Bulldog gridders take road win over Wolves
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By Joel DeWitt
Sports Correspondent
ELMWOOD — The Boyceville Bulldogs hit the road last Friday, October 9th to visit another new member of the Dunn-St. Croix conference. Elmwood/Plum City, member of the Lakeland conference in 2019-2020, has made their way back to the D-SC under the football conference realignment.
While the Wolves entered the game winless, the Bulldogs were looking to rebound from a tough loss to Turtle Lake the week before by a score of 0-6. In fact, the touchdown to the Lakers are the only points surrendered by this scrappy Bulldog unit. And the defense would come up huge once again, allowing only a single score en route to a 14-8 victory.
“So far our defense has allowed 0, 6, and 8 points. Josiah is playing great at linebacker and Nate is really stepping it up on the line,” Bulldog coach Michael Roemhild said. “We missed not having Nick Olson on defense this week, but guys stepped up to make sure we wouldn’t be weak at his spot.”
While Boyceville allowed huge gains to the Wolves’ quarterback, they forced three turnovers and held them on fourth down three separate times.
“Defensively we knew that Trevor Asher was who we had to stop. He was averaging around 215 yards a game and was about the number 4 running back in the state in terms of yards. Our defense stepped up to the task,” Roemhild said. “We limited him to 34 yards rushing on 12 attempts. That is something the guys and myself were proud of. The other side that I am not happy with is allowing their quarterback Luke Webb to run the ball for 155 yards.”
On the offensive side, the Bulldogs did just enough to earn the victory. After being stopped on downs and being forced to punt on their first two possessions, Boyceville hit pay dirt. Big gains by Tate Downey of 14-yards on the ground and a 23-yard pass completion from Ira Bialzik to John Klefstad to the Wolves 2-yard line would set up the score.
On third and goal, Tyler Dormanen would score on a 1-yard touchdown run. The ensuing PAT would fail, giving Boyceville a 6-0 lead.
It would not take Elmwood/Plum City long to hit back. After receiving the kickoff at their own 38-yard line, Webb would take a second down carry and go 59-yards for the touchdown. The two-point conversion run by Webb would be good and the Wolves would take the lead 8-6 with 5:51 remaining in the half.
The remainder of the half, and most of the third would be plagued by mistakes on both sides. Combined, both teams would have five turnovers. The crucial one came when the Wolves attempted to punt from their 26-yard line and it was blocked, and the ball was recovered by the Bulldogs at the 4-yard line.
Once again Dormanen would find the endzone. On first down, he would take the handoff and give the Bulldogs the lead for good. Bialzik would find an open Jacob Granley for a completion on the PAT to extend the lead to 14-8.
For the remainder of the game both teams would trade possessions, with neither finding the endzone and Boyceville would hold on for the victory to improve to 2-1.
Things will not get any easier next week as they face longtime rival Glenwood City. “Glenwood City is always a big week for both teams. They have a high-powered offense and the Halquist kid is a great player that will be tough to contain,” Roemhild said. “You can throw all stats and records out the door when it comes to this rivalry. Both teams are going to bring it for four quarters. We need to cut down on the penalties, have our offense clicking, and the defense needs to fly around this week.”
Game time is at 7:00 p.m. this Friday, October 16th at Glenwood City.