Hellendrung runs roughshod as Bulldogs blank Hilltoppers for second straight year

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by Joel DeWitt

Sports Correspondent

GLENWOOD CITY — When the rival squads from Boyceville and Glenwood City met here on the gridiron last Friday evening, September 20, the matchup on paper looked to be tight. Combined the teams were 7-1 and both were jostling for position at top of the Dunn-St. Croix conference standings. However, on the field the results were much different.

The tone was set right away by the Bulldogs. The Hilltoppers won the opening coin toss and deferred to the second half, leaving Boyceville to receive the opening kickoff. Carson Roemhild caught the opening kick at his 10-yard line and found an opening along the Bulldogs’ sideline and took it 90 yards for the touchdown and the early 8-0 advantage.

“We knew in the first quarter at the 11:49 mark that we had Glenwood worried,” proclaimed Boyceville head coach Michael Roemhild. “They kicked to Carson and our line set a great wedge, after that the roar of our crowd set the tone as Carson took it 90 yards to the house.”

The opening score by Boyceville appeared to take all the wind from the Hilltoppers’ sail on the night. Glenwood City’s four first half possessions ended on two punts, a turnover on downs and an interception. 

Meanwhile, Boyceville’s offense was nearly flawless for the first 24 minutes. Besides the opening kickoff, the Bulldogs scored on three of four, first-half possessions to hold a solid halftime lead of 28-0 and took home a 36-0 win when it was all said and done.

“We played very poorly in the first half, but they (Boyceville) are super physical and execute well,” commented Hilltopper coach Shane Strong. “We did not match them with physicality.”

After the Hilltoppers were held to a three-and-out on their opening possession, the Bulldogs took over on their 40-yard line. A 29-yard completion on second down from Roemhild to Landyn Leslie set the Bulldogs up on the Hilltopper 28-yard line. Another completion between the duo, this one on fourth down, gave Boyceville a fresh set of downs inside the Glenwood 10-yard line.

The Hilltopper defense stiffened and forced the Bulldogs to a fourth down at the 2-yard line. However, the Topper defense couldn’t contain Zach Hellendrung on the fourth-down attempt as the junior running back gave his team the 14-0 lead with 5:13 remaining in the first quarter.

The ensuing Hilltopper possession was the closest they would get to scoring on the evening. Starting on their own 30-yard line, Mitch McGee took the first down hand off 56 yards deep into Bulldog territory. Unfortunately for the Hilltoppers, two penalties on the next set of downs forced a long fourth-down pass attempt that feel incomplete and gave the Bulldogs the ball back on the 9-yard line.

The Bulldogs followed the defensive stop with a long, nine-play drive that covered 91 yards and chewed up 5:29 of the game clock and resulted in a second Hellendrung touchdown from two yards out. The touchdown at 9:38 of the second quarter put the Bulldogs up 22-0. The lone reception on the drive was caught by Bradley Maes and covered 23 yards to give the Bulldogs a first down on the 1-yard line.

After trading possessions with the Bulldogs, the Hilltoppers found themselves on their 26-yard line with 4:49 left in the half hoping to find success on the offensive side of the ball. Boyceville’s defense had other plans as Leslie intercepted the first-down pass by Brody Olson and returned it to the Topper 8-yard line.

Three plays later, Hellendrung notched his third touchdown on the night when he went across the goal line from 3 yards out to increase the lead to 28-0 before halftime.

The opening drive in the second half was perhaps Glenwood City’s best possession on the night. On only the third play of the half, McGee took the handoff and raced 63-yards for an apparent Hilltopper touchdown. However, a holding penalty negated the play forcing Glenwood City to retry the down.

McGee picked up the first down on the next play to continue a drive that pushed Glenwood City inside the Bulldog 25-yard line. The drive stalled from there as the Bulldogs held the Toppers on a fourth-down attempt and took the ball over on downs at the 29-yard line.

Glenwood City found themselves with another prime chance at scoring on their next possession when they started with great field possession on the Bulldog 37-yard line. Yet, the Toppers mustered only a single first down and turned the ball over on downs with less than 10:00 left in the game.

Boyceville followed the same template they had all night to score a final touchdown on the Toppers. Hellendrung capped off a 11-play, 70-yard drive with his fourth touchdown on the night to boost the Bulldog advantage to 36-0 with only 3:37 remaining in the game.

“Zach ran on a mission scoring all four touchdowns,” praised coach Roemhild. “It was really exciting watching him clear the tracks and show people he meant business.”

To go along with his four touchdowns, Hellendrung had 110 rushing yards on 16 carries and 42 receiving yards on the night. Hellendrung accounted for nearly half of his team’s 334 yards on the night with 152 yards.

Roemhild finished the night 9-of-16 for 136 yards with Owen Rydel being his favorite target with four catches. Leslie led the team with 46 receiving yards.

For the Hilltoppers, their normal high powered passing attack was stifled by the Bulldogs. Olson was 5-of-13 on the night for only 37 yards through the air. McGee caught two of those passes for 16 yards.

On the ground, McGee paced Glenwood City with 61 yards on 12 carries. As a team the Toppers rushed for 110 yards.

“We didn’t have the ball much in the first half and when we did, we didn’t block well. I thought we played better in the second half,” indicated coach Strong on his offense’s performance. He continued, “We need to be able to play four quarters up front if we want to compete with good teams.”

The win by Boyceville stretches its winning streak against Glenwood City to six. The last Hilltopper win came in 2018 when they defeated the Bulldogs 44-6. This game also marks two straight seasons the Bulldogs have shut out the Hilltoppers as they won 28-0 last season.

The victorious Bulldogs (5-0, 3-0) return home to host Clear Lake on September 27 at 7:00 p.m. The Warriors (1-5, 0-3) come into the game looking to upset the Bulldogs (ranked 6th in Division 7 by wissports.net) during their homecoming festivities.

Glenwood City (3-2, 1-2) looks to rebound after two consecutive losses when they travel to winless Colfax (0-5, 0-3). The Vikings have not won a conference game since 2019, when they beat the Hilltoppers 35-0 in a late season contest. The kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on September 27.