EM football season ends with level one loss to SCF
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ST. CROIX FALLS — The Elk Mound football team saw its 2024 gridiron campaign come to an end last Friday as it succumbed to another potent rushing attack.
Eighth-seeded Elk Mound surrendered 316 rushing yards to host and top-seed Saint Croix Falls as it fell 42-8 to the unbeaten Saints in a WIAA Division 5, level one playoff matchup played October 25.
The Mounders finished the season 6-5 while the Saints, champions of the Heart O’ North Conference and ranked fourth in the coaches’ state poll, improved to a perfect 10-0 and advanced to level 2 competition and will host number four seed Wittenberg-Birnamwood who shutout Barron 48-0.
The Saints scored a pair of touchdowns and their requisite PAT kicks in each of the first three quarters to take a commanding 42-0 lead into the final stanza of last Friday’s playoff contest.
Elk Mound avoided the shutout when senior running back Parker Dutzle punctuated the end zone in the fourth quarter for the Mounders only score of the game. The Mounders made good on the ensuing two-point conversion to account for the final tally.
Elk Mound finished with just 143 yards of offense. Parker Rhude passed for 101 yards on a 6-for-13 performance and was intercepted once by the Saints. Dutzle proved to be Rhude’s favorite target as he caught three passes for a team-leading 42 yards while Zeb Robinson finished with one catch for 39 yards as did Kamron Diermeier for 14 yards.
Elk Mound rushed 27 times for 42 yards with Rhude netting 20 of those on 13 hauls while Dutzle ran a dozen times for 18 yards and his team’s lone touchdown.
The vast majority of Saint Croix Falls’ 363 yards came via its ground attack. Two Saints runners eclipsed the century mark. Alex Hoff gained 105 yards and scored a touchdown on eight carries and Willem Hoefler ran just six times for 101 yards and two touchdowns. Cameron Steek added 76 yards and two scores on seven hauls and Micah Nwachukwu carried the ball three times for 25 yards. Saints’ quarterback Brett Sladky completed just three of his ten pass attempts for 47 yards for a TD and was intercepted once by the Mounders’ Mason Brooks. Hoefler hauled in Sladky’s TD pass which covered 47 yards.
It was the final prep football game for Mounder seniors Parker Dutzle, Logan Jerome, Kamron Diermeier, Sam Hemenway, Mason Books, Brayden Borek, Brandon Lee, Ian Gerrits, Landon KasaKaitas, Adrian Lombard, and Joshua Braker.