Boyceville bombs Shell Lake in football opener

CUMBERLAND — Scoring on its first three offensive possessions and tacking on a trio of two-point conversions to boot, Boyceville held a commanding 24-0 lead just seconds into the second quarter of its 2016 season opening football game against Shell Lake.

But just when the Lakers looked to be sinking to the bottom of one of the many lakes that surround the “Island City”, they found a way to stay afloat. The Lakers finally put together a solid drive that put them on the board and followed that up with an explosive 74-yard run for a touchdown that narrowed the Bulldogs lead to 24-13 at the intermission.

But Boyceville’s opportunistic defense pounced on a pair of Shell Lake fumbles in the second half which the locals converted into scored and went on to a convincing 46-19 victory of its Lakeland conference foe on the artificial turf of Cumberland’s new multi-million dollar Endeavor Stadium.

“Playing on the turf at Cumberland was a great experience for our team and an amazing environment for the fans,” said Boyceville head coach Brian Roemhild.

“Only returning three starters on both sides of the ball, I thought we played very disciplined football,” added Roemhild. “We have a lot of areas that we can improve on but I was happy with the results.”

And he should be!

Boyceville racked up 299 yards rushing on 57 attempts and had another 57 through the air. The Bulldogs finished with a two to one advantage in first downs – 20 to just ten for the Lakers.

A pair of Bulldogs eclipse the century mark on the ground. Hunter Lipke led the way with 113 yards and a touchdown on 20 attempts with Gavin Olson just two yards behind him with 111 yards on just 11 hauls. Boyceville quarterback Bryce Boda, who had four rushing touchdowns on only 29 yards, finished just 3-for-10 through the air for 57 yards but completed a big 26-yard pass play to Micadin Kahl early in the second quarter that gave the Bulldogs its 24-0 advantage.

Defensively, Boyceville allowed Shell Lake 181 rushing yards, 74 of which came on the long scoring run, and just ten passing yards. It also recovered two fumbles and had a sack on a Lakers’ punt.

After its defense shut down the Lakers on the game’s first offensive foray, the Bulldogs took the ball down field and scored on a Bruce Boda’s QB sneak at the 7:06 mark of the first quarter. Boda also added the conversion run to make it 8-0.

After the Bulldogs forced the Lakers to punt, they quickly found themselves heading for a second score in as many drives. Gavin Olson had a trio of runs that netted 30 yards but it was some trickery that resulted in a second score. Olson took the hand-off from Boda on a first down play at the Lakers’ 22 and then handed the ball off to Micadin Kahl who scampered 22 yards on the reverse for the touchdown. Hunter Lipke made good on the conversion run and Boyceville was out to a 16-0 lead with 2:41 remaining in the first quarter.

Shell Lake was able to string together a couple of first-down plays but was eventually forced to punt yet again. This time the Lakers’ punter bobbled the snap and had to fall on it at the Shell Lake 26.

It took the Bulldogs just one play to sniff out the end zone as Boda spiraled a pass into the waiting arms of a wide open Micadin Kahl for the 26-yard score. Olson made it three-for-three on conversion runs as the Bulldogs bounded out to a 24-0 lead just 52 seconds into the second quarter.

But the Lakers battled back.

Taking Boyceville’s ensuing kick off, Shell Lake  drove 71 yards in eight plays capped by an eight-yard scoring run by Dominic Hopke with 7:17 left in the half. A pass attempt for the conversion fell incomplete to leave the score at 24-6.

The Bulldogs drove to the Lakers 26 before turning it over on downs with 2:14 on the halftime clock.

It took Shell Lake just one play to jolt Boyceville. James Crawford took the counter and raced 74 yards untouched for the score. The kick was good and the Lakers trailed just 24-13 at the break.

Boyceville took the second-half kick and went 61 yards in 14 plays, converting three fourth down attempts including the final one-yard plunge that added another six to its tally with 4:23 left in the third. Hunter Lipke ran in the Bulldogs’ fourth conversion to make it 32-13.

But again, Crawford and the Lakers struck back quickly. Crawford took the ensuing Bulldogs’ kick off and returned it 86 yards for the score just 12 later. Boyceville blocked the kick to leave the score 32-19.

The Lakers forced Boyceville to punt for the first time in the game but just three plays later lost the ball as Boyceville’s Tristan Talmage pounced on the loose pig skin at the Lakers’ 27.

Despite a first-down holding penalty, Boyceville needed just three plays to puncture the end zone for a fifth time. Lipke scored on a 1-yard run with 11 seconds left in the third. Boda ran in the conversion to make it 40-19.

The Bulldogs final score would come less than a minute later when the Lakers coughed up the ball for a third time. This time the Dogs’ Luke Knudtson came away with the recovery.

Lipke again got the call and raced in from 17 yards out on a first-down play to make it 46-19 with 11:21 to play. Boda was stopped short on the conversion.

The game’s final minutes were played by back-ups from both benches.

Boyceville will travel to Clear Lake this Friday evening for another non-conference tilt with a Lakeland school.