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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
AUBURNDALE – Auburndale used its passing game to take a lead in the first half, then milked that lead with its running game in the second half and posted a convincing 41-20 win over Chequamegon in Marawood Conference football action Friday night at Thorpe Field at Auburndale High School.
Blake Anderson completed 10 of 14 passes for 190 yards and three touchdowns for the Apaches, who ran for 104 yards in the second half after compiling just 3 yards in the first two quarters.
The switch in philosophy was predicated on matchups, Auburndale coach Josh Nagel said.
“We’re a pass-first team, not that you could tell by the second half, but you have to have a line that is pretty athletic and can move, and Blake Anderson, what can you say about that kid,” Nagel said.
“We want to establish the run game and at half we thought that if we could break their front initial line, that we could get some big yards. With guys like Canyon Weiler and Trevin Oertel running behind Ben Bolder, we had an advantage. We thought our four guys against their three guys on one section of the field was in our favor, so we attacked.”
Chequamegon took the early lead with Jordan Armstrong tossed a 51-yard touchdown Shane Wakefield to give the Screaming Eagles an early 6-0 lead.
The Apaches responded with big plays through their passing game.
Anderson hit Matthew Nikolay for a 20-yard touchdown pass and Trevin Oertel kicked an extra point to put Auburndale up 7-6. Anderson completed all four of his pass attempts on the drive for 65 yards.
After forcing a punt, Anderson connected on a 52-yard touchdown strike to Austin Hawkins on a jump ball down the right sideline on the final play of the first quarter, putting the Apaches up 13-6.
The Screaming Eagles responded with a quick scoring drive that ended with a 16-yard touchdown run by Samuel Lehman and Collin Strehlow added a two-point conversion to give Chequamegon the lead back at 14-13.
However, Auburndale took the lead for good when Canyon Weiler ran in from 1-yard out after Nikolay recovered a fumble, and Hawkins caught a two-point conversion pass from Anderson to put the Apaches up 21-14 with 1:15 to go into the half.
The Anderson-to-Hawkins connection struck again in the third quarter when the 6-foot-4 receiver hauled in a 38-yard touchdown pass from the junior quarterback to make it 27-14. That was the only pass Anderson completed in the second half as he attempted just two.
Hawkins finished with four catches for 113 yards, two touchdowns and a pair of two-point conversion catches.
“We’ve been getting the run game going – big runs always help out the pass game,” Anderson said. “I have a lot of confidence in Austin. It’s the second year working with him and he’s got little guys trying to play man-to-man, you can throw it up to him and he’ll get it.”
Chequamegon cut the Apaches’ lead to 27-20 with a touchdown run by Armstrong in the final minute of the third quarter, but never threatened again.
A 60-yard run by Wyatt Weiler on the final play of the third quarter set up a 1-yard plunge by Anderson 1:26 into the fourth and after fumbles on two straight Chequamegon possessions, Oertel scored on a 1-yard run to close out the scoring.
Auburndale improves to 3-1 overall and in the Marawood, while Chequamegon falls to 0-4 and 0-3 in the conference. The win leaves the Apaches just one conference win from clinching a WIAA playoff berth.
“These guys are really working hard,” Nagel said. “They put a lot of time in the weight room this summer, they’re practicing pretty well and they want this as bad as anyone. They want to make their mark in the playoffs. We haven’t hosted a playoff game since, I believe, Coach Anderson did it, so they really want to host one here and that’s what we’re striving for.”
Auburndale hosts Tri-County in a nonconference game next Friday at 7 p.m.
Apaches 41, Screaming Eagles 20
Chequamegon 6 8 6 0 – 20
Auburndale 13 8 7 14 – 41
First Quarter
C – Shane Wakefield 51 pass from Jordan Armstrong (kick missed), 5:04.
A – Matthew Nikolay 20 pass from Blake Anderson (Trevin Oertel kick), 2:53.
A – Austin Hawkins 52 pass from Anderson (kick blocked), 0:00.
Second Quarter
C – Samuel Lehman 16 run (Collin Strehlow run), 9:34.
A – Canyon Weiler 1 run (Hawkins pass from Anderson), 1:15.
Third Quarter
A – Hawkins 38 pass from Anderson (run failed), 2:58.
C – Strehlow 2 run (pass failed), 0:24.
Fourth Quarter
A – Anderson 1 run (Hawkins pass from Anderson), 10:34.
A – Oertel 1 run (kick missed), 5:07.
Team Statistics
First downs: Chequamegon 14; Auburndale 8.
Rushing (att-yards): Chequamegon 48-153; Auburndale 33-109.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): Chequamegon 7-14-171-1; Auburndale 10-14-190-0.
Penalties (No.-yards): Chequamegon 9-60; Auburndale 5-32.
Punting (No-avg.): Chequamegon 5-17.6; Auburndale 5-29.0.
Fumbles (total-lost): Chequamegon 5-2; Auburndale 2-2.
Individual Statistics
Rushing: C, Collin Strehlow 16-62, Samuel Lehman 10-36, Jordan Armstrong 13-35, Wyatt Juneau 7-21, 30 (no name listed) 1-4, 3 (no name listed) 1-minus 3. A, Wyatt Weiler 9-70, Canyon Weiler 13-33, Trevin Oertel 4-14, Paul Willfahrt 2-11, Blake Anderson 5-minus 17.
Passing: C, Armstrong 7-12-171-1, Lehman 0-1-0-0, Wakefield 0-1-0-0. A, Anderson 10-14-190-0.
Receiving: C, Wakefield 3-104, Strehlow 3-49, Chad Schnautz 1-16. A, Austin Hawkins 4-113, Isaac Castellano 2-32, Matthew Nikolay 2-24, C. Weiler 2-21.
Fumble recoveries: C, Nelson Kreciak, Schnautz. A, Castellano, Nikolay.
Interceptions: A, Castellano.
Punting: C, Strehlow 5-17.6. A, Justin Lewis 3-33.7, Shane Brandl 1-25, W. Weiler 1-19.
Records: Chequamegon 0-4, 0-3 Marawood Conference; Auburndale 3-1 overall and Marawood Conference.