Coming off a two-game winning streak, the Menominee Indian High School football team took a step backward Saturday in a loss to Laona/Wabeno in Keshena.
Menominee Indian (2-4, 1-2 Northern Lakes) lost to Laona/Wabeno (3-2, 3-1 Northern Lakes) 22-6.
“We just came out flat,” Menominee Indian coach Chris Clache said. “That was not the same team that played the last two weeks.”
The Eagles struggled on offense the entire game, but the defense played well before giving up two second-half TDs.
Menominee Indian’s only scoring drive went 71 yards, ending with a 36-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Dallas Madosh to junior receiver Michael Pecore down the right sideline with just over a minute left in the half. Pecore had a couple of his eight catches for the day on that drive and finished the game with 101 yards receiving.
The score cut Laona/Wabeno’s lead to 8-6, but Menominee Indian’s two-point try was unsuccessful when Madosh was tackled short of the end zone.
The Rebels took the lead early in the second quarter after the Eagles fumbled away a snap at their own 38-yard line. Laona/Wabeno’s Austin Andrews found Ryan Bauer for a 10-yard touchdown pass.
Brauer, a 5-foot-6, 145-pound sophomore, would add a 15-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and a 66-yard touchdown run in the fourth to cap the scoring.
“It was just mental mistakes,” Clache said of the loss. “It was stuff we haven’t done all year, really. Let alone the last two weeks.”
Even when things went the Eagles’ way, mistakes were costly.
A second quarter Laona/Wabeno drive appeared to stall when Clint Gauthier picked off Andrews on fourth-and-11, but a well-timed hit by a Laona/Wabeno player knocked the ball loose and the Rebels came up with the possession and a new set of downs.
Madosh also threw two picks in an otherwise solid game. He completed 13 for 24 passes for 189 yards and rushed 10 times for 59 yards.
The Menominee Indian offense also lost two fumbles.
The Menominee Indian defense was active and disruptive in the game, snagging an interception, forcing a fumble and recording four sacks, including two by Forrest Webster, a 5-foot-9, 160-pound junior linebacker. Warren Miller and James Pecore also had a sack each.
James Pecore, a 5-foot-11, 188-pound senior middle linebacker who leads the team in tackles and had nine Saturday, had to be taken from the game by ambulance after an injury in the third quarter.
“I’m hoping he’ll be all right,” Clache said. “It was pretty scary. I know we were all worried about it.”
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