NEW GLARUS — Level 2 of the WIAA football playoffs typically pairs up the top 16 teams in the state across each division. Schools and supporters are usually able to gauge if their dreams of being a contender to play at Camp Randall in late November are premonitions, or simply just dreams.
If the 49-0 throttling New Glarus handed Chilton on Oct. 30 is any indication, Glarner Knights fans have good reason to be excited.
“Our guys did a very good job again tonight just doing what we asked them to do,” said coach DJ Schuett. “We were physical from the start and we played a great football game.”
New Glarus (10-1) dominated Chilton (6-5) in every facet of the game: Offense, defense, special teams; up front on the line, in the secondary, and in the pocket — as well as with the laundry.
The Knights had nearly as perfect of a start to the game as Schuett could have scripted. Brayden Schmitt took the team’s opening kickoff 32 yards. The Knights then marched 61 yards on five plays, culminating on a Brady Baer touchdown run from 10 yards out — all within the first 90 seconds of play.
New Glarus’s defense then forced a quick three-and-out, with a raucous sack of QB Lucas Groeschi on third down. A short punt gave the Knights the ball back at the Chilton 46, and not long later Carson Prechel carried the rock into the end zone to make it 14-0.
“We didn’t have school today, so we did some team activities and I think that helped us. Historically, when we don’t go to school we start slow. Tonight we didn’t,” Schuett said.
On the first play ensuing Tigers possession, New Glarus senior linebacker Noah Garcia intercepted Groeschi’s pass and returned it to the Chilton 8-yard-line. Two snaps later, and Tucker Sysko took a reverse into the end zone, making it 21-0 with 2:55 still left in the first quarter.
Rather than calling a timeout to settle their players, the Chilton coaching staff opted to let its leaders persevere in the moment. With the benefit of hindsight, the Tigers may have wished to go about their head space differently.
On the kick return, the Tigers were flagged for holding. Before a snap could even start play, Chilton’s offensive line was penalized twice more for false starts, and then yet another flag came for delay of game, pinning the Tigers at their own 3 with 25 yards to gain for a first down.
“I wish I could say I haven’t been on the other end of that, but when things roll and they don’t go your way, all of a sudden it’s the snowball effect.,” Schuett said. “After we went up 21-0, they had that bad series which pinned them back and we got a short field again.”
Chilton ended up collecting its only first-down of the first three quarters, but the drive still came to a screeching halt, with a shanked punt netting only 14 yards of field position.
The only blemished drive on the night for the Knights came on the following possession, which saw NG flagged for holding twice, including what would have been a 10-yard TD run by Prechel. Then, QB Quinn Marty hit Sysko on a slant, where a bang-bang catch and fumble lost possession at the Chilton 6.
NG’s defense stayed strong, forcing another three-and-out. Kamm Nehmer then returned the punt 45 yards for a fourth score with 6:15 left on the clock in the second quarter.
Another three-play Chilton drive gave New Glarus the ball back. Brock Roth then broke off a 27-yard run up the sidelines on the first play of the drive, then Baer added 26 more yards combined on two carries of his own. Marty capped the drive with a QB keeper from six yards out with 3:09 left until halftime, triggering the running clock with the 35-0 score.
Roth then intercepted a pass on first down, and a few plays later the Knights trotted out freshman kicker Brock Weeden to attempt a 54-yard field goal with time about to expire. Weeden’s kick had the distance, but floated just wide right.
In the second half, Roth made it 42-0 on a TD run with 2:42 left in the third quarter. The junior varsity reserves saw the field for the final minute of the third quarter and the entirety of the fourth. Even then, the Knights continued to dominate. On the first offensive play for the second string, sophomore Isaac Christianson took a sweep to the right for a 48-yard score — his second playoff touchdown in as many weeks.
“It’s just our bread and butter play and he bounced it to the outside. He’s pretty quick and just ran away from some guys,” Schuett said.
Chilton finally started gaining yardage on the next drive, though New Glarus freshman Levi McMannes put an end to the Tigers’ hopes of scoring with an interception late in the fourth quarter, effectively sealing the shutout.
In all, the Knights gained 328 yards rushing as a team (9.9 ypc) and had 364 yards of offense to Chilton’s 90 total yards. Prechel had 118 yards on just 10 carries (11.8 ypc).
“We ran the ball really well. We were physical up front, so hopefully we can keep that up next week,” Schuett said.
Defensively, the Knights had seven tackles for a loss, including three sacks. Twenty different Knights had at least one tackle in the game.
As the No. 1 seed on its side of the playoff bracket, New Glarus will host the Level 3 game against Saint Croix Falls (10-1). The Saints will have to travel for about five hours on the bus prior to the Friday, Nov. 6 game.
“It’s hard, but it’ll be huge for us,” Schuett said. “I understand what the WIAA is doing in the playoffs and they’re trying to get the best two teams at Camp Randall. But our last two opponents had to load up on a bus and drive 3 1/2 and 3 hours. Saint Croix Falls, they are going to have to come down more than 4 1/2 hours down here. That’s super hard to do, ride on a bus for four hours, get off the bus and then play a good football game.”
Saint Croix Falls closed out the regular season ranked sixth in the state in the Bound Wisconsin Football Coaches Poll, one spot below the Knights. The Saints run a balanced offensive attack, gaining 2,350 yards through the air this season, while rushing for another 2,016. Senior QB Brett Sladky has completed 67.4% of his 184 passes for the vast majority of the yardage (2,286), adding 35 touchdowns to just five interceptions to his resume. He also has one rushing touchdown this year.
Senior Micah Nwachukwu leads the team with 906 yards rushing and 13 TDs on just 105 carries (8.6 ypc). Senior wideout Drake Peterson is Sladky’s far and away top target, with 70 catches for 1,352 yards and 19 TDs, with the next closest player (Brock Sladky) hauling in 19 catches for 339 yards and four scores. Peterson also leads the Saints with five interceptions on defense.
Meanwhile, New Glarus is more of a run-heavy offense with just enough passing to keep defenses honest. The Knights have logged 2,286 rushing yards this season on 328 attempts (7.0 ypc), and another 1,397 yards through the air on 88 of 159 (55.3%) passing. Marty has done most of the work, including connecting on 17 TD passes, 1,113 yards and four INTs. Prechel leads the rushing attack with 745 yards and 18 touchdowns. Baer (491 yards, 5 TDs), Brent Weeden (402 yards, 3 TDs), and Roth (300 yards, two TDs) also run there fair share, while Marty occasionally pulls back an RPO for himself (5.0 ypc).
In the receiver corps, Sysko (21 catches, 522 yards, 8 TDs) is the main big play target, with Schmitt (23 catches, 333 yards, 4 TDs balancing out the attack.
Eight different defenders have intercepted a pass for New Glarus this season, led by Brock Weeden (4).
