Glenwood ground game chews up yardage and Boyceville

GLENWOOD CITY — Adapt for success has been the Toppers’ mantra the past few weeks.

And it has served them well.

For the second straight week, adjustments and solid fill-in play by its back-ups, covering for injured starters, yielded another lopsided victory for Glenwood City, who remained unbeaten and improved to 6-0 with a 40-8 trashing of rival Boyceville at home last Friday evening.

The win gave Glenwood City, who moved up a spot to seventh in the latest Wissports.net Football Coaches Division 6 poll, sole possession of first place with a half-game lead over Durand following the Panthers convincing 29-6 road win over previously unbeaten and defending conference champion Spring Valley that same evening.

The Hilltoppers, now 4-0 in Dunn-St. Croix play, will travel to Durand this Friday night to face the 3-0 Panthers with the Spring Valley game looming large the following week. The Bulldogs, who fell to 0-3 in conference play and 2-4 overall, will host Elk Mound (2-1, 4-2) this Friday.

Despite a steady rain that fell through three quarters and was a contributing factor in the game’s nine, yes nine, turnovers – five lost fumbles by the Bulldogs and an interception and three more fumbles by the Toppers, Glenwood City was in control throughout the September 23 contest as they used their speed and quick-strike ability to rack up 422 yards of offense including 403 yards rushing compared to Boyceville 217 yards, 127 of which came on the ground.

Junior Jake Kopacz had another monster game as he registered his second straight 200-plus yard performance. A week after collecting 229 yards in Mondovi, Kopacz tantalized the home fans with a 282-yard, three-touchdown effort against the Bulldogs, all on just 13 carries. Fellow classmate Carson Strong added 99 yards on eight carries including a 74-yard touchdown run.

“We adjusted our game plan Thursday based on the possibility of poor weather conditions,” said Shane Strong, Glenwood City head coach. “We ran our power play far more than we normally do because of the rain and Boyceville’s blitzing.”

“We felt we needed to control the line of scrimmage which would get our backs into the second level opening up opportunities to get our speed into the secondary,” added Strong.

It was a game plan that worked well for the Toppers as their patch-work backfield sans Jake O’Meara, who sat out the contest with an injury, ran rough shod over the Bulldogs despite an interception and three fumbles including one on the first play of the game.

After losing that initial fumble to open the contest, Glenwood City’s defense stopped Boyceville on a fourth and long play deep in Toppers’ territory.

Glenwood City needed just one play to light the scoreboard. On first down from the Toppers’ 26, Carson Strong took the backfield pitch and sprinted down the left sideline for a 74 yards score with just 2:02 gone in the game. Marcus Ullom plowed across the goal line on the conversion run to give Glenwood City an 8-0 advantage.

After stonewalling Boyceville on another fourth down attempt at the Bulldogs 44, Glenwood City quickly found its way back into the end zone. On the first play from scrimmage, Jake Kopacz sprinted 44 yards for the first of his three touchdown runs to put the Toppers in front 14-0 after Ullom’s conversion run was stopped short. There was still 7:20 left in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, Boyceville’s frustration continued on offense. Just two plays into its third possession Boyceville fumbled the ball back to Glenwood City. Micadin Kahl caught a Bryce Boda pass and not only lost five yards but the ball as well. Ullom came away with the Hilltoppers’ recovery at the Bulldog 25.

In all, 12 of Boyceville’s 13 offensive game possessions ended in futility as it fumbled five times, punted on another three occasions and turned the ball over on downs thrice.

Ullom got the call first and gained five yards down to the Bulldogs’ 20. Carson Strong and Jacob Kopacz added runs of four and nine yards respectively to a first and goal at the seven.

But a pair of runs that lost two yards put the Toppers in a third and nine situation. That’s when Pete Hill, under center for the second straight game, went aerial and connected with the former quarterback, turned end Jake Logghe for the nine yard touchdown at 7:20. Logghe made a nice grab on the rain-soaked pig skin as he out jumped a Boyceville defender for the score. Ullom’s run came up short giving the Toppers a 20-0 advantage with time still on the first-quarter clock.

Coach Strong said he is planning on staying with Hill at quarterback into the foreseeable future as it allows the Toppers to capitalize on Logghe’s good receiving skills and strong blocking acumen from the tight end position.

Boyceville was forced to surrender the ball on its next possession as it had to punt on fourth down and 11.

Kopacz’ nice 30-yard run on first down put the Hilltoppers on the Bulldogs 17, well within striking distance of a fourth score. A nice 10-yard pass play on fourth down from Hill to Logghe just two plays into the second quarter set the Toppers up with a first and goal at the Bulldogs’ four. But a yard loss on first down was followed with a fumble that Boyceville recovered at the five.

On second down, Boda found his favorite target Micadin Kahl on a pass play for 34 yards. Boyceville was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct at the end of the play moving the ball back to the 25 but at least the Bulldogs were out of the shadow of their own goal line. Boyceville, however, went backwards after that, losing seven yards on a pair of runs and throwing a third-down incompletion to force yet another punt.

Kopacz returned the kick 30 yards as the Toppers were again smelling six as they started on the Bulldogs 23. But Hill’s first-down toss was intercepted by Boyceville’s Cooper Boesl at the 15.

Hunter Lipke got the Dogs out of a hole with a 28-yard run on third and ten. Just two plays later the Toppers took back the ball when Logghe pounced on Micadin Kahl’s fumble at the Bulldogs’ 40.

Boyceville was unable to dodge Glenwood City’s scoring bullet a third consecutive time as Marcus Ullom capped a short four-play scoring drive with a four-yard run with 5:11 left in the half. Kopacz, who had runs of 10 and 22 during the drive, was stopped short on the conversion run leaving the Hilltoppers with a 26-0 lead.

Boyceville suffered its third lost fumble of the half on its next possession but the Hilltoppers were not able to take advantage of it as a fourth-down play was stopped short by the Bulldogs to end the first half.

Boyceville’s fortunes did not change in the second half. Just three plays after taking the kick-off to start the third quarter, Bryce Boda was hit and coughed up the football with the Toppers’ Quinn Taylor recovering on the Bulldogs’ 45.

Glenwood City gave the ball back three plays later when Hill lost the ball trying to pass. Boyceville’s Tyler Krueger came up with the recovery at the 41. The Bulldogs, however, were forced to punt after just three plays. The lone consolation was that Boda’s kick went 46 yards and pushed the Toppers back to their own 14.

It didn’t take Glenwood City long to find the end zone for a fifth time in the game. Kopacz opened the drive with a seven yard run. Ullom and Strong netted two and six yards on the next carries. On third and one, Kopacz had his number called and the junior delivered a 71-yard run for the score with 5:35 left in the third. Strong ran in the conversion to make it 34-0.

Boyceville finally sustained a long drive moving from its 33 to the Toppers seven yard line in 11 plays. But back-to-back incompletions to open the final quarter caused the Bulldogs to turn the ball back over to Glenwood City.

One play is all the Hilltoppers needed to tack on their final score of the game. Kopacz took the first-down handoff from Hill, broke defensive containment and was gone for a 93-yard touchdown only 24 seconds into the final stanza. Hill took a knee on the conversion and the Toppers lead was now 40-0.

With the game all but decided and the Hilltoppers substituting liberally, Boyceville finally sustained a drive through completion as it went 52 yards on 10 plays to score its only touchdown – a two-yard plunge by Hunter Lipke with 4:32 to play. Gavin Olson run in the conversion for the 40-8 final score. The drive was set-up by a 16-yard kick-off return by Tyler Krueger. Olson also keyed the Bulldogs scoring drive with runs of 11 and 18 yards.

Boyceville executed and recovered the onside kick but its fifth and final fumble ended that foray as the Toppers Ethan Hanson recovered the ball as the game clock expired.

Kopacz’ 282 yards led all rushers with Strong tacking on 99 in the Toppers win. Boyceville was led by Gavin Olson and Hunter Lipke who both finished with 63 yards.

Bryce Boda hit on 50 percent of his passes going 9-of-18 for 90 yards with Kahl grabbing seven of those catches for 76 yards. Peter Hill was an efficient 2-for-3 for the Toppers for 19 yards and a touchdown as Jake Logghe caught both passes and the touchdown.

GLENWOOD CITY 40, BOYCEVILLE 8

Glenwood City……20   6   8  8 — 40

Boyceville……………0     0      0     8   —   8

First Quarter:

GC — Carson Strong 74-yd. run (Marcus Ullom run), 9:58.

GC — Jacob Kopaz 44-yd. run (run failed), 7:20.

GC — Jake Logghe 9-yd. pass from Peter Hill (run failed), 3:36.

Second Quarter:

GC — Marcus Ullom 4-yd. run (run failed), 5:11.

Third Quarter:

GC — Kopacz 71-yd. run (Strong run), 5:35.

Fourth Quarter:

GC — Kopacz 93-yd. run (kneel down), 11:36.

BV — Hunter Lipke 2-yd. run (Gavin Olson run), 4:32.

Individual Statistics

Passing (att-comp-int-yds) — GC (2-3-1-19 yds.)  — Peter Hil 2-3 for 19 yds., TD, INT.; BV — (9-18-0-90 yds.) — Bryce Boda 9-18 for 90 yds.

Receiving (rec-yds) — GC — Jake Logghe 2 for 19 yds. TD; BV — Micadin Kahl 7 for 76 yds.; Hunter LIpke 2 for 14 yds.

Rushing (att-yds) — GC (31-403 yds.) — Jacob Kopacz 13 for 282 yds., 3 TDs; Carson Strong 8 for 99 yds., TD; Ethan Kahler 3 for 17 yds.; Marcus Ullom 6 for 13 yds., TD; BV — Gavin Olson 14 for 63 yds.; Hunter Lipke 15 for 63 yds., TD.