Now that the nonconference schedule is in the books, it’s time for the Pulaski football team to get down to business in the Fox River Classic Conference-North.
The Red Raiders improved to 2-0 Aug. 28 with a 21-16 road win over Hortonville and will open FRCC-North play Sept. 4 at home against another 2-0 team, Bay Port, last year’s runner-up in the WIAA Division 1 state championship game.
Facing one of the state’s top Division 1 programs on the road is exactly how Pulaski coach Jerad Marsh wants to kick off his team’s seven-game conference schedule.
“We don’t have a choice,” he said. “Bay Port’s awfully good. We absolutely want to go against good teams like that early. It shows what you can get better at, it shows what you’re good at. There is no issue with that at all.”
Besides Pulaski and Bay Port, the FRCC also includes defending Division 2 state champion West De Pere, Green Bay Preble, Green Bay Southwest, Ashwaubenon, De Pere and Appleton West.
All three of Pulaski’s touchdowns against Hortonville came on the ground as the Red Raiders finished with 212 rushing yards, including Bohdan Schmidt’s 119 yards on 20 carries and 65 yards from Anthony Ficarri.
“Our offense really relies on communication and making sure the line knows what they’re doing,” Marsh said. “They just simply worked through some of the things they were seeing in the first half. Our backs really picked up some of the blocking they needed. It’s such a fine line from being successful to not being successful against a well-coached team with excellent athletes like Hortonville. The guys were able to make that adjustment and we were able to find some success.”
Neither team scored in the first quarter and Pulaski opened the scoring less than two minutes into the second quarter, as Anthony Ficarri capped a 63-yard drive with a 3-yard run.
Hortonville found the end zone on its third drive with A.J. Pheifer’s 31-yard pass to Greyson Rankin with 2:39 remaining in the first half, but Solomon Behnke’s extra point attempt bounced off of the crossbar and the Polar Bears trailed 7-6.
A three-and-out for Pulaski gave the Polar Bears another opportunity to score.
Another of Pfeifer’s passes to Rankin with just under a minute to play set the Polar Bears up at the Pulaski 3-yard line, but an offensive pass interference penalty on the next play backed Hortonville up 15 yards and the Polar Bears had to settle for Behnke’s 33-yard field goal that gave the home team a 9-7 halftime lead.
Keeping the Polar Bears out of the end zone on that drive turned out to be big for Pulaski, according to Marsh.
“Our goal is always to keep them out of the end zone,” he said. “The thing I’m the most proud of is we had a long ball, but we had pursuit, we ran him down, we got him down before the end zone and then anything can happen. Some good things happened for us there.”
After forcing Hortonville to turn the ball over on downs to start the second half, Pulaski drove 71 yards to retake the lead at 14-9 on Ficarri’s 24-yard run with 5:34 left in the third quarter.
Schmidt’s long punt return for a touchdown was called back because of a holding penalty late in the third quarter and Pulaski’s next two drives ended with a punt.
Garrett Lom set up Pulaski’s final touchdown, as his interception of a Pfeifer pass gave the Red Raiders the ball at the Hortonville 31-yard line with just over two minutes left in the game. Schmidt ended the drive with a 12-yard touchdown run with 1:33 remaining and Pulaski had a 21-9 lead.
Hortonville wasn’t finished, however, as the Polar Bears drove 71 yards and Pfeifer connected with Evan Hooks for a 29-yard touchdown pass with 12.5 seconds to go that cut the lead to 21-16.
The Polar Bears attempted an onside kick, but Ficarri recovered the ball and Pulaski was able to run out the clock.
The Polar Bears had several pass plays of more than 20 yards, but Marsh said he isn’t concerned about his team’s pass defense.
“Not at all,” he said. “Every game’s a great learning experience. We’ve got some guys where it’s their first or second varsity football game. You get used to the speed of it, you get used to the adjustments. The corner bit on a post on the last (touchdown), but what a great learning opportunity for a young guy. It doesn’t ultimately end up hurting us in the ballgame, but you can’t replicate that in practice.”
Marsh said he learned a lot about his team in its first two games that also included a 47-6 win over Appleton East in the opener.
“They’re a really fun group to coach,” he said. “They don’t hang their heads, they’re constantly being positive with each other. They want to perfect their craft and they want to do well for each other, for the people in the stands and for the community.”
seubert4@gmail.com
