Last Updated: Monday, November 10, 2008 7:54 AM CST
Waupaca manhandles Lakeland in playoffs
by DAILY NEWS SPORTS
The Lakeland football team came into its WIAA Division 3 Level 3 playoff game with Waupaca boasting a potent offense averaging 40 points a game. However, the Comets founds ways to shut the T-Birds down.
Waupaca shut out Lakeland 24-0 on Saturday at Stiehm Stadium in Schofield. The Comets went into halftime with a 17-0 lead. They scored their final touchdown early in the third quarter for a 24-0 lead.
In the second half, the T-Birds moved the ball inside the Comets’ red zone three times, but failed to score. Lakeland running back Billy Kuchler finished with 132 yards rushing on 21 carries, but was denied the end zone. The T-Birds even used a Wildcat formation to direct snap the ball to Kuchler, but the Comets’ defense stood their ground.
“They were just very solid everywhere,” Lakeland coach Don Scharbarth said. “On offense, we like to move the ball to the outside, by using our wings, but we couldn’t handle Waupaca’s outside linebackers. Their speed on defense gave us trouble the whole game.”
Waupaca’s defense earned its seventh shutout of the season.
“I think our defense was pretty well prepared for what it was going to see. Lakeland runs a Wing-T offense and a lot of teams in our league run that too,” Waupaca coach John Koronkiewicz said. “To get a shutout in a playoff game, especially against a team like Lakeland, who’s offense is so dynamic, you have to give credit to how hard our kids played.”
Offensively, the Comets were able to score at critical moments. They scored their first touchdown on a 2-yard run by quarterback Brock Jensen with 11:22 remaining in the second quarter on a drive that lasted more than nine minutes. Later in the second quarter, they tacked on a 28-yard field goal and scored on a 12-yard pass from Jensen to receiver Nate Nelson. Waupaca capped off its scoring on a 1-yard TD plunge by Jensen in the third.
“I think if the T-Birds would have scored right away in the third, the momentum might have shifted,” Koronkiewicz said.
While the T-Birds’ won’t get a shot at state, they can still take pride in a successful 9-3 season.
“After seven years of being independent, we had our first chance of winning a conference title and we did that,” Scharbarth said. “It’s always hard to get this far and lose, but we can take away a lot of positives.”
Sharbarth said about 1,500 Lakeland fans traveled to Weston to support the T-Birds.
Kuchler had three receptions for five yards. Lakeland quarterback Nathan Roy finished 3 for 10 passing with five yards and one interception. Jensen had 83 yards rushing and 53 passing. Waupaca (12-0) will face Kewauskum in a Level 4 game.
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