Balanced attack leads Raiders over Tigers
The Arcadia football team broke a tie with a touchdown late in the first half and added another score in the third quarter of a 20-8 Coulee Conference win over Black River Falls.
The Tigers scored with less than a minute left in the first half then converted the two-point try to tie the game. Senior Ted Teske helped the Raiders answer before the halftime buzzer.
With 42 seconds left in the half, Teske returned the ensuing kickoff into BRF territory. Then it took just one play as sophomore Carter Wegman launched deep, finding Teske for a 43-yard touchdown pass with 23 seconds remaining in the half. The two-point try was not successful, but Arcadia took a 14-8 lead into halftime.
The Raiders added to the lead late in the third quarter as Max Blaschko sprung free for his second touchdown of the game, this one from 12 yards out. The two-point try was no good, but Arcadia’s defense would shout BRF out the rest of the game.
The Tigers had a long early drive, which had them one yard from the end zone, but a penalty followed by an incomplete pass on fourth down gave Arcadia the ball back inside its own 10.
The Raiders responded with a long drive of their own, riding Blaschko beyond midfield before Wegman connected with Lyga for a big gain. Blaschko finished the drive with a three-yard touchdown run. Blaschko ran for 155 yards on 21 attempts, an average of 7.4 per carry.
Wegman and Teske connected on the two-point try to make the score 8-0 with 5:30 left in the first half.
The teams traded scores in the final stretch of the half as the Raiders held on for the win.
Wegman continued his strong sophomore campaign, completing six-of-12 passes for 128 yards. Teske caught three passes for 77 yards, while Lyga had two catches for 46 yards.
The win kept Arcadia’s playoff hopes alive as the team improved to 4-3 overall and 2-3 in a conference that has two of the top three Division Four teams in the WisSports.net net poll.
The Raiders return home to take on rival Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau this week. The Red Hawks are 1-6 on the season and 1-4 in conference play, but G-E-T has controlled the rivalry for most of the last two decades. The Red Hawks have a 15-5 record against the Raiders over the past 20 years, including a 42-0 win last year.
Arcadia will honor its 2009 team at halftime of the game. That team needed to win its final game of the regular season to qualify for the playoffs then got rolling and advanced to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association State Championship Game.
The 2024 Raiders will close the regular season with a game at Luther next week.
Arcadia —
Rushing (att./yds.) — Blaschko 21/155 Sobotta 4/22 Teske 5/16 Pronschinske 1/1
Receiving (rec./yds.) — Teske 3/77 Lyga 2/46 Sobotta 1/5
Passing (comp./att./yds.) — Wegman 6/12/128
Tackles (solo/total) — Wegman 4/5 Blaschko 3/5 Teske 8/13 Sobotta 9/14 Connor 4/7 Pronschinske 3/8 Glenzinski 2/2 Lyga 5/7 Luna 0/1 Olmos 3/5 Fernholz 3/4 Ruiz 3/7 Wozney 2/2
