FOND DU LAC – The Fond du Lac football team is back on track.
The Cardinals weren’t perfect on Friday. But compared to the past two weeks, it was like night and day.
Jack Cole threw for 189 yards and two touchdowns and the Fond du Lac defense held Neenah in check most of the game as the Cardinals cruised past the Rockets 27-7 in Valley Football Association South action Friday night at Fruth Field — a nice bounce-back win following consecutive losses.
“We’ll find hundreds of mistakes on film. We’re nowhere where we need to be yet,” Fond du Lac coach Mike Gnewuch said. “But it’s good to get in this (winning) column again and to even out the record at 2-2.”
Fond du Lac (2-2, 1-2 VFA South), which fell to Appleton North 38-35 two weeks ago before getting humiliated 45-14 by Stevens Point last week, needed a victory Friday night any way it could get one.
If the Cardinals had lost to the Rockets, they would have dropped to 0-3 in conference play and essentially needed to win the rest of their regular season games to earn a spot in the playoffs.
Now, Fond du Lac has a bit of wiggle room, albeit not much, following Friday’s victory.
The Cardinals didn’t take long to grab the lead against Neenah (2-2, 1-2 VFA South), which was without starting quarterback Joe Jung due to an injury.
After forcing a Rockets punt, Fond du Lac started at Neenah’s 45-yard line for their second possession of the game. On the first play of the drive, Cole found Joe Kuber on a short hitch route, Kuber evaded a tackle and sprinted his way down the sideline into the end zone.
7-0.
“I saw the guy blitzing on the edge, which was my read to throw it to Joe,” Cole said. “He was a little covered, but I threw it to the outside and Joe just made a play like he always does.”
Added Kuber: “I knew I just had to adjust a little bit and make a big play. The coaches have been talking about making the big play and you’ve just got to step up and play it by ear.”
The Cardinals forced a punt and turnover on downs the next two Neenah possessions, dominating the Rockets’ offense the entire first half.
Keon Jefferson scored on a short run midway through the second quarter following a 9-play, 66-yard drive to stretch Fond du Lac’s lead to 13-0 at halftime.
Jefferson would not play in the second half after suffering a head injury, leaving Colton Wasieleski as the Cardinals’ primary running back. Wasieleski scored on a 1-yard plunge in the third quarter to make it 20-0 before the Rockets finally showed some life, as Alec Elkin found Greg Lenhart for a 7-yard touchdown pass with 49 seconds left in the period.
Cole threw his second touchdown, a 22-yard pitch-and-catch to Devon Krzanowski, with 6:57 left in the game — essentially sealing the win for Fond du Lac.
The Cardinals defense held Neenah to just 68 yards rushing and 182 yards total, an encouraging sign for the unit after giving up 83 points in the previous two games.
“They’ve been playing fantastic all year,” Gnewuch said of the defensive line. “They really have. Those front four, I’m so pleased with the way they’re playing. They ramped up their game tonight. Garret Spahtt, being a newer guy as a sophomore last year and a junior this year, he’s starting to figure it out now. Collectively, they owned the line of scrimmage. They owned those guys.”
Apart from Cole, who finished 12-of-15 passing, Jefferson rushed for 79 yards on 20 carries and Wasieleski added 66 yards on the ground for Fond du Lac.
Kuber finished with four catches for 65 yards. The Cardinals gained 335 yards as a team.
Fond du Lac hosts VFA South rival Oshkosh North next Friday.
Neenah 0 0 7 0 — 7
Fond du Lac 7 6 7 7 — 27
Scoring summary:
FDL— Joe Kuber, 45 pass from Jack Cole (Jared Scheberl kick), 4:29.
FDL— Keon Jefferson, 2 run (kick fail), 5:28.
FDL— Colton Wasieleski, 1 run (Sheberl kick), 5:49.
NEE— Greg Lenhart, 7 pass from Alec Elkin (Chris Keider kick), 0:49.
FDL— Devon Krzanowski, 22 pass from Cole (Scheberl kick), 6:57.
Team stats
NEE FDL
First downs 9 17
Total yards 182 335
Rushing 27-68 38-146
Passes (C-A-I) 9-17-1 12-15-1
Passing yards 114 189
Fumbles 1-0 1-1
Individual leaders
Rushing: Neenah— Alec Elkin, 5-28. Fond du Lac— Keon Jefferson, 20-79; Colton Wasieleski, 14-66.
Passing: Neenah— Alec Elkin, 4-6-0-69. Fond du Lac— Jack Cole, 12-15-0-189.
Receiving: Neenah— Rayce Prosser, 3-75. Fond du Lac— Joe Kuber, 4-65.