O-W squeaks out win to end Highland’s first 8-player run

By John Dalton

Highland’s undefeated season ended in a hard-fought game against Owen-Withee, 23-21, on a crisp night in a WIAA State Qualifying game in 8-player football.  The game was played on artificial turf on Forward Field in Stanley-Boyd.  The neutral site game was a three hour drive for Highland and a mere twenty minute ride for Owen-Withee.  

Throughout the season, both of these teams liked to score points as Owen-Withee averaged 52.6 points per game while Highland averaged 40.3 per game.  This game came down to defense, ball control and capitalizing on turnovers.

At 40 degrees at kickoff, Highland would kick to the Blackhawks.  Both teams would have three-and-outs to start the game.  On its second possession, the Blackhawks had some success running the ball but after an eight-play drive stalled, they punted the ball to the Cardinals.  Owen-Withee is a run first team.  They only completed two of four pass attempts all night long.

On its second possession of the game, Highland struck first.  Facing a third and four from its own 28 yard line, quarterback Bennett Smith would air it out and drop it in the basket of Wes Kraisinger for a 38 yard pass play to the Blackhawk 34 yard line.  On the next play, Smith, on a similar play, found Kaden Washa on another bomb for a touchdown and after a Landis Newberry extra point, Highland was up 7-0 at the 2:52 mark of the first quarter.  

On Owen-Withee’s first play following the kickoff, they fumbled the ball and Highland recovered in great field position on the Blackhawks 30 yard line.  Highland capitalized.  Facing a 3rd and 16, pass interference was called on the Blackhawks.  Highland would have a first and goal at the three yard line, but the Blackhawk defense didn’t allow much yardage until fourth down and one, when Jackson McGuire received a pitch from Smith and walked into the end zone untouched.  It was 14-0 after Newberry’s extra point with 10:24 left in the second quarter.

“We got off to a pretty good start on both sides of the ball. Offensively we found our rhythm in our passing game on the second drive of the game.  Bennett Smith made a great read and found Kaden Washa open for our first touchdown.  On the next series, our defense forced a turnover, and the offense converted that into another touchdown. We knew that a great team like Owen-Withee would respond, and they did, with a touchdown drive of their own,” said Highland Head Coach Jasen Scanlan.

And the Blackhawks did score on its next possession on a nine play drive behind the power running of 240 pound senior Sully Poehler and sophomore Brandon Geldernick.  Poehler was tough to bring down throughout the night as he would rumble for 83 yards and helped move the chains all night for the Blackhawks.  But it was Geldernick who finished this drive off on a 23-yard touchdown run.  Poehler powered his way in for the two-point conversion and Owen-Withee cut the Highland lead to 14-8.

Washa would handle the Blackhawk kickoff and he had nice return of 37 yards when the defender’s helmet hit the ball on the tackle and the ball popped loose giving the ball back to the Blackhawks.  And they wasted no time capitalizing on the turnover as two plays later Geldernick ran untouched 32 yards to tie the score at 14.  Highland stopped the two-point conversion try.

Highland stayed aggressive and was moving the ball as Smith had an 18-yard pass play to Cooper Oleson and an 18-yard pass play to Michael Esser.  But his next pass was picked off on a deep shot and the Blackhawks would start a drive from their own 15-yard line with under two minutes left before halftime.  Nine plays later, and after Geldernick ran the ball 18 yards to the Highland 15-yard line, Owen-Withee called a time out with three seconds left on the clock.  Their decision was to try a 32-yard field goal attempt and as time expired to end the half the ball barely crossed the bar by about an inch and Owen-Withee had a 17-14 lead over the Cardinals.  

“Our kickoff return team did a great job of blocking on the return after their touchdown, but unfortunately, an Owen-Withee player made a helmet-on-the-ball tackle and they recovered the fumble.  Their offense converted that turnover and an interception on our next drive into points and we were down 17-14 at the half,” said coach Scanlan.  

Highland got the ball to start the second half.  On an impressive drive, Smith found Esser down the sideline for a 32 yard pass play.  He then passed to Oleson who battled for a first down at the Blackhawk four yard line, and then he found Esser in the end zone for a touchdown and after the extra point Highland regained the lead 21-17.

Owen-Withee would answer and again it would be in the form of Geldernick running the ball for large chunks of yards.  He ultimately scored on a 7-yard touchdown run putting the Blackhawks back in front 23-21.  Highland would stop the critical two-point try keeping it a two-point game.  Geldernick led the Blackhawks with 217 yards on the ground on 29 attempts and scored all three touchdowns.

The Cardinals would start their next drive on their own 17-yard line and again were putting a nice drive together.  Newberry would gain 16 yards to end the third quarter putting Highland on the Blackhawk 34-yard line.  

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Smith passed to Kraisinger for a 12-yard gain and a first down on the Blackhawk 22.  Three plays later and facing a 4th and four at the 17, Highland tried to pass for the 1st down and it went in and out of the hands of Kraisinger and the Blackhawks took over on downs. “We faced a 4th and 4 situation and as the head coach, I decided that I liked our chances of converting the 4th down more than converting a field goal at that time,” said Scanlan on the decision to run versus attempting a field goal. 

Unfortunately for Highland, the clock was not their friend and Owen-Withee would get critical first downs on a long drive that ate up all the time in the fourth quarter ending Highland’s hope of playing for a state championship this Saturday.

“Our defense played hard and gave tremendous effort in slowing down a very good Owen-Withee offense that came into the game averaging more than 50 points a game. We held them to 23 points but struggled at times to make plays on 3rd and 4th down that could have gotten us off the field,” said Scanlan.  “Sometimes you have to give your opponent credit for executing in those big play situations. Owen-Withee made some big conversions and executed a little better than we did in some of those situations, as great teams often do.”

Highland’s season would end at 10-1.  They will also lose 11 seniors from this year’s team.  

Coach Scanlan, “It was a tough loss to end our season, but we are very proud of how our players played on Friday and represented our school and community.  They truly left everything on the field. Our 11 seniors were outstanding leaders, who were role models for our younger players to follow.  They were not just excellent players, but outstanding students and contributed positively to their local community.  They will be very hard to replace but have set a high standard and a positive example of how to be successful.”

He went on to say, “Our first year as an 8-player football program will always be one we will never forget.  A conference championship and a regional playoff title are achievements that can never be taken away.  As coaches, we also would like to thank the Highland school administration, staff and school board for their unwavering support of our football program.  The village of Highland and the local community also were a tremendous source of support as we made the transition to 8-player football.  We will always be grateful for all they did for us to share in our amazing and unforgettable season.”

Despite the challenges of having to drive more than three hours to play a high school football, Scanlan was pleased with how his team and the community handled the WIAA decision to play this game in Stanley-Boyd.  

“The site for the game was certainly frustrating for us and our fans.  The WIAA's insistence upon trying to put Level 3 games on artificial turf limited the options for where the game could be played.  Traveling more than 3 hours to play a game against an opponent who traveled 20 minutes to the game, and played at a school where they (Owen-Withee) have a wrestling co-op seemed to be a stretch of the term "neutral site".  Despite those challenges, we were ready to play at the start of the game.  As a team, we did seem to have a little less energy at the end of the game, but we will never know how much of that can be attributed to our opponent or the unusually long drive to the game.  We know that we will always be proud of how our players handled the controversy surrounding the game location and the effort put forth on the field on Friday night, regardless of circumstances beyond their control.”

Bennett Smith completed 13 passes on 23 attempts for 205 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.  Michael Esser caught three of those passes for 56 yards and a touchdown, Wes Kraisinger caught 3 passes for 53 yards, John Dreischmeier caught three passes for 24 yards, Kaden Washa hauled in two passes for 43 yards and a touchdown and Cooper Oleson had 29 yards on two catches.  

Jackson McGuire rushed for 41 yards on nine attempts and a touchdown while Landis Newberry rushed for 25 yards on eight carries.  

On defense, Oleson had 8 solo tackles to lead the Cardinals, McGuire had six, and Dreischmeier and Davis Dorota each had four.  Dorota assisted on 21 tackles, McGuire was in on 16.  Washa and Tucker Degenhardt assisted on 8 each.