Indees fall to Pirates in final game
Cochrane-Fountain City wasn’t about to let Independence/Gilmanton prevent it from tying for the Dairyland Conference football title.
The Pirates scored four touchdowns in the first quarter and cruised for a 46-0 home win. That win put C-FC in a first-place tie with Blair-Taylor and Pepin/Alma for the DC crown. It also helped the Pirates earn the second seed in its Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division Seven bracket.
For the Indees, the loss meant it finished the season with a 1-8 record, 1-6 in Dairyland Conference play. The team was competitive in most of its games in Austen Whitwam’s first year as the head coach but was unable to get over the hump. The work to rebuild the program will continue to be a battle to get players out, the Indees are expected to return just 17 players next year and only have a few eighth graders joining the program.
C-FC 46 I/G 0
The Pirates scored three times on offense and once on special teams to take a big lead in the first quarter.
C-FC mostly ran the ball as Reed Schmidtnecht got the offense started with a 12-yard touchdown run. But the team also had success through the air as Parker Kujak passed for three touchdowns on five attempts.
The first touchdown was a 24-yard strike to Grayden Barum. He hit Tye Popp for a 25-yard touchdown later in the first quarter. That was Popp’s second touchdown of the game as he returned a punt 78 yards for a touchdown that made the score 19-0.
Kujak’s third touchdown pass came in the second quarter when he connected with Barum again, this time on a six-yard score. Aidan Lisowski added a 20-yard touchdown run before halftime to put the team ahead 39-0 at the intermission.
Lisowski scored again early in the third quarter and Barum’s point after kick put C-FC ahead by the final.
Kujak connected on four-of-five passes for 65 yards and three touchdowns. Lisowski had a team-high 69 rushing yards on nine carries. C-FC had four players with more than 60 rushing yards as Schmidtknecht added 67 and both Evan Leverance and Ethan Smith ran for 61. The team finished with 274 yards on the ground in the game.
I/G’s offense struggled throughout. The team managed just two yards per carry on 17 rushes. Sophomore quarterback Chase Back passed eight-for-17 for 75 yards and two interceptions.
I/G —
Rushing (att./yds.) — Back 8/17 Marsolek 8/17 Klimek 1/0
Receiving (rec./yds.) — Marsolek 3/40 Klimek 2/24 Solberg 2/13 Slaby 2/7
Passing (comp./att./yds.) — Back 8/17/75 Slaby 1/1/9
Tackles (solo/total) — Back 3/7 Marsolek 0/3 Klimek 3/6 Kreibich 1/3 Gierok 0/4 Slaby 1/1 Carillo Taylor 3/3 Halverson 4/5 Solberg 2/3 Turner Jr. 1/3 Estrada 0/1 Flores 3/4
