High flying Orioles hold Mounders scoreless in playoff loss

By Cara L. Dempski

STANLEY — Just one week after winning coach Dave Lew’s first playoff contest, the Mounders took to the field in Stanley to put their stout defense to work against the Orioles’ high-flying offensive game in a WIAA Division 5, level 2 football contest.

Elk Mound left the state-of-the-Art, $4 million plus Forward Field complex with 39-0 loss that saw the number-one seeded Stanley-Boyd squad slowly ground down both sides of the Elk Mound team.

A valiant defensive effort by the Mounders kept the game scoreless throughout much of the first half but the Orioles broke through for a pair of touchdowns in the final three and half minutes and broke the goal line three more times in the third quarter.

The loss ended the Mounders’ season with a 6-5 record. Lew said the team fought hard after a rough start to the year.

“They put everything out there,” Lew said of the Mounders and their playoff contest against Stanley-Boyd. “They had nothing left to give.”

Elk Mound is known for its running game, but the Orioles held them to just 38 rushing yards while racking up 112 yards of their own. Senior Hunter Adleman was the only Mounder back with positive yardage against the region’s top team.

Stanley-Boyd also out-passed the Mounders by a nearly two to one margin, racking up 233 yards to Elk Mound’s 126.

Lew said Elk Mound’s energy and tempo was high all week at practice and heading into the October 28 game. This vibe continued in the game, when both teams traded three-and-out plays for 12 minutes to end the first quarter with a scoreless stalemate.

The back-and-forth shifts continued until late in the first half, when Oriole quarterback Seth Hause’s pass connected with Zak Ingersoll for a 32-yard strike that put the game’s first six points on the board for Stanley-Boyd. Oriole back Brandon Milas slipped past the Mounders for an extra two, and the Orioles moved up to 8-0 with 3:24 to go in the first half.

Unfortunately for Elk Mound’s stout defenders, who had held the Orioles high-octane, no-huddle offense out of the end zone for much of the first half, Stanley-Boyd had another score in it before the intermission.

The Orioles’ Ryan Ponick pushed his way to the goal line on a one-yard run barely two minutes later to give Stanley-Boyd another six. Kicker Brandon Herrick added the successful PAT kick to make the score 15-0 heading into half.

The Orioles opened the third with a two-yard touchdown run from Ben Goettl. Hause’s pass to Noah Gillingham was good to add another two for Stanley-Boyd and make the score 23-0 with 9:59 on the clock in the third.

Hause connected with Ponick again on a 50-yard pass play, and Herrick’s PAT was good to raise the Orioles’ lead to 30-0 with 3:34 left in the third.

Stanley-Boyd gained a safety a scant two minutes later after a snap sailed over the head of Mounders’ punter Chandler Schreiber and out the back of the end zone with 1:32 to go in the third. That gave the Orioles a 32-0 cushion.

If that wasn’t enough, Oriole running back Braxton Thompson struck gold from seven yards out in the closing seconds of the third. Herrick again set his kick through the uprights, and the scoreboard read 39-0 with :14 left in the third.

The final 12 minutes of the game bled off the clock without either team getting closer to the end zone than the seven-yard line.

Lew said after the game that he is thankful for the leadership his senior players showed this season. He noted it was only two years ago that the team finished the season 1-8, and he credits the seniors with pushing the program in a good direction the past two years.

“No matter the adversity these kids meet anywhere in life, they learned how to handle it in practice and on the field,” Lew said. “I’m proud of that, and of them. They’re great kids with great abilities.”

The 10-1 Orioles will advance to level 3 play next Friday, November 4 where they will host the Dunn-St. Croix champions and second-seeded Durand Panthers, also 10-1.

STANLEY-BOYD 39, ELK MOUND 0
Stanley-Boyd………0  15  24   0 — 39
Elk Mound…………. 0    0     0  0 — 0

Second Quarter

SB — R. Ponick 22 pass from S. Hause (B. Milas run), 3:24; SB — R. Ponick 1 run (B. Herrick kick), :25.

Third Quarter

SB — B. Goettl 2 run (N. Gillingham pass from S. Hause), 9:59; SB — B. Turner safety, 1:32; SB — B. Thompson 7 run (B. Herrick kick), :14.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Passing (comp-att-int-yds) — EM (11-28-3-126) — D. Black 11-27-3-1126, C. Schreiber 0-1-0-0; SB (15-19-1-233) — S. Hause 14-18-1-232, L. Schmelzer 1-1-0-1.

Rushing (att-yds) — EM (39-38) — H. Adleman 18-77, D. Lew 1-0, B. Redwine 11-(-3), B. Lambele 2-(-11), D. Black 7-(-25); SB (33-112) — S. Hause 7-31, B. Goettl 4-27, B. Turner 5-23, B. Thompson 6-10, R. Ponick 2-8, L. Schmelzer 2-7, S. Burzynski 4-5, B. Derks 1-1, B. France 2-0.

Receiving (comp-yds) — EM (11-126) — C. Schreiber 3-52, H. Adleman4-32, H. Johnson 2-16, B. Redwine 1-14, D. Lew 1-12; SB (15-233) — R. Ponick 4-83, B. Turner 2-68, Z. Ingersoll 2-39, B. Herrick 2-27, B. Goettl 3-12, B. Thompson 1-3, N. Gillingham 1-1.