Thursday, September 19, 2024
PESHTIGO – The Coleman Cougars faced off with their old M&O rival the Peshtigo Bulldogs. After four quarters of play the Cougars left it all out on the field and took the Bulldogs for a 35-0 ride.
Peshtigo started the game with the ball and used most of the first quarter putting together a long drive that included a fourth down pass from Lincoln Nemec to save the drive. But after a costly penalty, the Bulldogs were forced to punt.
“They came out and went single wing on us so it took a while to adjust,” said Coleman head coach Jeff Bronson. “We have a lot of new faces in new places and when they adjusted we really started to play well. Our tackling became better as the game went on too.”
With 1 minute left in the quarter Coleman took over possession of the ball. Their drive ended with a 29 yard run by Kolton Peters to get the game’s first score on the board. The Peshtigo defense dug in on the two point conversion forcing an incomplete pass.
“Our two young guards did really well tonight,” said Bronson. “Wyatt was playing JV halfback until Tuesday so he had a really good game and had a two way start at linebacker for us. A kid like that is one of the reasons we have success. He faced a challenge and rose to it. And our backs are really tough, we have a nice fullback who is really a thumper and we have those three halfbacks that are very elusive. And our quarterback is just great. We are really blessed this year.”
After a short possession by the Bulldogs the Cougars took over and opened up with a 45 yard pass to Kolton Peters that brought the Cougars down to the 10 yard line. That 10 yard gap to the end zone was cleared in the next play by Peters on a rush and was followed by a successful extra point kick to make it a 13-0 game
In Coleman’s next drive there was a 20 yard pass completion before a drive capping five yard run by West Bieber for the TD. Another successful extra point kick brought the game to its halftime score of 20-0.
Near the beginning of the third quarter Coleman’s Micah Kuchta got in on the scoring, entering the end zone off a rush from 31 yards out. Again the kick was good making it a 27-0 lead for the Cougars.
Peshtigo took a three and out before Coleman responded with a 14 yard scoring rush from Bieber and a two point conversion to make it 35-0.
Peshtigo took a turnover on downs in their next possession but got the ball back a short while later when a Coleman fumble found its way into the hands of a Bulldog. But another turnover on downs led to Coleman’s final possession of the game where time ticked away till the final second was gone.
On the evening Peshtigo’s Nemec was 10 of 18 for 61 yards at quarterback while Adin Reiswitz led the receiving game for the Bulldogs with 61 yards on five receptions. Rushing for the Bulldogs Nemec tallied up 42 yards on 17 attempts. Zach Sherman led the defensive effort for the dogs with 8 tackles and three assists.
Coleman’s Micah Kuchta passed for 65 yards in a two of two showing. One of those passes was caught by Peters for 45 yards while the other was received by Victor Kostreva for a 20 yard gain. Rushing was led by Kuchta who added up 67 yards and one TD on six carries and Peters who amassed 60 yards and two TDs on eight carries. Bieber finished the night with 50 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Cole Berth also had a great day getting 45 yards on four attempts.
“When we started, we were ready to play at the scrimmage and it looked like we were becoming the team we wanted to become,” said Peshtigo head coach Michael Berth. “And tonight we got the ball first and we thought we were going to set the tone and score first. But then we started shooting ourselves in the foot with a couple bad penalties, we are going to work on that in practice and get that all polished up. Coleman has a really great team though. Their quarterback runs that fake handoff and gets everyone rolling the wrong way and it caused our guys to get out of position”
