This story is sponsored by: Sternweis & Sons
By Steve Pilz
For MarshfieldAreaSports.com
SPENCER – The Auburndale Eagles and the Spencer/Columbus Catholic Rockets opened the high school football season Friday night at Spencer’s Ted Fritsch Field, and a strong first half by Auburndale led to a 42-21 victory.
The home team made the Eagles sweat a bit, however.
A stellar performance by Eagles senior quarterback Blake Raab made the difference.
Spencer/Columbus took the opening kickoff and ran four plays before punting.
The Eagles took over at their own 38 and Raab ripped off 18 yards on their first play from scrimmage. He and junior tailback Nathan Van Whye set the tone, each taking the bulk of the carries until Raab hit Nathan Richardson with an 8-yard scoring strike to put Auburndale ahead. Raab hit the first of six extra point kicks and the Eagles led 7-0.
Raab polished off an eight-play drive at the beginning of the second quarter when he hit Peyton Weinfurter from 15 yards out to make it 14-0.
S/C finally showed some signs of life, starting at its own four, ripping off a 13-play drive, mostly through the air but stalling out with an incompletion at the Eagles 17.
With the half winding down, it was Raab and Van Whye again doing the heavy lifting. But the big play was Raab’s 55-yard heave to receiver Trevin Seevers. A couple plays later the rout was on when Raab crashed in from the five and the Eagles took a 21-0 lead into halftime.
The rout continued when Van Whye scampered 20 yards at the 9:55 mark of the third quarter to make it 28-0.
Spencer/Columbus quarterback Devlin Timmler had a fine first half going 9-for-12 for 87 yards. And with the Rockets down 28-0, what did they have to lose?
Timmler ran for seven yards to start the first drive of the second half. Sophomore Jack Hoeper ran for 11 and two plays later Timmler drilled Mac Konieczny with a 27-yard dart, then Kaleb Hilgeman for 8 and Teddy Meyer for 4. Carter Luepke rushed for 15 yards on a couple carries and when Timmler hit Koniezcny on a 10-yard scoring strike the Rockets were on the board.
The Rockets got the break they needed when Auburndale fumbled on the second play of their abbreviated drive.
Taking over at the Eagles 45, Mason Wolf ran for 10 yards before Timmler hit Meyer for 35 yards and a TD making it 28-14.
“I was concerned about our energy coming in,” said Auburndale coach Jay Anderson. “It’s not that we don’t have kids that want to win football games, but you’ve got to lock in play after play. S/C, to me, wanted this game more than us. We had them down 21-0 in the first half and it’s just like OK, game over. They didn’t stop. It was 42-21 but it was an interesting, good game – well played. It is a win but we have to correct some things.
“We have to have constant determination that we’ve been trying to preach. That’s a key to football. We need to learn to sustain that at a higher level. Too many lapses but we’ll get to the film and see how it looked.”
Three plays and a penalty later Raab started left from under center, then veered right and deposited the ball in the end zone 45 yards later.
S/C promptly fumbled but a rejuvenated Rockets’ squad stopped the Eagles in four plays and took over late in third quarter. Timmler went 6-for-8 for 43 yards and Luepke ran for 24 yards and caught two passes before scoring from the 3 for another S/C score.
Needless to say, Raab capped a nine-play drive with another 37 yard rushing TD.
Timmler threw a desperation, under-duress interception, to bring the game to an end.
Raab threw for two touchdowns and ran for three more, while rushing 15 times for 138 yards. He also completed his first eight passes and finished 9 of 13 for 152 yards.
His counter-part, Timmler, was 21-for-28 for 237 yards and two scores.
S/C actually had 395 yards to 287 for the Eagles. They had 18 first downs to the Eagles 16 and even out-rushed them 158-135. But the Rockets had nine penalties to the Eagles four and couldn’t overcome the first half onslaught from Auburndale.
“There were some positives but we need to finish drives,” said Rockets coach Jason Gorst. “We shot ourselves in the foot with penalties and we need to make plays when they are there to be made. We need to be more consistent and make a higher percentage of big plays.
“Raab’s a heck of a football player. We figured he’d be their QB this year. Really good athlete.”
Both teams will wrap up nonconference action next Friday, Aug. 30. Auburndale will play its home opener against Marathon, while Spencer/Columbus will travel to Pittsville.
Eagles 42, Rockets 21
Auburndale 7 14 14 7 – 42
Spencer/Columbus Catholic 0 0 14 7 – 21
First Quarter
A – Nathan Richardson 8 pass from Blake Raab (Raab kick), 4:51.
Second Quarter
A – Peyton Weinfurter 15 pass from Raab (Raab kick), 10:15.
A – Raab 5 run (Raab kick), 0:46.
Third Quarter
A – Nathan Van Whye 20 run (Raab kick), 9:55.
SC – Mac Konieczny 10 pass from Devlin Timmler (Konieczny kick), 3:01.
SC – Teddy Meyer 35 pass from Timmler (Konieczny kick), 2:11.
A – Raab 45 run (Raab kick), 1:35.
Fourth Quarter
SC – Carter Luepke 3 run (Konieczny kic)k, 5:02.
A – Raab 37 run (Raab kick), 1:26.
Team Statistics
First downs: A 16; SC 18.
Rushing (att.-yards): A 26-135; SC 30-158.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): A 9-13-0-152; SC 21-28-1-237.
Total yards: A 287; SC 395.
Fumbles (total-lost): A 1-1; SC 1-1.
Penalties (no.-yards): A 4-25; SC 9-75.
Individual Statistics
Rushing: A, Blake Raab 15-138, Noah Van Whye 18-83. SC, Jack Hoeper 12-86, Luepke 5-41.
Passing: A, Raab 9-13-152-0. SC, Timmler 21-28-237-1.
Receiving: A, Peyton Weinfurter 3-41, Nathan Richardson 2-24, Treveor Trowbridge 2-20, Trevin Seevers 1-55, Carter Grassl 1-10. SC, Teddy Meyer 7-102, Mac Konieczny 4-48, Mason Dieringer 4-25, Kaleb Hilgeman 3-33, Luepke 2-7. Hoeper 1-0.
Records: Auburndale 1-0; Spencer/Columbus 0-1.