Elk Mound’s season ends with 44-12, level 1 football playoff loss to Northwestern
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MAPLE, WI — Elk Mound knew that it had its hands full when it took on Northwestern, the once-beaten co-champions of the Heart O’ North Conference, in a WIAA Division 5, level 1 football playoff game last Friday evening, October 20 in Maple.
For nearly a quarter and a half, however, the Mounders, seeded seventh in the northwest regional, found themselves deadlocked in a scoreless battle with the host and second seeded Tigers.
That was until Northwestern (9-1) scored on a pair of touchdown runs for a 14-0 halftime advantage. The Tigers, who accumulated 393 yards of offense in the playoff contest, added two touchdowns each in the third and fourth quarters. Their tenacious defense harassed the Elk Mound offense, and in particular junior quarterback Logan Jerome, who was sacked six times, and allowed the Mounders just 139 yards in a thorough 44-12 thrashing.
Jerome was able to toss a pair of second-half touchdown passes, one each to seniors Kaden Russ and Brady Amble, but was also intercepted twice.
With the season- and playoff-ending loss, Elk Mound finished its 2023 gridiron campaign with a 4-6 overall mark. Northwestern, meanwhile, will advance to level 2 competition and will host another Cloverbelt squad, Stanley-Boyd, this Friday, October 27.
After a scoreless first quarter, Northwestern drew first blood when running back Cooper Lawton broke free for a 17-yard touchdown run with 8:25. Lawton added the two-point conversion on a run to give the Tigers an 8-0 lead.
Less than four minutes later following a shanked Mounders’ punt that gave the host the ball at the EM 32 yard line, Northwestern was back in the end zone on a 1-yard sneak by sophomore quarterback Ethan Harms. Although the PAT was no good, the Tigers took a 14-point advantage into the halftime intermission.
Sophomore running back Boden Teal, who led the Tigers’ ground game with 133 yards and two scores on just 11 carries, scored his first touchdown a minute and 56 seconds into the second half on a 53-yard burst. Lawton caught the two-point conversion pass from Harms to up the Tigers lead to 22-0.
Bryce Ronchi, who tallied 96 yards for the Tigers, scored the first of his two second-half touchdown runs at 6:39 of the third quarter to increase the Northwestern lead to 28-0.
Elk Mound finally got on the scoreboard when Jerome hit Russo for an 18-yard passing touchdown with 5:21 still remaining in the third.
Teal scored his second and final touchdown run, this one from 13 yards out, just a minute 11 second into the final stanza. Teal also tacked on the two-point conversion with a successful run which made score 36-6.
Just over a minute later, Elk Mound made its way back into the end zone when Amble cradled a Jerome pass for the 32-yard score with 9:45 left in the game. The missed PAT left the Mounders still trailing 36-12.
But, Tigers weren’t finished.
Northwestern capped the scoring with 6:03 to play when Ronchi scampered 34 yards with the game’s final touchdown. Lawton ran in the 2 points and the Tigers had the 44-12 victory.
Logan Jerome finished 9-20 for 128 yards with two touchdowns and a pair of interceptions. On the ground, Carter Vieth had 11 hauls for 34 yards to lead the Mounders, Parker Dutzle and Braeden Thatcher both finished with 16 yards and Brady Amble had five. However, the six Tiger sacks, tallying 61 yards in losses, left the Mounders with a paltry 11 net yards rushing.
Northwestern’s Ethan Harms was an efficient 3-5 for 72 yards passing with one interception. The majority of the Tigers’ yardage, 321 to be exact, came via its vaunted rushing attack. Besides Boden Teal’s 133 yards (2 TDs) and the 96 churned out by Bryce Ronchi (also with a pair of TDs), Cooper Lawton added 79 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries and Harms finished with two rushes for 18 yards and a six-point score.
It was the final prep football game for a dozen Mounder seniors. Elk Mound football had to say goodbye to Kaden Russo, Carter Garnett, Braeden Thatcher, Brady Amble, Carter Vieth, Jay Meyer, Sam Wenzel, Grandt Mueller, Gavin Sundeen, Gabe Jenson, Kaden Burlingame, and Riley Krall.