Wausau West pulls off a stunner, small schools clash
As the prep football season nears the halfway point in the regular season, teams are starting to get in the groove of the regular season and the quality of football may have been at its peak locally this week.
Friday night's docket was highlighted by a pair of small-school matchups with small-town and Marawood Conference rivals Edgar and Stratford meeting and CloverWood foes Abbotsford and Owen-Withee facing off.
But another local game stole the show, as Wausau West stunned No. 2-ranked Appleton North on Friday night at Thom Field to improve to 2-2. The Warriors led 13-10 at halftime, and Mitch Michalske broke loose for a long touchdown run to give West a 20-10 lead with under 8 minutes left and the Warriors held on for a 20-17 victory. The Warriors' defense has shown to be a solid unit thus far this season, and the West defense made its presence felt Friday, keeping the high-powered Lightning offense grounded. West forced a turnover that set up the Warriors' go-ahead touchdown.
As for the small-school matchups: one lived up to the hype and the other ... not so much. Edgar and Stratford's matchups are typically low-scoring, tight, down-to-the wire games and Friday night was no different. Stratford's defense forced Edgar into some late turnovers and earned the 7-6 victory. Stratford has bounced back nicely from a Week 1 loss to nonconference foe Stanley-Boyd, who downed the Tigers 35-7. Now the Tigers look like a team to be reckoned with as the season moves forward.
Abbotsford went 9-0 a season ago, and after Friday night's thrashing of Owen-Withee 41-20, the Falcons make it look as if another undefeated season could be in the realm of possibility.Owen-Withee's Kole Karaba sprinted 10 yards for the game's first score, but from there it was all Abbotsford, which scored on its first three possessions and led 28-6 at halftime en route to the 21-point win.
SPASH remained unbeaten on Friday night with a 22-7 victory over Oshkosh North and continues to look like a solid bunch. Joey Hauser snagged a one-handed 17-yard touchdown catch and the Panthers' defense dominated the Spartans.
Marathon picked up a 33-13 victory over Tomahawk and bounced back from a loss last week to Stratford and improved to 3-1 overall. Marathon travels to undefeated Rib Lake/Prentice next week.
In the Great Northern Conference a couple of teams that were looked at as contenders before the season have bounced back from slow starts: Medford and Merrill.
Medford started fast and never slowed down against Mosinee, as Conrad Bolz scampered 49 yards for the first score of the game and Garrett Strebig followed with a pick-six to quickly put Medford up 15-0 and the Raiders went on for a 35-7 win.
Merrill got a narrow victory over Rhinelander 15-12 one week after earning a hard-fought win. It is a nice win for the Bluejays, who will be without running back/linebacker Jake Collinsworth for the rest of the season after a knee injury last week. Rhinelander looked like they had the win but an illegal shift wiped out a touchdown for the Hodags and Merrill held Rhinelander, stopping the Hodags on 4th-and-4 from the 12 with under 90 seconds remaining.
RELATED: USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin high school football results
A tough team to figure out this year has been Marshfield. The Tigers started fast against Oshkosh West, taking the opening drive down and capped it off with a Nathan McGrath touchdown catch. Marshfield went on for a 34-13 victory for its first Valley Football Association-South victory. Marshfield blasted Wausau East in Week 1 before lackluster efforts the past two weeks.
The clouded picture is starting to get more clear as far as who are contenders in the region. The next five weeks are going to be very fun as we see who sits atop their conferences and who earns playoff berths when the dust clears.
Going Out Reporter Mitchell A. Skurzewski: 715-898-7006 or Mitchell.skurzewski@gannettwisconsin.com; Twitter: @MSkurzewski
For complete round-ups of Friday night’s football games with box scores and scoring summaries, go online at www.wausaudailyherald.com and see Sunday’s print edition.
SIGHTS AND SOUNDS
Big plays from Week 4
Conrad Bolz breaks loose for a 49-yard touchdown run and Medford leads Mosinee 7-0.
Joey Hauser with a one-handed touchdown grab and SPASH leads Oshkosh North 7-0.
Garrett Strebig with a pick-six to give Medford an early 15-0 lead on Mosinee in a Great Northern matchup.
Bryce Seubert picks up a blocked punt and Marathon now leads Tomahawk 20-7.
An 80-yard screen pass has Wausau West leading No. 2 ranked Appleton North 20-10 nearing the midway point in the fourth quarter!
Friday's SCORES
SPASH 22, Oshkosh North 7
Abbotsford 41, Owen-Withee 20
Adams-Friendship 27, Shiocton 12
Amherst 48, Weyauwega-Fremont 0
Appleton East 26, Wausau East 7
Appleton West 33, D.C. Everest 28
Assumption 59, Gilman 32
Colby 21, Fall Creek 20
Iola-Scandinavia 27, Bonduel 14
Loyal 35, Newman Catholic 8
Marathon 33, Tomahawk 13
Marshfield 34, Oshkosh West 13
McDonell Central 48, Greenwood 0
Medford Area 35, Mosinee 7
Merrill 15, Rhinelander 12
Osseo-Fairchild 38, Auburndale 20
Pacelli 21, Wittenberg-Birnamwood 7
Spencer/Columbus Catholic 49, Neillsville/Granton 14
Stratford 7, Edgar 6
Thorp 27, Athens 20
Tri-County 38, Port Edwards 8
Wausau West 20, Appleton North 17