Road Woes

It has been ‘Home Sweet Home’ for Sauk Prairie’s football team this season with a pair of lopsided shutout victories on its home turf. But life hasn’t been as kind on the road for the Eagles, who ran into a buzzsaw last Friday night at Beaver Dam. The host Golden Beavers dominated Sauk Prairie on both sides of the ball on the way to a 47-14 rout in a Badger Small Conference and East Central Conference crossover game at HH Derleth Field. “Beaver Dam played well, but I don’t know, there’s something not going right for us on the road right now,” Sauk Prairie coach Randy Wallace said. “We just have to figure out the whole road thing. For whatever reason, we’re a whole different team on the road versus at home. We haven’t got that one all figured out yet.” Beaver Dam senior running back Josiah Barnes ran for 144 yards and four touchdowns, while senior quarterback Eli Bryant completed 12 of 15 passes for 206 yards and three touchdowns, as the Eagles had no answer to the Golden Beavers’ balanced attack. “We had great preparation in practice and a great game plan,” Beaver Dam coach Brock Linde said. “The kids made a lot of plays tonight, which you want to do if you want to win tight football games.  “Sauk Prairie was a good team at 2-1 and putting up a lot of points. As happy as I am with our offensive efficiency, the defense just played lights out tonight as did the special teams. When you play complimentary football, that’s what we’re capable of every week.” Sauk Prairie (2-2) was without returning all-conference receiver Boden Frosch, who was out with an injury suffered in last week’s 44-0 win over Watertown. The Eagles’ defense was also missing stalwart senior defensive end Mason Betley, who was injured in the Watertown game.  But the Golden Beavers showed no mercy in quickly taking control. After forcing Sauk Prairie to punt on its opening drive, Beaver Dam (3-1) quickly moved into scoring position. On the Golden Beavers’ third play from scrimmage, Barnes blasted through the Sauk Prairie defense and ripped off a 64-yard run to the Eagles’ 1-yard line. Barnes scored on the next play to give Beaver Dam a 7-0 lead with 8 minutes, 40 seconds left in the first quarter. “That was like Holmen had on its’ first drive,” Wallace said after the Eagles gave up a 62-yard scoring play on its first defensive series in that game. “We were fine. Our body language was fine. But defensively, they pretty much had us snuffed out. We just couldn’t get into a rhythm on offense at all.” Beaver Dam was firing on all cylinders, scoring on its first three possessions and five of six overall in the first half to put the game away early. “We just gave up too many big plays,” Sauk Prairie junior defensive back Cayden Hermsdorf said.  Meanwhile, Sauk Prairie could muster just 48 yards of total offense in 27 plays on its first six possessions. “They were going with a three-man rush and kept eight men back in coverage,” Wallace said.  “So, we could run and get three, four yards a crack and their linebackers were filling. But they kept eight back in coverage.” Barnes scored his second touchdown on an 11-yard scamper to cap an 8-play, 85-yard drive to push the Golden Beavers’ lead to 13-0 entering the second quarter. Beaver Dam then put the game out of reach when Bryant tossed three touchdown passes to three different receivers for a 34-0 halftime lead. Senior receiver Jeff Freund had seven catches for 138 yards and a touchdown. Senior receivers Moose Morrissey and Zach Schave also scored receiving touchdowns in the mismatch for the Golden Beavers.     “On film (Sauk Prairie) was giving up a lot of underneath stuff, so we hit them with our bubbles and our curls early,” Linde said. “Then they dared us to throw over the top, and Jeff (Freund) is an elite skill with great speed. Eli (Bryant) made some great passes. When you put those guys together and some other weapons on the perimeter, it makes it pretty tough to defend against us.” Beaver Dam started a running clock when Barnes scored on a 7-yard run with 7:57 left in the third quarter. Barnes added a 5-yard touchdown blast with 3:05 remaining in the period to push Beaver Dam’s margin to 47-0 before Sauk Prairie scored a pair of touchdowns against the Golden Beavers’ reserves.  Senior quarterback Landon Schultz connected with senior receiver Nick Keyser on a 60-yard touchdown pass with 21 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Keyser, who joined the football team this fall after previously playing soccer for Sauk Prairie, finished with three catches for 122 yards and a touchdown. “That was nice to see,” Hermsdorf said. “It was his first touchdown. He played well.” The Eagles capped the scoring when Schultz found junior receiver Blayze Caldwell behind the Beaver Dam defense and connected on a 40-yard touchdown pass with 2:56 remaining in the game. But it was too little, too late for the Eagles. “We need to have more energy before the game and keep the energy throughout the game,” Hermsdorf said. “We need to make sure we’re working as a team and not making any stupid penalties. “In the first half, we were talking but we could have done more of it. In the second half, I felt like we were building each other up and trying our best even though we were losing by a lot. I felt we kept pushing.” Beaver Dam racked up 454 yards of offense, while Sauk Prairie amassed 271 yards, most of them in the fourth quarter. “In the big picture, we’re not getting the results were looking for,” Wallace said. “We didn’t fill or tackle well.  “We’ve got some key learning points we’re taking way from this. Our biggest thing is that Sauk Prairie has had a rap forever. It’s all about earning respect. (Last night) we did not do that. Our message is to get back and learn from our mistakes and regroup and focus on Friday.” • On deck: Sauk Prairie travels to Lake Mills to play Lakeside Lutheran in a Badger Small Conference game on Friday at 7 p.m.   Sept. 13 Beaver Dam 47,  Sauk Prairie 14 Sauk …........... 0   0  7   7 — 14 Beaver Dam .. 13 21 13 0 — 47 BD: Josiah Barnes 1 run (Parker Blank kick). BD: Barnes 11 run (kick failed). BD: Jeffrey Freund 7 pass from Eli Bryant (Schave pass from Bryant). BD: Zach Schave 10 pass from Bryant (Blank kick). BD: Moose Morrissey 5 pass from Bryant (run failed). BD: Barnes 7 run (Blank kick). BD: Barnes 5 run (kick failed). SP: Nick Keyser 60 pass from Landon Schultz (Keyser kick) SP: Blayze Caldwell 40 pass from Schultz (Keyser kick)         TEAM STATISTICS Rushing (Att.-Yds.) — SP 19-50, BD 34-248. Passing yards — SP 221, BD 206. Passing (Comp.-Att.-Int.) — SP 11-23-1, BD 12-15-0.    INDIVIDUAL LEADERS Rushing (Att.-Yds) —SP: Lawson Maier 16-51, Landon Schultz 3-(-1). BD: Josiah Barnes 17-144, Kodiak Kocinski 9-65, Eli Bryant 2-15, Broc Mullenbach 2-13, Moose Morrissey 3-11, Jacoby Hiley 1-0. Passing (Att.-Comp.-Int.-Yds) — SP: Landon Schultz 12-24-1-221. BD: Eli Bryant 12-15-0-206. Receiving (Att.-Yds) — SP: Nick Keyser 3-122, Kade Kinney 5-53, Blayze Caldwell 2-41, Jaxson Martin 1-5, Lawson Maier 1-0. BD – Jeff Freund 7-138, Broc Mullenbach 1-42, Ashtyn Seifert 2-11, Zach Schave 1-10, Moose Morrissey 1-5.