There were plenty of question marks surrounding both the Cashton football team and the Scenic Bluffs Conference as a whole heading into the season. So far, this young flock of Eagles are making a strong claim to being the favorite to reign supreme in the SBC this fall.
Cashton (4-0, 2-0 Scenic Bluffs) cleaned up some mistakes and found another gear in the second half against Royall (2-2, 1-1), turning a 6-0 halftime lead into a 35-0 victory this past Friday at Cashton Village Park.
Following a scoreless opening quarter, Cashton got on the board just over two minutes into the second when Jack Christensen punched in a 4-yard touchdown run for a 6-0 lead that held up at the halftime break.
Early in the third quarter, the Eagles extended that lead when Landon Laufenberg raced down the sidelines for a 30-yard TD run and a Christensen two-point run that made it 14-0.
The floodgates truly opened in the final quarter, where Cashon added a trio of rushing touchdowns: Cutler Brueggen’s 17-yard run, Laufenberg’s 1-yard run and Christensen’s 5-yard run.
“We were moving the ball in the first half, we just would have a holding call, it’s 1st and 20 or 2nd and 20, then you punt,” said Cashton head coach Jered Hemmersbach. “Credit to the kids. We came out — that was a dominating second half, so that was fun. When we don’t beat ourselves, we’re solid.”
Leading rushers for the Eagles included Laufenberg with 149 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries, Christensen with 134 yards and two touchdowns on 13 attempts and Brueggen with 82 yards and a touchdown on seven rushes.
Defensively, Laufenberg, Brueggen and Traeton Gill all notched eight tackles apiece, and both Laufenberg and Jaxson Muellenberg came down with an interception.
A statement win against a playoff contender keeps the ball rolling for Cashton, who find themselves tied with Ithaca/Weston for first in the SBC standings and are up to No. 4 in D7 in the latest Bound Wisconsin coaches’ poll.
“We started out 2-0 (in conference play). We’re just going to keep trying to build and keep winning game by game,” Laufenberg said.
Laufenberg noted that the players were dedicating the win to assistant coach Spencer Ripley, whose father passed away earlier this month.
The Eagles are on the road to play Hillsboro (2-2, 1-1) this Friday at 7 p.m.
Hillsboro 21, Brookwood 14
Early turnovers created a hole that Brookwood could not climb out of in their clash with the Hillsboro Tigers.
The Falcons (1-3, 0-2 Scenic Bluffs) fell into an early 21-0 deficit and wound up suffering a 21-14 loss at home to Hillsboro (2-2, 1-1) this past Friday in Ontario.
Five of Brookwood’s six first-half possessions ended in turnovers, allowing the Tigers to build up a significant lead.
The Hillsboro defense picked off Falcon quarterback Brennen Mack to set them up near the red zone, which resulted in Matthew Huffman’s 4-yard touchdown run. After later recovering a fumble, the Tigers scored again early in the second quarter when Ben Blaha took a screen pass from Laudy Schulz and broke free for an 80-yard touchdown.
Brookwood responded with a lengthy, methodical drive that had them knocking at the door of getting on the board, only for Malekai Simpson to pick off Mack’s pass into the end zone and taking it all the way back for a pick six.
Trailing 21-0, the Falcons finally started making their comeback push in the second half. They recovered a fumble and turned it into their first touchdown on Mack’s 15-yard pass to Drew Thurston.
In the late stages of the fourth quarter, Mack connected with Eligh Holmquist for a 17-yard TD pass to slice the deficit to 21-14 with a little over four minutes remaining. However, the Tigers recovered the ensuing onside kick and bled off most of the remaining clock to leave the Falcons no real time left for a final scoring drive.
Brookwood outgained Hillsboro 253-182 in total offense and had 16 first downs compared to eight for the Tigers, but seven total turnovers proved too costly to overcome.
The Falcons go on the road next Friday to face Ithaca/Weston (3-1, 2-0) at 7 p.m.
Ithaca/Weston 12, Bangor 8
The Cardinals (1-3, 1-1) had trouble generating much offense in a road loss to the Bulldogs (3-1, 2-0) last week in Richland Center.
A collarbone injury to quarterback Max Langrehr meant Sawyer Jacobson took over under center for Bangor. Elijah Cropp’s second-quarter rushing touchdown allowed the Cardinals to hold an 8-6 advantage at halftime, but Ithaca/Weston scored in the third quarter to take the lead for good.
Cropp finished with 75 yards on 16 carries, though the Bangor offense only had 115 total yards of offense on the evening. Spencer Nelson finished with 145 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries to lead the way for the Bulldogs.
Bangor returns home to host the Necedah Cardinals (0-4, 0-2) this coming Friday at 7 p.m. in an all-Cardinals battle.
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