Sauk Prairie closes in on playoffs

How do you top your best defensive game of the season, one in which you dominated the opposing team? You do one better, of course. That was the story for Sauk Prairie’s football team last Friday, as they took care of visiting Mount Horeb-Barneveld, 28-0, in a Badger North Conference game on Senior Night. The Eagles improved to 5-3 overall and 3-3 in the Badger North and can clinch a playoff spot with a win at Beaver Dam Friday. The Vikings fell to 1-7, 1-5 in the Badger North. “I’m really proud of the group, not just for their performance on the field, but for their preparation for tonight,” Sauk Prairie head coach Clay Iverson said. “Our seniors have been through a lot and have hung together. It’s nice to see their hard work pay off on Senior Night.” The Eagles were coming off their best defensive game of the season last week in which they limited Portage to 103 yards of total offense, allowed zero points, and registered seven sacks. Then against MH-B, the Eagles allowed a season-low 85 yards to the Viking offense, posted their second consecutive shutout, allowed only five first downs, and registered four sacks. “The defense plays hard.. They know what they’re doing, they know how to get lined up,” Iverson said. “They take pride in not just holding people without points, they take pride in every play. To shutout one team is very difficult to do, but to do it for eight straight quarters is very impressive.” The Eagles also shined on the offensive side of the ball. The Eagles had 343 yards of total offense, 16 yards shy of their season-high set last week against Portage. Sauk Prairie rushed for a season-high 320 yards on 49 carries (6.5 avg). Senior Garrett Hertzfeldt led all rushers with 144 yards on 21 carries and a touchdown. Tyler Uselman also went over 100 yards for the Eagles, carrying 17 times for 126 yards. Sauk Prairie displayed a strong running game in the second half after being held to just 46 yards rushing in the first half. The speedy Uselman picked up big chunks of yards on outside sweeps, and the bruiser Hertzfeldt pounded the ball up the middle, wearing down the MH-B defensive line. “The first half, we played well, but not nearly as good as we could have. Second half we stuck to our assignments and did a better job of executing them,” Hertzfeldt said of the rushing attack. “Our offensive line is all about putting their bodies before other people.” Sauk Prairie scored on its first drive of the game, a nine-play drive that started near the 50-yard line. Senior quarterback Parker Breunig ran it in on a sneak from the 3-yard line, and the Eagles led 6-0 with 1:38 left in the first quarter. The Eagles’ defense held the Vikings to just 27 total plays in the first half and forced them into three three-and-outs. At halftime, Sauk Prairie led, 6-0. It stayed that way until the fourth quarter, when the Eagles marched 56 yards in 12 plays and Breunig finished the drive with his second touchdown of the night, this time a sneak from the 1-yard line. The Eagles converted the two-point conversion and led 14-0 with 10:37 left in the game. After MH-B turned the ball over on downs, the Eagles’ offense took over at their own 25-yard line with 8:38 left in the game. Sauk Prairie fumbled, though, and the Vikings started at the Eagles’ 21-yard line. Just two plays later, though, Sauk Prairie’s defense forced an MH-B fumble and the Eagles recovered. Three plays later, Sauk Prairie’s Garrett Herttzfeldt busted through a hole in the After an MH-B three-and-out, Sauk Prairie embarked on a clock-consuming drive of nearly five minutes, finished off by a 44-yard touchdown run by senior Brooks Leister to stretch the lead to 28-0 with 44 seconds left. “Mount Horeb played hard against us. Our guys came through in the second half and just really outworked them,” Breunig said. “We knew we would pick it up in the second half. We’re not going to play two bad halves of football.” Sauk Prairie now needs one more win to be playoff eligible for the first time since 2007. They travel to Beaver Dam (2-6) Friday at 7 p.m. “I’m looking forward to the (Beaver Dam) scouting report and having good practices to prepare for them,” Breunig said. “We’re so close, but we can’t look forward too far. We have to focus on Beaver Dam.” Even though the focus remains on beating Beaver Dam, it’s hard to ignore how close the Eagles are to reaching the postseason for the first time since 2007. “We started our high school careers with 38 players and now we’re down to 14,” Hertzfeldt said. “It would mean the world to us (to make it to the playoffs), knowing we stuck around and we could do it.” Iverson remained focused on the task at hand: getting better as a football team and letting the rest take care of itself. “The older I get and the more I get into this, I just want to get better on Mondays,” Iverson said. “Everyone wants to make the playoffs, and that’s exciting, but you start looking too far ahead, you’ll get hit in the face by something else. “Every time we come out here and compete for our community, I hope that means enough. Where the chips fall, they fall. I think if you were to ask any guy on this football team, their goal is to get better the next time we practice.” October 11 SAUK PRAIRIE 28, MOUNT HOREB-BARNEVELD 0 MH-B …...................... 0 0 0 0 — 0 SP ……..................... 6 0 0 22 — 28 FIRST QUARTER SP - Breunig 3 run (kick failed), 1:38 FOURTH QUARTER SP - Breunig 1 run (Uselman run), 10:37 SP - Hertzfeldt 67 run (Vasquez kick), 6:42 SP - Leister 44 run (Vasquez kick), 0:44 TEAM STATISTICS Total yards-- SP 343 MHB 85. Rushes-yards-- SP 49-320 MHB 27-59. Passing(comp-att-yd-int-td)-- SP 2-6-23-0-0 MHB 5-14-26-0-0. Fumbles-lost-- SP 2-2 MHB 1-1. First downs-- SP 14 MHB 5. Penalties--SP 5-26 MHB 2-10. INDIVIDUAL LEADERS Rushing(att-yd-td)-- SP Hertzfeldt 21-144-1, Uselman 17-126-1, Leister 4-44-1, Breunig 7-6-2. MHB Schult 7-31-0, Gassman 6-9-0, Flaherty 14-7-0, Pertussati 1-9-0. Passing(comp-att-yd-int-td)-- SP Breunig 2-6-23-0-0 MHB Flaherty 5-14-26-0-0. Receiving(rec-yd-td)-- SP Hertzfeldt 1-18-0, German 1-5-0. MHB Pollman 2-15-0, Gassman 2-3-0, Henderson 1-7-0.