This story is sponsored by: Valley Communities Credit Union
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
EDGAR – The Marawood Conference’s top-ranked offense battled the most prolific offense in a showdown Friday night that will most likely decide the conference championship.
The defense won in a big way.
Edgar held Stratford to just 158 yards of offense, more than 300 yards under its season average, and knocked off the Tigers 32-0 to remain undefeated at 7-0 overall and 6-0 in the Marawood. Stratford falls to 5-2, 5-1 in the Marawood.
The Wildcats have not been scored upon this year in their seven wins. Stratford came close twice, but negative plays hurt the Tigers on both occasions and Edgar held.
Stratford ran 51 offensive plays, 10 of which resulted in negative yardage.
“Certainly they bring it,” Stratford coach Cal Tackes said of Edgar’s stingy defense. “They have aggressive play off the line of scrimmage. We had opportunities to make plays and we didn’t finish things. They are going to make their fair share of plays, and we talked about it all week not to get frustrated by it.”
Edgar scored on its first possession when Jorie Skrzypchak ran in from 5 yards out to cap a seven-play, 52-yard drive to take a 6-0 lead.
After both teams exchanged punts, Stratford’s offense finally got going. A 12-yard pass from Jake Kauth to Connor Brock and a 25-yard run by Mark Marquardt set up the Tigers move into Edgar territory. Nick Viegut completed a pass for a first down on fourth-and-6 to Josh Reif to bring the ball to the 15.
However, Edgar’s defense stepped up like it has all year long. Back-to-back sacks pushed the ball back to the 34 and Stratford was forced to punt.
“We have to have people in the right position, but when they are, we have to have people that are willing to play aggressive – like Edgar is,” Tackes said.
Edgar pushed across another score with a methodical 13-play, 75-yard drive that ended with 25-yard touchdown run by Skrzypchak and the Wildcats took a 12-0 lead into halftime.
Stratford tried to seize the momentum to start the second half, forcing an Edgar punt after three plays on the opening possession.
Austin Shelley had a 10-yard run and Marquardt followed with a 14-yard run to reach Wildcats’ territory. Stratford got as far as the 27 but the drive stalled and Edgar quickly responded.
On the Wildcats’ second play after taking over on downs Kyle Schueller broke a tackle on the left sideline and scampered 66 yards for a score to make it 19-0.
After another Stratford punt, Scheuller took a handoff 39 yards for another score to effectively put Stratford away. Schueller finished with a team-high 142 yards on just 11 carries.
Skrzypchak, who finished with 130 yards on 17 carries, added his third touchdown on a 1-yard plunge midway through the fourth quarter to finish the scoring.
Stratford plays at Chequamegon next Friday and Tackes would like to see his team regain its swagger.
“One game doesn’t define our season,” Tackes said. “We’ve got big games coming up here. We can’t sit back and cry about what happened tonight, we have to get ready Chequamegon next week and Rib Lake/Prentice the week after. From there, it’s a whole new season.”
Wildcats 32, Tigers 0
Stratford 0 0 0 0 – 0
Edgar 6 6 13 7 – 32
First quarter
E – Jorie Skrzypchak 5 run (run failed), 7:07.
Second quarter
E – Skrzypchak 25 run (run failed), 1:37.
Third quarter
E – Kyle Schueller 66 run (Brandon Doll kick), 4:34.
E – Schueller 39 run (Doll kick missed), 1:28.
Fourth quarter
E – Skrzypchak 1 run (Doll kick0, 6:53.
TEAM STATISTICS
First downs: Stratford 10, Edgar 12.
Rushing (att-yards): Stratford 38-134, Edgar 46-320.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): Stratford 5-13-24-0, Edgar 1-7-22-0.
Penalties: Stratford 4-30, Edgar 3-35.
Fumbles (total-lost): Stratford 0-0, Edgar 2-1.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: S, Austin Shelley 8-73, Mark Marquardt 5-44, Jamie Aschebrock 9-16, Tyler Adams 1-11, Jake Guyer 1-4, Nick Viegut 10-0, Josh Reif 3-minus 2, Jake Kauth 1-minus 12. E, Kyle Schueller 11-142, Jorie Skrzypchak 17-130, Reed Lehman 8-37, Will Hannemann 2-7, Aaron Karlen 1-3, Dakota Heidmann 3-3, Phil Lemmer 1-2, Dalton Lehman 3-minus 4.
Passing: S, Viegut 4-9-12-0, Kauth 1-4-12-0. E, D. Lehman 1-7-22-0.
Receiving: S, Aschebrock 2-minus 7, Connor Brock 1-12, Kauth 1-11, Reif 1-8. E, R. Lehman 1-22.
Punting: S, Marquardt 7-32.3 avg. E, Viktor Stelter 4-37.3 avg.
Fumble recoveries (defense): S, Aschebrock.
Records: Stratford 5-2, 5-1 Marawood Conference; Edgar 7-0, 6-0 Marawood Conference.