Mounders size too tall an order for Toppers, Glenwood City loses first game of season

By Cara L. Dempski

GLENWOOD CITY — Hilltopper football coach Shane Strong knew his team had a challenge ahead for the 2017 Dunn-St. Croix opener, and the test seemed to loom large in the week leading up to the game.

How big a task were the Glenwood City boys facing? Well, it was roughly the size of Elk Mound’s offensive line.

Strong spent time in practice working on slant techniques to give the backers a chance to fill in the gaps, and use his team’s speed and agility in last Friday’s home contest against the Mounders. 

In the end, however, the Hilltoppers came away on the short end of a 35-20 final in the September 1 contest after being out-sized for most of the game.

The Hilltoppers’ coach acknowledged his awareness of Elk Mound’s size.

“There’s not a lot you can do as far as being up front when you’re ‘out-physicalled,’” Strong said. “They (Elk Mound) knocked our guys off the ball, and credit to their kids, they played hard; but, it was very clear, you could see that up front, we (Glenwood City) couldn’t handle them.”

Much of Elk Mound’s dominance came via its ground game which piled up 359 yards in 45 carries led by speedster Brady Redwine, who ran for 191 yards and three touchdowns on 25 hauls and was perfectly complimented by 143 yards and another score from fellow backfield mate Ben Lambele. Quarterback Dylan Black threw for 60 yards.

The Toppers, who finished with 134 yards rushing on 26 attempts, did much of their work through the air where senior quarterback Peter Hill threw for 284 yards and a pair of touchdowns on a 20-32 performance with two picks. Jake Nelson snared eight of those receptions for 117 yards and both touchdowns.  

Elk Mound struck first, putting six points on the board with a five-yard run by Brady Redwine in the first quarter. Gaelen Young’s point-after kick was shallow, but skimmed over the crossbar and through the uprights to give the visiting team a 7-0 lead.

The Hilltoppers responded in kind several minutes later with a 27-yard scoring run from Jacob Kopacz. Glenwood City missed out on a two-point conversion run, which left them trailing 7-6 as the time ticked away in the first stanza. 

Ben Lambele scored on a 13-yard run to put up another six for Elk Mound in the second quarter, and Young’s kick was again good to make the score 14-6 as the time drained off the first-half clock.

Elk Mound added 14 points in the third quarter after a pick-six by Redwine, a kick from Young, a one-yard dive from Redwine, and ensuing PAT kick from Marcus Kinblom. The Mounders took a 28-6 lead into the fourth quarter.

Glenwood City gave its fans, who were largely silent up to that point, something to cheer about again in the fourth when Hill connected first with Jacob Nelson for a 15-yard TD pass to make the score 20-12. 

Not to be outdone, Redwine turned around and gave the Mounders another six points with a 60-yard kickoff return. Young’s PAT again sailed through the uprights to change the scoreboard to 35-12.

Hill was not finished, though.

He shot an eight-yard pass to Nelson for the touchdown, and then connected with Nelson again for the two-point conversion to give the Toppers their final score in a 35-20.

Despite the loss, Strong said he saw some positive things in the game.

“We passed more than we wanted to, but I thought the quarterback did a nice job, and our receivers ran good routes,” he explained. “We pass-protected pretty well. Yeah, we got sacked a couple times, but when you’re passing that many times, that’s going to happen.”

Besides Nelson’s 117 yards in receptions,  Carson Strong nabbed five passes for 65 yards, Owen Wagner caught five for 56 yards, Jake Kopacz caught one 35-yard pass and Hadin DeSmith caught one for 11.

Kopacz was the Toppers’ leading rusher with 64 yards on 11 carries. Nelson recorded 53 yards on nine carries, Hill kept the ball four times to gain nine yards, Dakota Dean-Immerman carried the ball once for five yards, and Ethan Kahler advanced the ball three yards on one carry.

The 2-1 Hilltoppers will head to Colfax September 8 before hosting Mondovi for homecoming September 15.

ELK MOUND 35, GLENWOOD CITY 20
Elk Mound……………7  7  14  7 – 35
Glenwood City……….6  0  0  14 – 20

First quarter

EM – B. Redwine 5-yd. run (G. Young kick); GC – J. Kopacz 27-yd. run (conversion fail).

Second quarter

EM – B. Lambele 13-yd. run (G. Young kick).

Third quarter

EM – B. Redwine Interception return (G. Young kick); EM – B. Redwine 1-yd. run (M. Kinblom kick).

Fourth quarter

GC – J. Nelson 15-yd. pass from P. Hill (conversion fail); EM – B. Redwine 60-yd. run (G. Young kick); GC – J. Nelson 8-yd. pass from P. Hill (J. Nelson pass from P. Hill).

Individual Statistics

Passing (att-comp-yds-int) – EM (7-10-60-0) – D. Black 7-10-60-0; GC (20-32-284-2) – P. Hill 20-32-284-2.

Rushing (att-yds) – EM (45-359) – D. Black 4-16, C. Ward 1-0, B. Lambele 13-143, B. Todd 1-6, B. Redwine 25-191, W. Muzynski 1-3; GC (26-134) – E. Kahler 1-3, P. Hill 4-9, D. Dean-Immerman 1-5, J. Nelson 9-53, J. Kopacz 22-64.

Receiving (rec-yds) – EM (7-60) – B. Lambele 4-21, A. Benson 1-8, B. Redwine 1-30, W. Muzynski 1-1; GC (20-284) – C. Strong 5-65, H. DeSmith 1-11, O. Wagner 5-56, J. Nelson 8-117, J. Kopacz 1-35.