Panthers can’t find answers to Badger attack

By Dan Truttschel~Sports Correspondent

All last week, the Wilmot football team prepared each day to try and stop the high-powered Badger offensive attack.

But faring well against a scout team in practice and duplicating that effort in the glare of the bright lights are two different things.

And the Panthers learned that lesson the hard way.

Badger scored on its first possession and took control in the fourth quarter en route to a 34-7 Southern Lakes Conference victory. The loss dropped the Panthers to 2-3 overall and 2-2 in the SLC, while Badger kept pace with unbeaten Waterford, both at 4-0 in conference play.

“Badger played an excellent defense against us for most of the game,” Wilmot coach Mike Greinke said. “They definitely deserve a lot of credit. They shut down a potent attack with pressure and man coverage.

“Our quarterback was under pressure quite a bit, (which) affected his play. We need to figure out how to overcome this and move forward. I’m confident that we will.”

Less than four minutes into the game, the Badgers took the lead on a 41-yard sprint up the middle by senior quarterback Peter Krien. Badger extended its lead to 13-0 three minutes later when Krien scored on an 87-yard touchdown run.

Those big plays took a little steam out of the Panthers, Greinke said.

“It always stinks to see the scheme you’ve been working on all week not work right away,” he said. “Part of (the problem was) the speed with which the Badgers play their veer offense.

“In five years of doing this now, we have not been able to replicate in practice the speed and the reads that their team runs.”

On the bright side, Greinke said he felt his team made the necessary adjustments to at least slow down the Badgers a bit.

“After those first three possessions and a few minor adjustments, our scheme started to work,” he said. “Our players stepped up and bounced back.”

Wilmot cut the deficit in half when quarterback Noah Strasser hit Erik Nevoso with a 27-yard touchdown pass with just 16 seconds left in the period.

“Nevoso was at tight end on the play, they had a safety rolled over him, and he bit a little on Noah’s play fake to Bennett (Kothe),” Greinke said. “Erik ran right past him. It was a great pass and a great catch.”

But that was all the offense the Panthers would muster the rest of the way.

Badger’s Robert Johnson, a bruising fullback, scored on a 31-yard run early in the second quarter to send the hosts to a 21-7 lead at halftime.

After a scoreless third quarter, the Badgers put the game away with a pair of touchdown runs by Matt Reynolds, first a 12-yard score at the 10:06 mark, followed by a 1-yard plunge with 2:08 remaining.

Greinke said he wasn’t pleased with several decisions by the officials in the second half, as his squad was flagged for unnecessary roughness for tackles on Krien.

Krien, who has mastered Badger coach Matt Hensler’s veer offense, kept the Panthers off balance with his ability to effectively carry out a fake handoff.

And Wilmot’s defense was coached to tackle Krien on every play – but the officials didn’t agree with that strategy.

“If a quarterback is carrying out a play fake, a defensive player has every right to tackle him,” Greinke said. “That’s football. The officials extended the Badger’s drives by throwing those flags.

“It was very disheartening and the reason they were able to pile on the next two touchdowns.”

 


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