This story is sponsored by: Chili Implement
By Steve Pilz
For MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Stratford Tigers football team punched their ticket to Level 3 of the WIAA Division 6 football playoffs with a 21-0 win over the Mondovi Buffaloes on Friday night at Heiting Community Stadium in at Marshfield High School.
With Northcentral Wisconsin bursting at the seams with last week’s rainfall, the powers that be seemingly made a smart move taking the weather out of play by playing on the fake-grass in Marshfield.
That’s not entirely true, since mother nature’s bringing winter any minute with wind gusts out of the northwest making for a chilling contest. At least it was dry-ish.
And that played into the Tigers’ hands. Mondovi had a whale of a ground game all season, but once the Tigers snuffed that and pounded the ball themselves, it was an up-hill battle for the Buffaloes in the rematch of last year’s WIAA Division 6 state championship game that Stratford also won.
After exchanging blows for half of the first quarter, the Tigers took advantage of a short field. Gavin Leonhardt bolted of left end on a counter play for 32 yards and Koehler Kilty lugged it the final 2 for the games first score and Stratford led 7-0.
Meanwhile, the Tigers’ defense had the heat turned up, allowing the Buffaloes just 15 yards in the first quarter and 13 yards in the half.
Stratford went 79 yards in eight plays to start the second quarter. Kilty ran it three times for 17 yards, before Leonhardt ripped off a 28-yard run. Tubbs hit Leonhardt for 23 on the next play and Leonhardt crashed in from the 1 a play after that to make it 14-0.
Stratford coach Jason Tubbs was quick to spread the wealth to his assistants when asked about the dominant defensive performance.
“It’s the whole staff,” began Tubbs. “Kris Berg, Blake Lehman, Kellen Kafka, with the ‘D’ line, and Marshall (Lehman) running the whole thing. It’s just a great staff to have. I’m blessed with one of the best staffs in the state. I’ve got Coach Martens up in the booth and Coach Belter. It’s awesome. Shutting down any playoff team is special.”
You might say the Buffaloes won the third quarter, but if they did it was a hollow victory as they scored no points and watched the clock slowly tick to their demise.
Mondovi got the ball to the Tigers’ 40 early in the fourth but when quarterback Jake Linse rushed up the middle for 22 yards, he fumbled, killing the drive and gave the Tigers the ball on their own 18 at the 9:09 mark
Three times the Tigers had third downs on their ensuing possession, and 3 times they converted.
Kilty went for 10 on third-and-8 from the 20. Tubbs went for 12 on third-and-6 four plays later. Tubbs again went 4 yards on third-and-4 four plays after that, and the Tigers were able to run off precious time on the clock.
With under two minutes remaining and Mondovi sitting on the run, Tubbs hit a wide open Leonhardt for a 32-yard touchdown and a 21-0 win.
“We were looking at the play before and trying to run the clock out and I said ‘Let’s do it,’” Tubbs said in describing the final scoring play. “Gavin Leonhardt doing what Gavin Leonhardt does.
“We did a great job on the final drive. We forced a turnover. Had a statement drive. It was a ‘We need to win the game’ type of drive.”
The Tigers will take on No. 1 seed Auburndale, 33-22 winners over Coleman, next Friday at Auburndale. The Marawood Conference rivals in all other sports haven’t played against each other on the football field in four years since WIAA realignment prior to the 2020 season.
View the statewide Level 2 playoff scoreboard here
Tigers 21, Buffaloes 0
Mondovi 0 0 0 0 – 0
Stratford 7 7 0 7 – 21
First Quarter
S – Koehler Kilty 3 run (Laurenz Plattner kick), 2:48.
Second Quarter
S – Gavin Leonhardt 1 run (Plattner kick), 7:05.
Fourth Quarter
S – Leonhardt 32 pass from Jack Tubbs (Plattner kick), 1:41.
Team Statistics
First downs: M 8; S 16.
Rushing (att-yards): M 23-45; S 47-245.
Passing (att-comp-int-yards): M 8-13-1-80; S 3-5-0-95.
Total yards: M 125; S 349.
Fumbles (total-lost): M 2-1; S 1-0.
Penalties (no.-yards): M 6-48; S 5-45.
Individual Statistics
Rushing: M, Jake Linse 16-28, Peyton Snyder 6-6, Porter Bauer 1-9. S, Leonhardt 18-139, Kilty 21-121, Tubbs 14-45.
Receiving: M, Austin Remington 3-49, Bauer 2-12, Denton Loseel 1-25. S, Leonhardt 2-65, Alec Chapel 1-30.
Passing: M, Linse 8-13-1-80. S, Tubbs 3-5-0-95.
Records: Mondovi 9-2; Stratford 10-1.