Defense has been the bread and butter of the Lena/STAA football team this season.
Turns out the Titans’ offense is pretty good as well.
Lena/STAA opened the WIAA 8-player playoffs Oct. 18 with a 51-6 win over Princeton/Green Lake.
Meanwhile, Marion/Tigerton advanced to the second round with a 20-16 win over Alma Center Lincoln in Marion, and Suring saw its season end with a 40-14 road loss to Sevastopol.
Lena/STAA 51, Princeton/Green Lake 6
The Titans lived up to their No. 1 seed with a convincing win over the Tigersharks to improve to 9-0 on the season.
The game’s outcome wasn’t in doubt after the first quarter when the Titans scored on their first four possessions and added an interception return for another touchdown to take a 37-0 lead.
Sam Peterson scored on a 70-yard touchdown run the first play of the game, and the Titans had a 6-0 lead 20 seconds into the game.
Max Peterson ended Princeton/Green Lake’s first drive by recovering a fumble to set the Titans up at the Tigershark 33-yard line. Jake Farley capped the drive with a 15-yard quarterback keeper less than two minutes into the game.
Max Peterson returned Jamison Luepke’s pass 50 yards for the Titans’ third touchdown, but Lena/STAA was just getting started.
A second fumble on the first play of the Tigersharks’ next drive gave the Titans the ball at the Princeton/Green Lake 21-yard line, but Colton Shurpit picked off Farley’s pass.
The Tigersharks punted after a three-and-out, and the Titans took over at the Princeton/Green Lake 27-yard line after a long punt return. Sam Peterson’s 8-yard run and Max Peterson’s two-point conversion run gave the Titans a 30-0 lead with just under five minutes left in the first quarter.
The Titans soon had the ball again after another three-and-out and scored on Max Peterson’s 5-yard run with 2:14 left in the opening quarter.
Those five touchdowns resulted in a running clock at the start of the second quarter, which limited the Titans’ possessions for the rest of the game.
Farley’s 34-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter gave the Titans a 44-0 lead.
Carson Joyce’s fumble led to the Tigersharks’ only score late in the first half, as Jamison Luepke connected with Lewis Lofgren for a 21-yard pass with 1:02 remaining in the first half.
Lena/STAA’s only score of the second half came on its opening drive, as Joyce’s 56-yard run set the Titans up at the 4-yard line before wrapping up the 60-yard drive with a 4-yard run.
Dale Lange, who coaches the Titans with Ed Huberty, said anything can happen in a playoff game, especially against an unfamiliar opponent and playing on a Saturday afternoon instead of Friday night.
“We came out tough and that’s what we have to do,” Lange said. “We have to set the pace of the game from the first get-go. From the first kickoff to the last play of the game, we told them everything has to be 110%. We did do that.”
The Titans’ defense has recorded five shutouts in its nine games, including three to start the season, and held the Tigersharks to fewer than 50 total yards of offense.
“Our offense is pretty good, too,” Lange said. “I think we’re at 400-some points on offense and 38 on defense. We are pretty solid, but we have to clean up all these fumbles and miscues for next week, or we’ll be going home.”
Farley left the game in the second quarter but isn’t hurt, Lange said.
He had 49 rushing yards to go with his two touchdowns, while Max Peterson and Joyce added 76 and 60 yards on the ground, respectively.
The Titans advanced to last year’s 8-player state championship game but fell to Owen-Withee 50-36.
Playoff experience gives the Titans an advantage over other teams, according to Lange.
“It’s huge,” he said. “If we go all the way this year, that’s five more weeks and that’s almost another season.”
Last year’s loss to the Blackhawks in the championship game didn’t leave a bad taste in the team’s mouth, Lange said.
“I’m not taking anything away from Owen-Withee,” he said. “That was one tough team.”
The Titans’ closest game this season was a 44-20 win over Sevastopol in the fourth week of the season and Lange said the team’s goal is to win the program’s first state title.
“We’re playing together as a team,” he said. “That’s been the success. We have St. Thomas kids and Lena kids. The last two years, the quarterbacks came from St. Thomas and the linemen come from St. Thomas. It’s a team sport.”
Marion/Tigerton 20, Alma Center Lincoln 16
The second-seeded Thundercatz trailed 8-6 heading into the fourth quarter but came up with two touchdowns over the final 12 minutes to down the seventh-seeded Hornets.
Sevastopol 40, Suring 14
Suring took a 14-0 lead with a pair of touchdowns in the first half but never found the end zone again in a game featuring two Across the Bay Conference teams.
The sixth-seeded Eagles traveled to Door County to face the third-seeded Pioneers, who defeated Suring the regular season.
Suring opened the scoring with Taylor Booth-Stoffregan’s 38-yard pass to Daye Ermis before Dyllan Flynn added to the Eagles’ lead with a 59-yard run.
Sevastopol answered with a pair of touchdowns before halftime. Logan Schuh scored on a 63-yard quarterback keeper and Cash Kuehn added a 10-yard run. The Pioneers converted a pair of two-point conversions after both scores and led 16-14 at halftime.
The Pioneers added to their lead with 24 unanswered points in the second half.
Schuh and Chase Haberli had rushing touchdowns in the third quarter before Schuh wrapped up the scoring in the fourth quarter with a 15-yard pass to Reid Kacmarynski.
Upcoming games
Oct. 24 (all games 7 p.m.): WIAA 8-player Level 2 playoffs: No. 4 Athens at No. 1 Lena/STAA; No. 3 Sevastopol at No. 2 Marion/Tigerton.
