| The Recap |
In a road rematch of their seventh game of the season, Bloomer found the road to victory more challenging this time around. The Bloomer team had dominated a very good Northwestern squad on Oct. 7th by 32-16, a score that was not as close as it might indicate. WIAA playoffs have a different sense of urgency from the regular season however and Northwestern was not going to go quietly in this Level 2 game.
On the first play after Northwestern received the opening kickoff, QB Nate Thoreson put the ball on the ground with an errant option pitch and Caleb Willi recovered for the Hawks on the 10 yard line of the Tigers. The potential easy score never materialized as Northwestern surrendered only 5 yards on 4 plays and took over on downs at the 5 yard line. The first two possessions were definitely an omen of things to come as mistakes and tough defense were the order of the first half.
Bloomer fumbled once and lost possession on an interception to complicate their offense, while the Tigers played conservative football and ate up as much clock as possible while the scoreboard stayed at 0-0 the entire first half.
The second half was what the Bloomer faithful were more used to seeing. The offense came alive as the defense continued their physical play. Zach Steen brought the opening kickoff of the half out to the 45 yard line of Bloomer. The Hawks were energized by a first down scramble by Forrest
Clements on a third down and eleven play that took the ball into Northwestern territory. From there, the Blawkhawks kept the ball on the ground, reaching the end zone on the 13th running play of the drive. A two yard run by Chris Lang on fourth down from the two gave Bloomer the first lead of the game at 5:41. The extra point kick by Jon Foults made the score 7-0 and Bloomer was off and running literally with 18 running plays to only 3 for Northwestern in the third quarter.
To start the fourth quarter, the Hawks forced a fumble and recovered on the Tiger 28, only to give the ball back on an interception at the 5. It was only a matter of time before Bloomer scored again, as the defense was punishing the Northwestern running backs and knocking the quarterback to the ground on every passing attempt. Once
again, Caleb Willi came through for Bloomer on the defensive side as he blocked a punt at the 3 yard line of Northwestern. Chris Lang reached paydirt for the second time on a 3 yard run. The kick was good and Bloomer with 8:26 remaining in the fourth quarter, Bloomer had a comfortable lead at 14-0. The Hawks final score came quickly as the Tigers fumbled two plays later trying to pass. Adam Swartz sacked Thoreson from the backside and forced the fumble recovered by Austin Zwiefelhofer on the 35 yard line. A beautifully executed fourth down pass from Clements to Lang from 21 yards out ended the scoring for the Hawks with 3:58 on the clock. Foults kick for the extra point was wide and the final score was Bloomer 20 and
Northwestern 0.
The 11-0 Blackhawks now move on to the Level 3 game to be played at Bloomer
against 9-2 West Salem, on Saturday, Nov. 5th at 4pm.
|
|
| The Stats |
|
Bloomer
|
|
Northwestern
|
|
13
|
1st Downs
|
8 |
|
1
|
-Passing
|
1 |
|
10
|
-Rushing
|
7 |
|
2
|
-Penalty
|
0 |
|
243
|
Yards Gained
|
96 |
| 42 |
-passing
|
24 |
| 201 |
-rushing
|
72 |
| 42 |
Passing
|
24
|
| 11 |
Attempts
|
13 |
| 3 |
Completions
|
2 |
| 2 |
Interceptions
|
0 |
| 27% |
%Complete
|
15% |
| 1 |
TD's
|
0 |
| 0 |
PAT's
|
0 |
| 4 |
Kick Offs
|
1 |
| 196 |
Total Yards
|
30 |
| 49 |
|
30 |
| 1 |
Kicks Returned
|
2 |
| 14 |
Yd's Returned
|
49 |
| 2 |
Punts
|
6 |
| 66 |
Total Yards
|
161 |
| 33 |
Punt Average
|
26.8 |
| 2 |
Punts Returned
|
2 |
| 34 |
Yd's Returned
|
22 |
|
5
|
Penalty
|
5
|
|
40
|
Penalty-Yds
|
25
|
|
3
|
Fumbles
|
5
|
|
1
|
Fumbles-Lost
|
4
|
| Individual Stats - Passing |
| |
Att. |
Comp. |
Yards |
Int. |
TD |
| Clements |
10 |
3 |
42 |
2 |
1 |
| Dachel |
1 |
0 |
- |
- |
- |
| Individual Stats - Receiving |
| |
Recept. |
Yards |
Avg. |
TD |
PAT |
| Lang |
2 |
37 |
18.5 |
1 |
- |
| Vahlenkamp |
1 |
5 |
5 |
- |
- |
| Individual Stats - Rushing |
| |
Att. |
Yards |
Avg. |
TD |
PAT |
| Clements |
14 |
77 |
5.5 |
- |
- |
| Lang |
21 |
72 |
3.4 |
2 |
- |
| Schemenauer |
2 |
-2 |
-1 |
- |
- |
| Steen |
7 |
27 |
3.9 |
- |
- |
| Dachel |
3 |
16 |
5.3 |
- |
- |
|
|
