At the same time Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers were dismantling the Milwaukee Brewers to head to the World Series, the Wittenberg-Birnamwood football team was being dismantled as well.
The Chargers closed out the regular season Oct. 17 with a 56-28 loss to Amherst.
While a 5-1 loss to the Dodgers that same night ended the Brewers’ season, Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s season will continue, as the Chargers qualified for the WIAA playoffs with a 3-4 mark in the Central Wisconsin Conference-East and an overall record of 4-5.
Wittenberg-Birnamwood will hit the road for the first round of the playoffs, as the fifth-seeded Chargers will head to the Milwaukee area to face fourth-seeded Brookfield Academy in a Division 5 matchup at 7 p.m. Oct. 24.
It only took 12 seconds for the Chargers to trail the Falcons, as Wittenberg-Birnamwood fumbled the opening kickoff and Amherst took over at the 19-yard line. Ayden Nerdahl scored on Amherst’s first play, and the Falcons led 7-0.
The Falcons found the end zone four more times in the first quarter. Michael Glodowski scored on a 6-yard quarterback keeper, Nerdahl scored from 9 yards out after an interception by Sully Perkins, Nerdahl added a 21-yard run after another fumble and scored his fourth touchdown on a 17-yard run with 2 1/2 minutes left in the quarter.
The Chargers got on the scoreboard on their seventh drive of the game on Bo Davis’ 58-yard touchdown pass to Kaden Yeager with 7:30 remaining in the first half.
The Falcons answered on their next drive with Glodowski’s 34-yard pass to Callen Lusic.
Nerdahl scored his fifth touchdown – a 76-yard run – on Amherst’s first drive of the second half.
The Chargers cut into the Falcons’ 49-7 lead on their first drive with Davis and Yeager hooking up for a 10-yard pass.
The Falcons scored their final touchdown on their next drive on a 10-yard Glodowski pass to Tony Vaquera in the final minute of the third quarter.
Wittenberg-Birnamwood scored twice in the fourth quarter on an 86-yard run from Yaeger and a 22-yard run from Alberto Sanchez.
