This story is sponsored by: Chili Implement
By Steve Pilz
For MarshfieldAreaSports.com
AUBURNDALE – History will write the story of the Marawood Conference as being one of the best small school football conferences in the state over the years. Unfortunately, the Marawood will not exist next year after another reconfiguration of the Wisconsin football conferences.
Evidently, nobody told Pittsville and Auburndale as the two old foes slugged it for 48 minutes before the the Eagles downed the gritty visitors 12-6.
Both the Eagles and Panthers came in undefeated (4-0), so something had to give. But it took a while.
Click here to view the Marawood Conference football standings
The Eagles ran 21 plays to the Panthers’ seven in the first quarter and had seven first downs to the Panthers one. But with a lost fumble and an interception by Pittsville’s Dawson Luther, the first quarter was scoreless.
Pittsville turned the tables a bit in the second, running more plays and gaining a few more yards, but another Eagles turnover kept the game scoreless at the half.
When asked about a good old-fashioned Marawood football game, Auburndale coach Jay Anderson reminisced. “Yes, we had a lot of our alumni here – 0-0 at the half and grinding it out all the way. It was a good win. That is a good team. We give them a ton of credit. Their coaches have done a heck of a job. Those turnovers really hurt us and that is a credit to Pittsville, too. That truly was a good old-fashioned Marawood football game.”
Perhaps a mild underdog, the Panthers did not play like one taking the second half kickoff from their own 26. Luther, a sophomore, carried five times on the drive for 30 yards before quarterback Jacob Hardinger hit Jameson Krueger on a 24-yard scoring strike for the game’s first score and a 6-0 Panthers lead.
Auburndale answered decisively. Evan Scholl ripped off a 42 yarder on the fifth play of the ensuing drive and drove it in from the 1 on the next play to tie the score.
The Panthers answered impressively going 13 plays, including a successful fake punt, but they eventually had to punt giving Auburndale the ball on its own 13.
As usual, tailback Scholl and quarterback Kaden Anderson did what they had to do for the Eagles.
Scholl ran for 37 yards on seven carries, while Anderson matched those yards on just three carries, and threw a 15-yard pass to Aden Cherney. Anderson lugged it the final 16 yards with 6:37 to play to put Auburndale up 12-6.
Pittsville battled behind 72 yards from Luther on 20 carries, but failed on fourth down with 2:43 left and never saw the ball again.
“I got a little gun shy,” Anderson admitted after the game, “because of the turnovers, so we ran on some of the pass plays rather than throwing. We had two or three fumbles and an interception, but we felt at halftime that we could grind it out. You can see with Evan (Scholl) and Kaden (Anderson) what they can do, so we leaned on them a bit.”
Scholl had another monster night, lugging the pigskin 27 times for 233 yards, while Anderson had 74 yards on the ground on just 14 carries and was 5-for-8 for 64 yards.
Pittsville hosts Colby next Friday, Sept. 22, and Auburndale heads to Marathon in Marawood Conference action. Both games start at 7 p.m.
Eagles 12, Panthers 6
Pittsville 0 0 6 0 – 6
Auburndale 0 0 6 6 – 12
Third Quarter
P – Jameson Krueger 23 pass from Jacob Hardinger (PAT failed).
A – Evan Scholl 1 run (PAT failed).
Fourth Quarter
A – Kaden Anderson 15 run (PAT failed).
Team Statistics
First downs: P 9; A 18.
Rushing (att-yards): P 32-92; A 43-309.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): P 7-12-194-1; A 5-8-64-1.
Total yards: P 286; A 373.
Fumbles (total-lost): P 0-0; A 2-2.
Penalties (no.-yards): P 6-43; A 10-64.
Individual Statistics
Rushing: P, Dawson Luther 20-72, Kaden Schiller 1-17, Dalton Darr 9-8, Jacob Hardinger 2-minus 5. A, Evan Scholl 27-233, Kaden Anderson 14-74, Blake Raab 1-2, Aden Cherney 1-0.
Passing: P, Hardinger 7-12-104-1. A, Anderson 5-8-64-1.
Receiving: P, Da. Luther 4-15, Schiller 1-51, Jameson Krueger 1-23, Darr 1-15. A, Cherney 2-21, Raab 2-14, Keegan Empey 1-29.
Interceptions (defense): P, Da. Luther. A, Mason Meissner.
Fumble recoveries (defense): P, Daryn Luther, Braden Friday.
Records: Pittsville 4-1, 2-1 Marawood Conference; Auburndale 5-0, 3-0 Marawood Conference.