Eagles run into buzzsaw

MOUNT HOREB —Heralded with a pep rally at school, memorialized with sweatshirts bearing the milestone achievement, and surrounded by a large traveling party of fans, the Sauk Prairie football team walked onto the field Friday ready to make its mark in its first WIAA playoff game since 2019. Just one problem: The talent and tenacity of the opposition. Mount Horeb-Barneveld staged a second-quarter blitz that underscored why it’s the four-time reigning Badger Small Conference champ, putting up 30 points with a balanced mix of offense, defense and special teams en route to a 36-6 triumph over the Eagles in a WIAA Division 3 first-round game. “I think our team came to play,” said senior quarterback Landon Schultz, “but they’re just a better team.” That was a solemn admission from one of the leaders of a program that this senior class has resurrected under Wallace’s guidance, improving their win total the past three years from zero to two to four before posting a 5-4 mark this season, including an emphatic 34-0 victory over playoff qualifier Stoughton two weeks ago. “That shows a lot of hard work and a leadership shift in the program,” Schultz said. “The priorities are straight. And we’ve got a lot of great kids. It’s going in a better direction. The younger guys need to stay on track and stay motivated — keep bringing it.” MH-B junior quarterback Brooks Hendrickson threw for 257 yards and three touchdowns to three receivers (Hayden Anderson, Tyrus Hastings and Owen Preimesberger) on 21-of-32 passing. Preimesberger added 101 yards and a score on 15 carries and senior receiver Chris Kiel added 87 yards on six receptions. The Vikings (10-0) will host Waterford (6-4) this Friday in a second-round game after the Wolverines — who finished in second place in the Southern Lakes Conference — dispatched Badger Small foe Stoughton, 20-14. Sauk Prairie, meanwhile, will look to extend the forward progress established by its graduating class of 14 seniors. “It was their goal to start changing the culture and transform our program. Each year, we kept building,” Wallace said. “This year, just to be in the playoffs is a blessing because we dealt with so many injuries and illnesses, especially in the middle of the season. Guys stepped up. It was a team effort to get to where we got. It was big for the program, and the expectation from now on is we’ll make it every year. How well did the first half go for MH-B? Well, you could point to a stunning stat: That the Vikings’ defense allowed the Eagles just one first down — on the opening drive, and on a penalty at that. Or you could highlight a trio of lightning-fast scoring drives that effectively put the game away, with MH-B’s offense amassing 22 points while covering a cumulative 135 yards on 14 plays over a span of just 5 minutes, 6 seconds of possession time. Or you could roll up three impactful special teams plays — Ryan Skogen’s partially blocked punt that set up the Vikings’ first score, a Zach Maguire “flop shot” onsides kick that Max Grundahl recovered to bridge the third and fourth touchdowns of the night, and Maguire’s rugby punt to the Sauk Prairie 7-yard line that paved the way for a safety. “Sauk’s a really good team, but we put our heads down and got to work early,” Wilson said. All those fireworks earned the second-seeded Vikings a running clock and a sleepy second half, with the Eagles providing the lone score on Schultz’s 55-yard downfield strike from Schultz to Nick Keyser with 7:54 remaining. “We had a lot more success offensively in the regular season,” said Sauk Prairie coach Randy Wallace, whose team racked up 10 first downs and 155 passing yards in the teams’ league showdown on Sept. 27, a 30-7 MHB win.  “I really think they were in the back of our heads tonight. I feel like we psyched ourselves out, even though coming in I felt like we were prepared and hopefully even in their heads. But they came out and executed their game plan, and we came out and didn’t execute ours. That’s just how it goes sometimes in football.” As in the teams’ first matchup, the Vikings put the Eagles into a deep hole early and put themselves into cruise control. After moving the ball a mite on its penalty-aided first drive, the Eagles punted on their next set of downs and went three-and-out on their other six full possessions in the first two quarters. Meanwhile, MH-B scored on five of its seven possessions, and converted its lone punt into that safety. “Our first drive wasn’t terrible, but the rest of the half they played on our side of the field,” Wallace said. “We wanted to control the ball and keep it out of their hands, but the game plan went askew a bit there.” Still, there was a moment when the momentum could’ve swung the other way. On the 12th play of MH-B’s first drive, Hendrickson’s pass to the left side bounced out of Owen Aeschlimann’s breadbasket and into the arms of Eagles defensive back Jaxson Martin for an interception at the 5-yard line. The Vikings quickly rebounded, with Skogen getting a big piece of Sauk’s subsequent punt attempt to give MH-B possession at the Eagles’ 13. On the next play, Preimesberger burst around the right side for a 6–0 lead with 2:41 left in the first quarter. “I actually called it right before that,” said Skogen of the blocked punt. “I told Eli (Maier), I’m going to go outside and get it.” After another brief Sauk possession, MH-B unleashed its scoring rampage with the help of a trick play. The Vikings were facing third-and-15 at the Eagles’ 20-yard line after a holding penalty when Hendrickson found Maguire on a hitch route. The senior quickly pitched the ball to Preimesberger, who was streaking across the field and outraced the trailing linebacker to the left pylon for a touchdown, then tacked on a two-point run for a 14-0 edge with 10:42 remaining in the second quarter. “You can’t catch O.P. on the outside if he catches a head of steam,” Maguire said, adding that he was “speaking from experience.” The Vikings inserted the play call on Wednesday, and might’ve surprised observers by breaking it out in a first-round game they were expected to win handily. But St. Arnauld and his staff — particularly offensive coordinator Chris Balbach — have earned a reputation as a group that will accept risk to reap rewards. MH-B’s next drive featured a 33-yard deep toss to junior Colin Haag and a sublime 14-yard run by Kiel, who took a pitch left, hit a dead end and dead stop and reversed course, outracing the rest of the Sauk defense to the 2 to set up Wilson’s score. On the ensuing kickoff, St. Arnauld called for Maguire to execute the onside kick, which led to another touchdown. “When we look at it from the dynamic of, what kind of program do we want to be, we’ve created a Frankenstein’s monster of my worst nightmare,” St. Arnauld said of unpredictability. “What we are is what I would not want to go against as a coach.” When the Vikings did finally have to punt, after their drive stalled out at the Sauk 45 while leading 28-0, the Eagles made a tactical gamble themselves by calling timeout before that kick. The goal was to get the ball back with time to drive the ball and score. The risk was an opportunity for MH-B to layer on points and reach the scoring differential threshold that triggers a running clock. After Maguire’s punt was downed at the 7, a false start backed the Eagles halfway to their own goal line, then MH-B sent a full blitz on the next three snaps. On the last of those, Wilson and Stoenner forced Schultz into intentional grounding from his own end zone — an automatic 2-point penalty. The Vikings closed out the scoring in the half with a six-play, 63-yard drive that culminated in three straight completions to Hastings – for 15, 20 and 15 yards, the last providing MHB a 36-0 edge with 48 seconds left in the second quarter. “We want to build a fraternity, where we get the guys who’ve graduated to come back and help the program,” Wallace said. “That’s the sign of a successful program. We want some of these guys to come back and coach. We’re trending in the right direction.”   Oct. 25 WIAA Division 3 Level 1 playoffs MH-B 36, Sauk Prairie 6 Sauk Prairie ........ 0  0  0  6 — 6 MH-B ............ 6  30  0  0 — 36   First quarter MH-B - Owen Preimesberger 3 run (run failed), 2:41.   Second quarter MH-B - Preimesberger 20 pass from Brooks Hendrickson via Zach Maguire (Jack Wilson run), 10:42. MH-B - Wilson 2 run (pass failed), 7:27. MH-B - Hayden Anderson 2 pass from Hendrickson (Wilson run), 5:31. MH-B - Stoenner safety, 1:55. MH-B - Tyrus Hastings 15 pass from Hendrickson (run failed), 0:48.   Fourth quarter SP - Nick Keyser 55 pass from Landon Schultz (pass failed), 7:54.   Team stats Total offense: SP 120, MHB 347. First downs: SP 4, MHB 22. Fumbles-lost: SP 1-1, MHB 2-1. Penalties-yards: SP 7-39, MHB 6-55.   Individual leaders Passing: SP - Landon Schultz 6-17-74-1-1; MHB - Brooks Hendrickson, 21-32-257-3-1. Rushing: SP - Schultz 3-32-0; MHB - Preimesberger 15-101-1. Receiving: SP - Nick Keyser 1-55-1; MHB - Hayden Anderson 8-51-1.