Go to link below for the WIAA website for brackets & results.
www.wiaawi.org/
Top-seeded Papermakers shred Fond du Lac
KIMBERLY – For about 15 seconds Friday night, the Fond du Lac football team was feeling pretty good. The Cardinals had scored on their third play from scrimmage and held an early 7-0 lead over top-seeded and undefeated Kimberly. Fond du Lac would only feel frustration after that.
Kimberly scored on its first offensive play following the Cardinals’ opening touchdown, leading to 41 unanswered points, as the Papermakers crushed Fond du Lac 41-15 in a WIAA Division 1 Level 3 playoff game at Papermaker Stadium in Kimberly.
On only its third play of the night on Friday, third-seeded Fond du Lac provided what would ultimately be the team’s highlight for the game. Quarterback Jack Nejedlo kept the ball on the read option, racing around the left edge while dodging a number of Kimberly defenders en route to a 73-yard touchdown dash with 10:38 left in the first quarter.
Kimberly, the defending Division 2 state champion, wasn’t fazed. On the Papermakers’ first play following the kickoff, quarterback Austin Weyenberg found Bret Verstegen near the left sideline and the senior receiver raced 62 yards nearly untouched for the score at the 10:23 mark. After that, it was all Kimberly. “I was feeling pretty good (after Nejedlo’s touchdown) until we kicked off and on their first play they ‘housed’ it,” Fond du Lac coach Mike Gnewuch said. “We knew they had a whole bunch of talent. We thought we could move the ball on them and we did some nice things. But obviously not enough.”
Kimberly coach Steve Jones knew Fond du Lac could pose a challenge to his squad, but was proud of the way it responded after some early adversity, setting the tone for the rest of the contest. “We knew that Fond du Lac has an explosive offense and they have playmakers all over the place,” Jones said. “I thought our kids really did a good job of regrouping and for us to come back offensively and have a big play right away, I think helped them back to even keel and get back to neutral.”
Kimberly (12-0) took a lead it wouldn’t relinquish late in the first quarter on a 10-yard Blair Mulholland touchdown run. Fond du Lac (10-2) did have a chance to tie it up at 14 apiece midway through the second quarter, but a couple of penalties in the red zone derailed its drive. A holding penalty erased what appeared to be a Nejedlo TD run and an ineligible man downfield flag on the ensuing play backed the Cardinals up even further. Fond du Lac would eventually turn the ball over on downs.
The Papermakers marched down the field after taking over — going 72 yards in eight plays, highlighted by a 40-yard pitch-and-catch from Weyenberg to Jake Johnson — and capped it off with a one-yard touchdown plunge from Evan Dux, the first of three scores for him on Friday. The wheels began to fall off for the Cardinals in the second half as Kimberly quickly put the game out of reach. Following another Dux TD on the Papermakers’ opening drive, Fond du Lac couldn’t get anything established offensively on its next possession, leading to a punt. Jason Toshner’s punt was partially blocked out of bounds, giving Kimberly the ball at the eight-yard line and leading to another Dux score.
Weyenberg capped off his night with a 55-yard touchdown pass to Ben Boots on the second play of the fourth quarter, giving Kimberly a 41-7 advantage. Quinn Woelfel scored Fond du Lac’s final touchdown of the season on a two-yard scamper with 2:41 left. Nejedlo led Fond du Lac with 95 yards rushing on 14 carries, struggling to find much space after his touchdown. Kimberly also contained Nejedlo through the air, holding the senior quarterback to 7-of-21 passing for 80 yards and three interceptions.
Brian Luteyn had five catches for 44 yards, while Justin Maratik added 90 yards rushing on 13 carries. As a team, the Cardinals gained 308 yards on offense, but weren’t able to find the scoreboard nearly enough. Jones credited his team’s defensive effort to preparation. “Every battle’s won before it’s fought,” Jones said. “I thought our kids really prepared well all week. Had a great week of practice and they came out and executed.”
Weyenberg finished 7-of-15 passing for 204 yards with two touchdowns for Kimberly, while Johnson had three catches for 55 yards. Mulholland ended up with 138 yards rushing on 20 carries. Kimberly gained 403 yards as a team.
Although Friday’s outcome certainly wasn’t the one Fond du Lac wanted to end its season on, it was a successful year for the Cardinals. In winning 10 games, Fond du Lac doubled its win total from 2013 and proved to the rest of the area that it’s a program on the rise. “I told them ‘You’ve got to keep your heads held high guys’ because they doubled the wins from last year and three short years ago, they were sitting 1-8,” Gnewuch said. “Now we were one of the final eight teams (in Division 1). I’m proud of them. We lost to a better football team, period. We had to play a perfect game and we had to hope they would screw up and that didn’t happen tonight. There’s nothing wrong with a 10-win season and making it to Level 3 in the playoffs.” Kimberly advances to face Marquette in a Level 4 game next week. Marquette defeated Franklin 23-13 on Friday.
Fond du Lac…7 0 0 8 — 15
Kimberly…14 7 13 7 — 41
Scoring summary:
FDL— Jack Nejedlo, 73 run (Danny Behlke kick), 10:38.
KIM— Bret Verstegen, 62 pass from Austin Weyenberg (Adam Stage kick), 10:23.
KIM— Blair Mulholland, 10 run (Stage kick), 3:08.
KIM— Evan Dux, 1 run (Stage kick), 2:21.
KIM— Dux, 3 run (Stage kick), 7:52.
KIM— Dux, 1 run (kick fail), 3:01.
KIM— Ben Boots, 55 pass from Weyenberg (Stage kick), 11:04.
FDL— Quinn Woelfel, 2 run (Woelfel run), 2:41.
Team stats
FDL KIM
First downs…14 14
Total yards…308 403
Rushing…224 199
Passes (C-A-I)…8-22-3 7-15-0
Passing yards…84 204
Fumbles…0-0 0-0
Individual leaders
Rushing: FDL— Jack Nejedlo, 14-95; Justin Maratik, 13-90. KIM— Blair Mulholland, 20-138.
Passing: FDL— Jack Nejedlo, 7-21-80-3. KIM— Austin Weyenberg, 7-15-204-0.
Receiving: FDL— Brian Luteyn, 5-44. KIM— Jake Johnson, 3-55; Bret Verstegen, 1-62.
Fond du Lac gets set to face top-seeded Kimberly
It’s no secret what the Fond du Lac football team is up against Friday. The Cardinals, their coaches and basically anyone who has paid attention to the prep football scene this season is well aware of what lies ahead.
In traveling to face top-seeded Kimberly Friday night in a WIAA Division 1 Level 3 playoff game, the third-seeded Cardinals realize they’ll be vying for an upset against the near-consensus choice for the best high school football team in the state.
The Papermakers don’t do anything special. They just do everything better. Kimberly hasn’t lost a game in two years, winning the Division 2 state title in 2013 with a perfect 14-0 record. Offense, defense, special teams — this is a team that has no discernible weakness. Kimberly isn’t invincible. No team holds that distinction. But Fond du Lac coach Mike Gnewuch knows his squad will need to play almost a perfect game if it has any shot to pull off what many would consider the upset of the year. “We’ve got to play disciplined football,” Gnewuch said. “We can’t have any mental errors on either side of the football. We have to limit the penalties. We’ve got to play more physical than them. They’re a beatable team. They’re definitely beatable, but we’ve got to play a darn good football game where we limit all of our errors.”
Possibly the single biggest key to Friday’s game could be the play of the Cardinals’ defense. Fond du Lac (10-1) has been stout defensively all season long — allowing only 13 points per game, but it hasn’t seen what Kimberly (11-0) brings to the table.
With seemingly endless weapons at its disposal, Kimberly, the Valley Football Association North champion, scores 42.5 points per game and does it in a variety of ways, starting with star running back Blair Mulholland.
On just 150 attempts, Mulholland has rushed for 1,208 yards on the season with 20 touchdowns, including a 211-yard performance last week in the Papermakers’ 34-0 win over Madison La Follette. Meanwhile, backfield partner Evan Dux has 1,180 yards rushing with 11 touchdowns.
Quarterback Austin Weyenberg is no slouch either. If the Papermakers can’t get a consistent running game going, Weyenberg is certainly a capable passer with 1,403 yards through the air, 21 touchdowns and just one interception. Leading receiver Jake Johnson has 47 receptions for 734 yards and 12 scores.
Gnewuch doesn’t think his defense will have many problems when it comes to Kimberly’s offensive strategy, as the Papermakers run a similar offense as Fond du Lac. That said, it will come down to making plays against a skilled opponent. “They’ve got some great skill,” Gnewuch said. “The good news is they run our offense pretty much. They run power, they run counter. That’s where they really butter their bread. We’ve seen that all year. It’s not something that will be strange or foreign to us, it’s very familiar to us. It’s just us getting hats to the ball and making a play.”
Linebacker Lucas Raube, who recorded the game-clinching interception in the Cardinals’ 27-20 Level 2 playoff win over Middleton last week, noted his unit will need to contain Kimberly’s playmakers. “We’re going to attack their strengths, their running back and quarterback,” Raube said. “We’ve got to keep them all contained. Make tackles and preach perfect effort.”
Perhaps the overlooked aspect in Kimberly’s dominance this season is the play of the Papermakers’ defense. In giving up just 8.5 points per game, Kimberly has recorded two shutouts and only once allowed the opposition to score 20 points.
Offensively, Fond du Lac averages 36 points a game and had a strong night against a tough Middleton defense last week. Running back Justin Maratik has 1,807 yards rushing this season with 21 touchdowns, while quarterback Jack Nejedlo has passed for 1,437 yards and 19 touchdowns with four interceptions.
The Cardinals will almost surely look to establish the running game against the Papermakers, which in turn could open up more passing options for Nejedlo and star wideout Brian Luteyn. “I think we’re going to have to play our normal game,” Nejedlo said. “We’re going to have to go extra hard though. Hit our blocking right and we’ll have Maratik get some good cuts and Luteyn and everyone else make some big plays.”
On occasion this season, Fond du Lac has let up a bit in the second half of games, allowing opponents to stick around — notably in wins against Middleton and Hortonville. Against Kimberly, there will be no room for a second-half lull. “Can’t do it,” Gnewuch said. “The kids know that and that’s something we’re really trying to stress this week in practice. Never taking a single play off, mentally and physically. Always focusing every single play because the stakes are high the deeper you get into the playoffs.”
Undoubtedly, Fond du Lac will be viewed as the underdog Friday night. That’s a role the Cardinals relish. It’s a view they took coming into their season opener at Appleton North and is one they hope to use to their advantage against the Papermakers.
“We like going on the road and it’s something we’ve talked about since Week 1,” Gnewuch said. “Going up to Appleton North. They had their 42-game winning streak or whatever on that field and that’s what we wanted to do, was end that. Now Kimberly’s got a 25-game winning streak and we want to see if we can end that up at their place.”
Added Nejedlo: “We love being the underdog. We want to be the underdog in this game. Last year, we went up there and got our butts kicked by them pretty bad, 55-14. We’ve been training every single day in the summer do to that and we don’t want to get beat that bad. So we’re going to come up there, be the underdog and hopefully show them how to play Fondy foot
Fond du Lac holds off late Middleton rally > Final 27 – 20
MIDDLETON – With his team leading by three touchdowns midway through the fourth quarter, probably the last thing on Jason Toshner’s mind was the possibility that he’d be called on to make a critical punt. But in the playoffs, stranger things have happened. And of all the important plays in Friday night’s WIAA Division 1 Level 2 playoff game between the Fond du Lac football team and Middleton, it was a late punt that just may have been the most crucial.
Toshner bombed a 61-yard punt with 2:27 left, pinning Middleton back on its own one-yard line, and Lucas Raube intercepted a pass two plays later as the Cardinals held on for a thrilling 27-20 win Friday night after nearly blowing a 21-point advantage.
Fond du Lac advances to face top-seeded Kimberly in a Level 3 game next week. Kimberly defeated Madison La Follette 34-0 on Friday.
Leading 27-6 in the fourth quarter against second-seeded Middleton, it appeared as though third-seeded Fond du Lac was going to cruise into the next round of the playoffs. The Cardinals had the momentum, were moving the ball well and the clock was clearly in their favor. Middleton wouldn’t go down that easily. Taking over at its own 12-yard line following a Fond du Lac turnover on downs midway through the fourth, Middleton used a couple big pass plays to drive 88 yards and capped it off with a nine-yard touchdown pass from Kellan Schulz to Cody Markel with 4:10 to go. Middleton then recovered the ensuing onside kick, completed a long pass on the first play from scrimmage and scored two plays after that on a seven-yard strike from Schulz to Mitchell Herl. In less than a minute, Middleton had trimmed a three-score lead to just seven points.
After the Cardinals went three-and-out on their next possession, any momentum Fond du Lac had at that point rested in Toshner’s right foot. Punting from his own 38-yard line, the senior boomed a knuckleball kick down the left sideline, where it landed around the 20-yard line, bounded down toward the end zone and was covered up three feet from the goal line.
“One of my teammates, Danny Behlke, challenged me to get it on the one-yard line,” Toshner said. “I just went out, punted it and got it to there.” The punt put Middleton (9-2) in a position where it would need to drive 99 yards in a little over two minutes to tie the game. Schulz completed a short pass on the first play of the drive, but was intercepted by Raube with 1:56 left, sealing the win for Fond du Lac (10-1).
As strange as it would have sounded when the Cardinals were up by 21 points in the fourth quarter, it was Toshner’s punt only minutes later that just may have been the difference in the contest. “I wanted to get out there right away before they could get set,” Fond du Lac coach Mike Gnewuch said of the punt play. “I know that we wanted to run time off the clock, but I figured if we could get out there and get the punt off and give Jason a little more time to directional kick it, we’d be better off in the long run. Man, we took a gamble and it worked. He went and put it down at the one-yard line.”
Prior to Middleton’s comeback, it was all Fond du Lac for most of Friday’s game. The Cardinals jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on the strength of quarterback Jack Nejedlo’s arm and legs. Nejedlo found Marcus Ruch on a four-yard touchdown strike to start things off before powering in himself from eight yards out. Middleton was able cut the deficit to 14-6 early in the second quarter on a three-yard Cam Maly run, but Nejedlo scored again — this time from five yards — to put the Cards up two TDs late in the first half.
After a scoreless third quarter, Justin Maratik scored on a three-yard touchdown burst and Fond du Lac seemingly had a firm grasp on the game. It ended up being much closer than most expected at that point. “That was our plan (to start well),” Gnewuch said. “We’ve been saying ‘Attack, attack.’ For whatever reason, we become a little complacent, we can’t get off the field on defense and it’s always right around the end of the third quarter, beginning of the fourth quarter. So that’s something we’ve got to clean up. We’re very aware of it as a staff and it’s something we’ll clean up and try to get better at.”
Both teams put up impressive numbers offensively, combining for over 800 yards of total offense. Fond du Lac rushed for 305 yards as a team, led by Maratik with 171 yards on 35 carries. Nejedlo added 109 yards on the ground to go with 135 through the air on 7-of-16 passing. Brian Luteyn had three catches for 79 yards.
Fond du Lac’s defense struggled to contain Middleton’s passing attack as Schulz threw for 274 yards on 21-of-41 passing. Herl grabbed seven receptions for 122 yards. However, the Cardinals did record two interceptions and limited Middleton’s ground game for the most part. While the defense did bend toward the end of Friday’s game, allowing two touchdowns and a number of long pass plays, Gnewuch was proud of the unit’s resiliency. “They find a way to win,” he said. “It seems like one guy always steps up to make a big play and it was Lucas Raube tonight.”
In advancing to face the No. 1 seed and undefeated Kimberly Papermakers next Friday, Fond du Lac is aware it will be in for its toughest test of the season. “We got a little lazy at the end (of Friday’s game), but we know next week we’re going to have to pick it up,” Toshner said. “Don’t get lazy and just go full force the entire game.”
Middleton’sFond du Lac…14 7 0 6 — 27
Middleton…0 6 0 14 — 20
Scoring summary:
FDL— Marcus Ruch, 4 pass from Jack Nejedlo (Danny Behlke kick), 8:07.
FDL— Nejedlo, 8 run (Behlke kick), 3:53.
MID— Cam Maly, 3 run (kick fail), 10:32.
FDL— Nejedlo, 5 run (Behlke kick), 1:01.
FDL— Justin Maratik, 3 run (kick fail), 11:43.
MID— Cody Markel, 9 pass from Kellan Schulz (Declan Whinnery kick), 4:10.
MID— Mitchell Herl, 7 pass from Schulz (Whinnery kick), 3:32.
Team stats
FDL MID
First downs…20 19
Total yards…440 414
Rushing…305 112
Passes (C-A-I)…7-16-0 22-42-2
Passing yards…135 302
Fumbles…0-0 1-0
Individual leaders
Rushing: Fond du Lac— Justin Maratik, 35-171; Jack Nejedlo, 20-109. Middleton— Cam Maly, 20-62.
Passing: Fond du Lac— Jack Nejedlo, 7-16-135-0. Middleton— Kellan Schulz, 21-41-274-2.
Receiving: Fond du Lac— Brian Luteyn, 3-79. Middleton— Mitchell Herl, 7-122.
Fond du Lac prepares for second-seeded Middleton
In a sense, as the Fond du Lac football team looks ahead to its WIAA Division 1 Level 2 playoff game Friday night against Middleton, the Cardinals are preparing by looking back. Three weeks ago, Fond du Lac needed to stop a late two-point conversion attempt to hold on for a 28-26 win over Hortonville. The Polar Bears brought a tough defense and balanced offense to Fruth Field and nearly knocked off the Cardinals on their home turf.
Fond du Lac coach Mike Gnewuch sees a bunch of similarities between that Hortonville squad and the Middleton one his team is about to face, especially from the offensive side. “From the (Fond du Lac) defensive side of the ball, we said they’re very similar to Hortonville,” Gnewuch said. “Now Hortonville is a zone team so schematically a little bit different, but their receivers are very similar to the Hortonville kids. The Hortonville running back was a little bigger, but both kids run hard. Quarterbacks — both athletic, both can throw the ball. So there’s a lot of similarities and what I want to do is tell the team ‘Hortonville is a darn good football program and that’s what we’re going up against on Friday.'” If that is indeed the case, expect a ferocious battle.
Middleton (9-1), a No. 2 seed, figures to challenge third-seeded Fond du Lac (9-1) on both sides of the ball on Friday. As the champions of the Big Eight Conference, Middleton — also nicknamed the Cardinals — doesn’t appear to have many weaknesses and is coming off a 33-10 blowout win over Sun Prairie in a Level 1 playoff game.
Offensively, Middleton averages nearly 35 points per game and can do it through the air or on the ground. Quarterback Kellan Schulz has thrown for 1,347 yards with 12 touchdowns and just two interceptions on 99-of-171 passing. Big tight end Mitchell Herl leads the team with 29 receptions for 510 yards and five touchdowns. Wide receiver Mitchell Bacon also has 27 catches for 404 yards and four scores, while Travis Zander has 15 receptions and three TDs. Meanwhile, running back Cam Maly has rushed 1,077 yards and 16 touchdowns on 181 attempts. Schulz is also a threat with his legs with 257 yards and six touchdowns on the ground. The Cardinals come into Friday’s contest allowing only 12.3 points per game and were absolutely dominant in a 46-7 win over Janesville Craig in a Level 1 game last week, giving up just 95 yards on offense. That said, Fond du Lac’s defense could be in for its toughest test of the season to date.
Defensive back Matt Ryan knows what his unit is up against. For him, effort and physicality will be crucial if the Cardinals are to maintain their defensive excellence on Friday. “The way we’re going to limit them offensively is 11 hats to the football,” Ryan said. “Continuous team effort throughout every single play. We’ve just got to come out and be the more physical people out there. They’ve got really good skill guys on their offense. Good quarterback, good running back. We just need to come out and be more physical on the defensive side.” As has been the case all year, the Cardinals will focus their defensive efforts on stopping the run. If they’re able to do that, Gnewuch pointed to Schulz as someone his team will specifically need to keep in its crosshairs. “We want to establish the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball,” Gnewuch said. “We want to stop the run. They run power, they run counter, they run toss. We’ve seen that all year. So we feel confident that we’ll be able to fit it up fine. It’s just a matter of containing their quarterback. I think he’s the player that we have to stop if we want to be successful in the game on Friday.”
Defensively, Middleton is about as good as it gets. The Cardinals allow only 7.4 points per game and the most they’ve given up in a single contest is 20. Fond du Lac averages nearly 37 points per game on offense, many of which are generated by a powerful rushing game. So far, workhorse running back Justin Maratik has 1,636 yards rushing with 20 touchdowns on 260 attempts. Expect a lot more carries for the junior on Friday. “What we’re going to do is just try to run the ball right down their throats,” offensive lineman Jace Laning said. “They have a good defensive line, but we have a good offensive line. We’ll do our best.” “We have to come out low, hit them hard and just keep driving,” offensive lineman Wyatt Holzman added.
Now, if Fond du Lac is unable to get a consistent running game established, quarterback Jack Nejedlo is certainly a capable passer. Nejedlo is 76-of-138 passing this season for 1,302 yards with 18 touchdowns and four inteceptions. Leading receiver Brian Luteyn has 38 catches for 796 yards and 10 TDs. That said, Gnewuch feels confident in the offensive game plan, which will consist of a heavy dose of ground-and-pound.
“We block up a 4-3 (defense) pretty well and the last time we really saw it was against Marshfield and we blocked it up well,” he said. “So it’s a scheme that we feel confident that we can move the ball on the ground. Now hopefully that’s what we see. Pretty much all year in every scheme we prepare against, somebody comes out in something different. That’s because we have had success running the football. “I think it just comes down to whether or not we’re able to block the front because if we can get the front four removed from the line of scrimmage, we’ll get four or five yards a carry and we’re perfectly comfortable with that.”
With two one-loss teams squaring off for a right to keep playing, Gnewuch and the Cards anticipate an intense atmosphere on Friday. Luckily for them, close, pressure-filled games aren’t anything new. Along with its two-point win against Hortonville, Fond du Lac also knocked off Stevens Point 27-21, scraped past Neenah 14-7 and dropped a 21-14 decision to Oshkosh North. The Cardinals are prepared for this type of environment and are excited to hit the road, especially given that Middleton plays on artificial turf and field conditions should be perfect. “We’ve played in close games,” Gnewuch said. “We like playing on the road. To be honest, we were real happy that Middleton won because I don’t know how much more Fruth Field can take. It was pretty sloppy (last Friday). We travel well. We have a ton of fans that have come along and supported us. We like going on to somebody’s turf and trying to get a victory. So everything works out really well for us.”
Fond du Lac dominates Janesville Craig in playoff opener 46 – 7
Mike Gnewuch hoped his team would get out to a quick start Friday night. He couldn’t have scripted it any better. After the defense forced a fumble on the first play from scrimmage, Jack Nejedlo found a streaking Brian Luteyn down the sideline two plays later and the senior wideout raced into the end zone. That sequence set the tone for the Fond du Lac football team in its postseason opener on Friday as the third-seeded Cardinals demolished No. 6 seed Janesville Craig 46-7 in a WIAA Division 1 Level 1 playoff game at Fruth Field.
A hot start, and nearly complete domination the rest of the game, was exactly what Fond du Lac’s coach was looking for. “That’s what we were hoping was to come out on fire and we did,” Gnewuch said. “Now we’ve just got to prolong that and ride the momentum a little longer. We’ve got to capitalize on some more opportunities and not shoot ourselves in the foot.” No, Fond du Lac wasn’t perfect. The Cardinals had a turnover deep in Cougars’ territory late in the first half and also gave up a long touchdown pass midway through the third quarter, wiping out the shutout. But apart from that, Fond du Lac was pretty darn good.
The Cards’ defense held Janesville Craig to 95 total yards on offense, many of which came with the game well in hand. On the other end, Fond du Lac piled up 413 yards on offense, including nearly 300 on the ground.
Fond du Lac advances to face No. 2 seed Middleton in a Level 2 game next Friday. Middleton defeated Sun Prairie 33-10 on Friday. While it was a complete effort throughout that gave the Cardinals the win on Friday, momentum certainly played a factor to start. After Luteyn’s 26-yard touchdown put Fond du Lac (9-1) up 7-0 just 49 seconds into the contest, he scored on almost an identical play — this one from 28 yards out — only minutes later. Just like that, it was a two-possession game and Janesville Craig (6-4) wasn’t able to muster a threat from there.
“It’s a huge momentum booster to get out (ahead) early in the game,” Luteyn said. “The defense was press coverage and coach saw that and decided to throw it and it worked out pretty well.”
Nejedlo finished with three touchdown passes on the night, finding Mark Dilling from nine yards in the third quarter to cap off his night. Nejedlo was 7-of-17 passing for 99 yards with one interception.
Justin Maratik had another big game on the ground, rushing for 188 yards on 37 carries with two touchdowns. His seven-yard score in the second quarter gave Fond du Lac a 20-0 lead at halftime. He also found the end zone on a 10-yard burst at the end of the third, pushing the Cardinals’ lead to 25 points after Craig got its lone TD on a 55-yard pitch-and-catch from Justin Filter to Josh Ressler.
Fond du Lac finished off the game with a 4-yard touchdown scamper from Quinn Woelfel midway through the fourth before Keagan Berandt hit Caleb Goldstein from 25 yards.
Defensively, the Cardinals were spectacular — holding the Cougars to -5 yards in the first half and -3 yards rushing for the game. Janesville Craig was also hurt by the absence of starting quarterback Shayne Ellis, who was lost to injury a few weeks ago. “We knew they were going to struggle throwing the football because their quarterback went down so we figured if we could establish at the line of scrimmage and stop the run, we’d be in a pretty good situation,” Gnewuch said. “We were able to do that and it ended up well for us.”
In advancing to face a Middleton squad that won the Big Eight Conference this year, Gnewuch knows his team is in for a battle and expects a terrific atmosphere next week on the road. “Two 9-1 football teams, it’s going to be a great high school environment,” he said. “It’s going to be a great atmosphere. It’s going to be a battle. We’re looking forward to it.”
Janesville Craig…0 0 7 0 — 7
Fond du Lac…14 6 12 14 — 46
Scoring summary:
FDL— Brian Luteyn, 26 pass from Jack Nejedlo (Danny Behlke kick), 11:11.
FDL— Luteyn, 28 pass from Nejedlo (Behlke kick), 7:10.
FDL— Justin Maratik, 7 run (pass fail), 10:54.
FDL— Mark Dilling, 9 pass from Nejedlo (pass fail), 5:52.
JC— Josh Ressler, 55 pass from Justin Filter, 5:33.
FDL— Maratik, 10 run (kick fail), 1:11.
FDL— Quinn Woelfel, 4 run (Behlke kick), 6:36.
FDL— Caleb Goldstein, 25 pass from Keagan Berandt (Behlke kick), 1:25.
Team stats
JCFDL
First downs…2 21
Total yards…95 413
Rushing…-3 286
Passes (C-A-I)…9-26-1 9-19-1
Passing yards…98 127
Fumbles…3-2 1-0
Individual leaders
Rushing: Fond du Lac— Justin Maratik, 37-188.
Passing: Janesville Craig— Justin Filter, 7-22-78-1 Fonddu Lac— Jack Nejedlo, 7-17-99-1.
Receiving: Janesville Craig— Josh Ressler, 3-73. Fond du Lac— Brian Luteyn, 2-54.
WIAA Football: Playoff outlook
The road to Camp Randall Stadium just got a little bit tougher for some area high school football teams.
The WIAA released its 2014 playoff pairings Saturday morning and the area’s top two teams — St. Mary’s Springs and Fond du Lac — will have quite the challenge as each of its brackets consists of a state champion from last season.
Kimberly, which won the Division 2 state title last year over Oshkosh North, was the smallest team to make the enrollment cutoff in Division 1 this year and the top-ranked Papermakers fell into the same bracket as Fond du Lac.
Meanwhile, the Ledgers once again earned the top seed, but could potentially face Shiocton — last year’s state champ — in the Level 3 game.
While Fondy and Springs were the only locks to make the playoffs as of a couple of weeks ago, Winnebago Lutheran and Laconia clinched spots with wins Friday night. Campbellsport on the other hand, snuck in with a 3-4 conference record after the WIAA announced the playoff fields late Friday night.
The Cougars were one of three teams in all divisions that made the playoffs with a sub-.500 record.
Division 1
The Cardinals (8-1) earned the No. 3 seed in their bracket and will host No. 6 Janesville Craig (6-3) at 7 p.m. next Friday night at Fruth Field.
Fondy and Kimberly (9-0) were assigned in Group C with six Big Eight Conference teams in Madison West (5-4), Verona (6-3), Madison La Follette (7-2), Sun Prairie (6-3) and Middleton (8-1).
Middleton, which clinched the conference title with a win Friday night, earned the No. 2 seed — something that Fondy head coach Mike Gnewuch was fine with.
“To be honest, that’s where I thought we would be,” he said about the 3-seed. “I didn’t want to make too much of a push for the two seed because Middleton was a conference champion. I’m happy with the draw and I’m happy with our matchup with Janesville Craig. Things worked out for the best for us.”
If Fondy were to win its first game against Craig, which lost its starting quarterback two weeks ago, it would face the winner of the No. 7 Sun Prairie and No. 2 Middleton game. Although Gnewuch wants to take it one game at a time, there is no overlooking the possible matchup between Kimberly and Fond du Lac at Level 3.
“Kimberly is very deserving with the one seed, they have won every game and they did in convincing fashion,” Gnewuch said. “We are taking it one game at a time and if we do have that matchup, we’ll be ready.”
While spending time as the defensive coordinator at Arrowhead, Gnewuch has faced members of the Big Eight Conference numerous times, so he knows a little bit about the conference.
“When I was at Arrowhead we played them sometimes,” he said. “I’m familiar with the league in general but it’s been a while. There are some new coaches and in leagues teams have to adapt to that. So it’s a little bit different.”
Kimberly hosts No. 8 Madison West while No. 5 Verona hosts No. 4 Madison La Follette. The other No. 1 seeds in Division 1 were Marquette, Arrowhead and Bay Port.
