Ashton Pfaff passes.

The game against Pacelli will begin in Coleman at 7 p.m. The Cougars can expect a lot of ground and pound from the Rockets, led by Brycen Cashin, who ran 14 times for 247 yards and five touchdowns last weekend.

He has run for over 1,500 yards and scored 36 rushing touchdowns this season.

 

Crivitz Comes Up 

Short Against 

Potent Abbotsford 

Ground Game

The Crivitz football season came to a disappointing end with a 26-15 loss to Abbotsford on Friday.

Crivitz trailed 12-7 at half, but cut the lead to 18-15 by the end of the third quarter. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, they didn’t score in the fourth quarter, while Abbotsford capitalized for a touchdown and two-point conversion to make it a two-score game once again.

Crivitz got 110 yards rushing and two touchdowns on nine attempts from Tegan Werner. Cashton Mertens ran 11 times for 66 yards and Dillan Gehm took 25 carries for 74 yards.

Crivitz didn’t have much success throwing the ball. Mertens was 1-for-7 for three yards and one interception.

Abbotsford attempted just one pass, but rushed 46 times for 422 yards. Ty Falteisek ran for 226 yards on 17 attempts, but turnovers kept the Wolverines around, as Falteisek lost four fumbles in the game. 

Werner recovered two. TJ Mueller recovered one.

The Wolverines graduate the following players: Devin Bieber, Mason Biernasz, Adam Boudreau, Eli Gruszynski, Evander Lawrence and Chad Schroeder.

 

Panthers Season Ends

With Level 1 Loss 

to Mustangs

An exciting Oconto Falls football season came to a close with a 27-6 loss to Little Chute in the first round of the Division 4 playoffs.

The Panthers won their first five games of the year and finished the season with just two losses, one of which came in a makeup game with Kewaunee after a Northland Pines forfeit. 

That earned Oconto Falls a No. 3 seed in the Division 4 playoffs, where the Panthers met No. 6 Little Chute.

Little Chute entered the postseason tournament on a two-game win streak, with wins over Marinette and Menominee. The Mustangs held just a 4-4 record.

On Friday, they didn’t look anything like a .500 team. They scored two touchdowns in the second quarter and two in the third quarter to take a 27-0 lead.

Dylan Thomson would score on a three-yard touchdown for the Panthers in the fourth quarter. His 27 carries for 143 yards led Oconto Falls.

In total, the Panthers posted 220 total yards to LC’s 337. Oconto Falls struggled through the air, with quarterback Carter Hill going 4-for-14 for 66 yards and one interception.

On the other hand, the Mustangs were 14-for-20 passing for 186 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

The Panthers will lose a number of key contributors, Thomson included.

Other seniors include Jake Sager, Logan Seymour, Noah Hirst, Brayden Kozlowski, Dylan Przybylski, Isaac Raddatz, Jaden Ganter, Weston Borkovec, Jeremy Caldwell, Owen Heinke, Dylan Fabry, Cole Gilbert and Zach Fonder.

 

Maroons Fall to 

Flivvers, Earn a 

Share of GNC Title

Going into Friday’s regular season finale with Kingsford, the Menominee Maroons had their sights on sole possession of the Great Northern Conference, which they could have clinched with a win.

However, Kingsford rained on the Maroons’ parade, coming into Menominee and leaving with a 34-27 win. The win earned the Flivvers a share of the title, along with Menominee and Marquette.

For Menominee, Kaeden Calcari ran 15 times for 94 yards, Trevor Theuerkauf ran nine times for 75 yards and Aidan Bellisle took 12 carries for 35 yards and a touchdown.

The Maroons had more success through the air than on the ground, as Bellisle was 5-for-7 passing for 30 yards and two touchdowns, Theuerkauf went 14-for-25 for 145 yards and Brody Waara had a 40-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Conway. 

Brady Badker caught three passes for 35 yards and a touchdown, Conway caught a touchdown to go with three catches for 51 yards and Waara caught a touchdown pass with three grabs for 22 yards. Bellisle caught six passes for 82 yards and Calcari had 44 yards on four grabs.

Menominee had two turnovers and Kingsford also returned a kickoff for a touchdown.

Kingsford was led by Toby Wilcox and his 27 carries for 179 yards and a touchdown.

Menominee plays host to Calumet in the first round of the playoffs this Friday, with first kick set for 6 p.m.

 

Hornets Sting 

Blue Devils in D6 

Playoff Opener

The Oconto Blue Devils learned exactly why Colby was a No. 1 seed in their Division 6 bracket on Friday.

The Hornets led 35-0 by halftime, with four first-half touchdowns by Brent Jeske - two passing touchdowns, one rushing and one on a pick-six.

By the end of the third quarter, the 49-0 final score was in place.

Colby forced three fumbles and intercepted two passes in the game.

The Hornets advance to face No. 4 Abbotsford at home on Friday.