Elk Mound defense holds off Bloomer to advance to level two

By Cara L. Dempski

ELK MOUND — It took four seasons, but Elk Mound head football coach Dave Lew finally picked up a playoff win. The Mounders blanked the Bloomer Blackhawks out of the Heart O’ North conference for a 6-0 win in a WIAA Division 5, level 1 football playoff game at home October 21.

“I don’t know how we found a way, but we did,” Lew said.

A banged up Elk Mound turned the tables on the Blackhawks, who beat the Mounders 20-6 in the last year’s level one battle held in Bloomer. This year, the 6-3 Blackhawks were seeded fifth and the 5-4 Mounders were seeded fourth, giving Elk Mound the home field advantage. Both teams finished fourth in their respective conferences.

The Mounders’ defensive unit held the Blackhawks to just 134 rushing yards including just 37 for Bloomer’s leading rusher Collin Bungartz. Isaiah Meinen, who had his best game of the season, tallied 96 yards for the Blackhawks. Bloomer went to air late in the game in an attempt to tie or take the lead netting 68 passing yards but Elk Mound kept the Blackhawks out of the end zone last Friday to preserve the victory.

The Mounders, now 6-4, needed just one touchdown for the win and finished the game with 211 yards rushing and just 19 passing yards.

What makes the battle even more impressive is that Elk Mound managed the win without the help of 2015 Dunn-St. Croix player of the year, Noah Zurbuchen, and spent the second half without senior running back Tyler Sahm.

“We had a lot of kids who stepped up,” Lew said.

Zurbuchen spent the game on the sidelines in jeans and a knee brace after having left the October 14 game against Spring Valley in the fourth quarter due to injury.

It took until the second quarter to break the scoreless deadlock when the Mounders nabbed the contest’s lone touchdown on a 29-yard romp from senior Tyler Sahm with 10:04 left in the half to make the score 6-0 in favor of Elk Mound.

The PAT was unsuccessful after the ball slipped out of the place holder’s hands, causing Elk Mound kicker Dane Lew to scramble after it. Despite Bloomer picking up the loose ball, officials ruled the play dead.

The physicality of the game got to Sahm in the first half, and he came out after halftime on October 21 with an ice pack on his right shoulder to sit out the second half of the game against Bloomer.

Enter sophomore Brady Redwine, who contributed 110 yards to Elk Mound’s ground game and led all rushers, despite playing only in the second half. Tyler Sahm, who had the game’s only score finished with 74 yards on nine carries in the first-half of play.

The remainder of the game showed off a defensive duel that kept both teams from scoring and wrapped up with the lowest score of any of the WIAA Division 5 games held across the state.

Bloomer took to the air in the closing two minutes of the game to push nearly 90 yards down the field, but an in-bounds tackle from the Mounder defensive line put a stop to the Blackhawks’ last gasp for the game win as the final 15 seconds ticked off the clock.

Coach Lew said the win was not only special because it was Elk Mound’s first playoff win with him at the helm, but for a very personal reason.

“It’s really special because it’s the last time I get to walk out on this field with my son,” Lew said. “I love all these kids, and we talk about loving our program all the time because we love these kids, and we love this community.”

Lew credited the players and his assistant coaches with the level one win against Bloomer, and clearly stated that he couldn’t take credit for the success last Friday night.

The Mounders will have a tough assignment in level two. Elk Mound will travel to face the Stanley-Boyd Orioles this Friday night, October 28, in Stanley. The Orioles, runner-up behind Eau Claire Regis in the Cloverbelt, are 9-1 and are the sectional’s top seed and ranked second in the latest Division 5 state football poll. Stanley-Boyd is coming off a 58-6 first-round rout of Cameron.

Lew said the Elk Mound team is glad for another week to get players healed and prepared.

“They’re (Stanley-Boyd) Goliath and we get a crack,” Lew stated. “We’re really, really excited.”

ELK MOUND 6, BLOOMER 0
Elk Mound………………….0  6  0  0 — 6
Bloomer……………………..0  0  0  0 — 0

Second Quarter

EM — T. Sahm 29 run (D. Lew kick fumbled), 10:04.

Individual Statistics

RUSHING (att-yds) — B (30-134) — I. Meinen 10-96, C. Bungartz 14-37, C. Ruf 1-2, M. Post 3-1, T. Olsen 1-0, P. Dachel 1-(-2); EM (43-211) — B. Redwine 22-110, T. Sahm 9-74, H. Adleman 6-17, D. Lew 1-7, C. Schreiber 3-5, T. Mohr 1-2, D. Black 1-(-4).

PASSING (comp-att-int-yds) —B (8-15-0-68) — Post 8-15-0-68; EM (2-7-1-19) — Black 2-7-1-19.

RECEIVING (rec-yds) — B (7-68) — I. Meinen 2-25, C. Ruf 1-19, N. Lane 2-14, P. Dachel 1-13, H. Hall 1-4, C. Bungartz 1-(-7); EM (2-19) — T. Mohr 1-14, C. Schreiber 1-5.