Fourth-quarter score lifts Turtle Lake to win over Boyceville

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By Joel DeWitt
Sports Correspondent

BOYCEVILLE – Legendary coach Bear Bryant once said, “Offense wins games, defense wins championships”. The Bulldog defense appears to be holding up their end of the bargain. They allowed zero points in a victory the previous week to Colfax. Once again, this unit was stout in giving up only a late fourth quarter touchdown to a 1-0 Turtle Lake team.

However, the Bulldog offense is where the struggles started on this night. While they put up 34 points to a Vikings squad the previous week, Boyceville was only able to muster 45 yards and no points in a 6-0 loss to the Lakers on Friday, October 2nd in its home opener.

“Offensively we missed some big play opportunities, didn’t give Ira enough time to throw the ball, and never really had a presence with our rushing attack,” Coach Michael Roemhild said. “We had a lot of 3 and out series. We just didn’t show up offensively, it’s as simple as that. It’s disappointing and frustrating at the same time. I know we have the athletes to execute our plays better than this.”

Boyceville mounted their only serious offensive threat on its second possession. After holding Turtle Lake on a fourth down attempt, they took possession on their own 37-yard line. They moved the ball 24 yards on 13 plays, highlighted by a 17-yard run by RB Nate Stuart, but were stopped and forced to punt.

On the ensuing possession that started on their 9-yard line, the Lakers put together an impressive 13 play drive to move them within the Bulldog’s red zone. Boyceville’s defense was able to stiffen and force the Lakers to go for it on fourth down. On fourth, Laker QB Toby Kahl fumbled the football on the 11-yard line with Bulldog John Klefstad falling on the loose ball.

The teams would trade punts the rest of the half and would go into halftime with a scoreless tie.

The second half started much like the first half ended, with both team offenses stalling and being forced to punt. It wasn’t until Turtle Lake received the ball on its 24-yard line, late in the third quarter, did an offense contribute this evening.

The Lakers used a nice combination of passes and runs to march the ball 74 yards on 17 plays. The scoring drive culminated at the 4:44 mark of the fourth quarter with Lakers’ running back Christian Torgerson running the ball in for a 5-yard touchdown. The Bulldogs stuffed running back Blake Thill on the conversion attempt to make the score 6-0.

Boyceville had a couple more opportunities with the ball, however Turtle Lake’s defense would stop them both times. The Laker’s would salt the game away in the end on their way to their second win of the year, while the Bulldogs dropped to 1-1.

“This game is exactly what I was worried about. The team was over confident after our win last week against Colfax and it showed. The same thing happened last year for us. Turtle Lake was more aggressive and did more offensively than us. It is almost impossible to win a game with 1 yard passing and 44 yards rushing,” Coach Michael Roemhild said.

Offensively, Boyceville was led by running back Bash Nielson who had 27 yards on 10 carries. Turtle Lake used a duo of running backs to do most of their damage. Thill lead the way with 96 yards and Torgerson added 52.

Following the game coach Roemhild was able to see some bright spots in this loss. “The fact that we were still in the game with 2:00 left says something about this team. Last year we would have folded and the game would have been about 30-0. This team does not have quit in their mindsets.”

Coach continued, “Was I upset about our execution? Absolutely! Was I disappointed with the outcome of the game? That would be an understatement. But this team is a tough team that has too much pride for this to be a resent of the team we are. We will come back this next week more disciplined, better prepared, and hungry for a win against E/PC.”

The Bulldogs will travel to Elmwood this Friday, October 9 to face an Elmwood/Plum City squad. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.