Elk Mound defeats Neillsville/Granton to earn WIAA football playoff berth
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NEILLSVILLE — With one final chance to earn its first playoff berth since the 2019 season (not including the COVID-19 shortened season of 2020 when all teams played a pair of playoff games), the Elk Mound football team came through with a 13-6 upset victory over host Neillsville/Granton in last Thursday’s regular season and Cloverbelt finale.
The contest was originally scheduled for Friday but was moved up a day, to Thursday, October 12, due to the large amount of rain that was expected to fall and did.
A pair of Parker Dutzle touchdowns, an interception return in the first quarter and a game-winning rushing score in the fourth, lifted the Mounders to the seven-point road victory and secured a spot in this coming Friday’s WIAA level one playoffs.
“Our players responded and rose to the occasion and we are so proud of them for this road win and earning a spot in the WIAA playoffs,” stated Elk Mound head coach Dave Lew.
Less than two minutes into the Cloverbelt contest, Dutzle gave the visiting Mounders a big boost when he intercepted Warriors’ quarterback Bryce Erickson, who threw three picks in the game, and returned it 20 yards for six points.
Despite missing the extra point kick, Elk Mound held on to that 6-0 advantage until Neillsville/Granton running back Wesley Swita scored from nine yards out on the first play of the second quarter to knot the game at sixes and stayed that way when the Warriors’ PAT kick failed.
The score remained deadlocked until the end of the fourth quarter. With 3:05 left in regulation play, Dutzle scored on a 14-yard run after Kaden Russo had intercepted the football deep in Neillsville/Granton territory. Russo added the extra point kick to give the Mounders a 13-6 lead.
That is how the game ended as Elk Mound snapped its two-game losing streak to finish 3-4 in Cloverbelt play and 4-5 overall and earned a playoff berth.
Not only were points difficult to come by for both teams in Thursday’s regular season finale but so was yardage. Neillsville/Granton barely outgained Elk Mound in total yardage, 186 to 162. 139 of those Mounder yards came via 35 rushing attempts as Carter Vieth lead the charge to finish with 103 yards on 21 carries. Dutzle finished with 11 hauls for 42 yards and the Mounders’ lone offensive touchdown. Quarterback Logan Jerome completed just four of his 12 pass attempts for 34 yards.
The Warriors Bryce Erickson passed for 117 yards with 13 completions on 31 attempts but its was his three interceptions that proved the difference as Elk Mound turned two into touchdowns. Swita led the Neillsville/Granton ground attack with 44 yards on nine carries including the Warriors only touchdown.
Neillsville/Granton, who had already qualified for the playoffs prior to game with Elk Mound, finished 4-3 in the Cloverbelt and enter the Division 5 playoff field with a number four seed and 5-4 record.
Elk Mound, the seventh seed, will have its hands full this Friday, October 20 when it makes the long trip north to Maple to tangle with the second-seeded Tigers of Northwestern in a WIAA Division 5, level one playoff game. Northwestern, 8-1 overall, shared this year’s Heart O’ North Conference championship with Cameron after both finished with 6-1 records in league play.