Mondovi’s Marsh runs roughshod over Mounders on home turf
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PREPARING TO MAKE one of his five catches for the Mounders was senior receiver Ben Heath (#3). He finished the evening with 45 yards in receptions to lead the Mounders, who lost the home contest 21-6 to Mondovi. —photo by Joel DeWitt
ELK MOUND — After splitting their first two games of the season against new conference foes in the Cloverbelt, the Mounders found themselves facing a familiar foe in a former D-SC member Mondovi.
The Buffaloes are led by running back Tanner Marsh, and Elk Mound would get a full dose of him. The senior carried the ball 38 times for 275 yards to lead Mondovi to a 21-6 road win over Elk Mound last Friday, October 9th. The win for Mondovi leaves them at 2-1 for the season.
While Mondovi held an overall yardage advantage of 351 to 166, the Mounder defense was able to make some key stops to keep the game close. However, Elk Mound did have a few lapses that allowed Marsh to have scoring runs of 34, 51, and 22 yards.
“It’s the little things that make the difference. When two good football teams play each other, we need to be on the same page. We need to have 11 guys doing their job, and a couple of times we didn’t have that,” Elk Mound coach Dave Lew said. “I’m really proud of these guys, I thought we had a great defensive plan, but they brought it a couple of times and Tanner Marsh is a special back.”
As the Mounders’ defense was doing its best to stop Marsh and company, the Elk Mound offense was attempting to generate some points. While Mondovi was putting up big numbers on the ground, Elk Mound needed to rely on passing to produce most of its yardage. Quarterback Ryan Bohl completed 13 attempts for 132 yards on the evening, whereas the ground game only managed 34 total yards.
MOUNDERS’ junior running back Avery Kaanta tried to elude the grasp of a pair of Mondovi defenders during a home contest last Friday, October 9. Kaanta finished with just eight yards on nine carries as Elk Mound fell 21-6 to the Buffaloes. —photo by Joel DeWitt
“We had a little bit of trouble running the ball early so we decided to open it up a little bit more,” Lew said. “Bohl’s a heck of a good quarterback, we’ve got some really good receivers. Look at the guys we’ve got, we’ve got Jenson, Heath, Kaanta, and Johnson; all those guys are really good receivers.”
And those receivers did their best to prove their coach right. After Mondovi took the lead early in the second quarter, Elk Mound would use the air attack cut into that lead. Bohl would connect with Ethan Johnson on a 27-yard pass for the touchdown to make the score 6-7. The ensuing conversion would fail to keep the margin at one point, which would be the score at halftime.
To begin the second half, both teams would trade possessions. However, Marsh would take control. On Mondovi’s second possession of the half on third and long, Marsh would run it 51 yards for a touchdown. With the extra point, Mondovi would push its lead to 14-6.
After Elk Mound was forced to punt, Mondovi mounted another drive. Early in the fourth, the Buffaloes faced a third and goal at the Mounder 10. That is where the Mounders’ defense stiffened and forced a fumble to end the Mondovi drive.
However, Marsh would prove too much for Elk Mound. On the Buffs next possession he would take the ball 27 yards for the touchdown to extend the lead. With the ensuing PAT, Mondovi would lead 21-6.
The Mounders would have a couple more opportunities, however, they would not be able to cross the goal line and fall to 1-2 on the season.
Leading the way for Elk Mound on the offensive end was Ben Heath with 45 yards on five receptions. Close behind him was Michael Jenson with four receptions for 33 yards.
The Mounders will play at Stanley-Boyd this Friday, October 14th where they hope to even their record on the year.