Norse fall after Cardinals stop late two-point conversion
Whitehall coach Tyler Bortle went for the win, but a two-point conversion attempt that would have given his team the lead with 14 seconds left was stopped short, and the Norse fell to Spring Valley, 28-27, in Level One of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association playoffs on Friday night.
Whitehall trailed by 14 points early in the fourth quarter, but had a chance to go for the tie or the lead when it forced a Spring Valley punt with about three minutes left in the game.
Karston Ausderau helped move the team down the field with a 15-yard run on a third-and-13 play, then a 27-yard pass to Grayson Pronschinske. The Norse were out of timeouts, so they had to rush down the field.
Two plays later Ausderau hit Pronschinske for a pass down to the 1-yard line, then Bo Killian scored on the next play to make the score 28-27 with 14 seconds remaining. The Norse opted to go for the win and kept the ball in Ausderau’s hands on a sweep.
The junior quarterback worked toward the sideline before cutting up the field, but Spring Valley’s Asher Turner met him at the goal line and drove him back for the stop.
The Norse managed to have another chance to go for the win when Devin Hutsell recovered an onside kick at the Spring Valley 35. However, two deep passes fell incomplete and the Norse ran out of time.
Whitehall managed to hit a number of big plays that kept them in the game.
The Norse took an early lead when Hutsell ended their first drive with a 42-yard touchdown run. Riley Herman’s extra point made the score 7-0.
Spring Valley answered with a touchdown and extra point on their next drive to tie the game. The Cardinals scored again early in the second quarter, this time the extra point was no good as the team had a 13-7 lead with 9:37 left in the first half.
The Cardinals added to the lead about a minute later when Ausderau was hit as he threw. The ball floated in the air, and Spring Valley’s Landon Forster caught the interception and returned it for a touchdown. The point-after made the score 20-7 with 8:45 left in the first half, and that’s where the score stood at halftime.
Whitehall made it a one-score game again midway through the third quarter when Kivin Juresh took the only carry he received in the game for a 44-yard touchdown run. Herman’s point-after made the score 20-14.
The Cardinals marched down the field and scored early in the fourth quarter on a third-and-goal play from the 9-yard line. The two-point conversion made it 28-14 with 10:52 left in the game.
The ensuing kickoff was nearly a disaster as Whitehall fumbled the ball, but Killian picked up the fumble and raced 60 yards for a touchdown. Herman’s point-after made the score 28-21.
The Norse had success on the ground, rushing for 205 yards on 27 carries. Both Hutsell and Killian finished with 65 yards. Killian finished his Whitehall career as the school’s all-time leading rusher. He totaled 3,638 yards and 43 touchdowns on 603 attempts.
Ausderau completed half of his 16 passes for 71 yards. Pronschinske caught three passes for 41 yards. The Whitehall quarterback also ran three times for 25 yards.
