Gillett’s defense produced four key turnovers and senior Monte Noffke rushed for four touchdowns Friday as the Tigers advanced to Level 2 of the WIAA Division 7 football playoffs with a 39-13 win over Wild Rose.
The Tigers will play at Almond-Bancroft (9-1, 4-1 Central Wisconsin Conference-10) Friday. The Eagles defeated Newman-Catholic 28-8 Friday.
Junior linebacker Mitch Umentum got the first, and perhaps most important, turnover of Gillett’s game Friday. Trailing 13-7, Wild Rose was driving in the closing seconds of the first half.
Faced with a fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line, Wild Rose sent junior running back Jeremy Lesniak up the middle. The ball popped out and Umentum recovered.
“I think the first half was an evenly played game, but I think the turnover right before halftime kind of hurt us and gave them momentum into the second half,” Wild Rose coach Tyler Caswell said.
A defensive play set the tone in the second half, as well. Senior lineman Kody Pawlak recovered a fumble to open the second half, and the Tigers were on their way.
Juniors Leeland Kahler and Alex Zeitler also contributed interceptions in the second half. Gillett controlled the ball for 30 minutes of the 48-minute game.
“We were playing way too much defense, we were on the defensive side too long,” Caswell said. “You got to remember for a small school, a lot of our players play both offense and defense.”
Noffke scored on runs of 30 yards in the second quarter, 56 in the third quarter, and 1 and 22 yards in the final period. He finished with 319 yards on 33 carries.
“That first touchdown was all him, wide open hole and he busted some tackles, and made some plays,” Gillett coach Rick Kamps said.
Noffke raised his season touchdown total to 31 and eclipsed 1,600 yards rushing.
“He is shifty, he is fast, he is low on the ground and he is everything you want in a running back,” Caswell said. “I think he was the fastest guy on both sides. He had a great game and good line blocking for him.”
Noffke remains humbled by his “special season,” as Kamps calls it, and will take the same attitude into the game at Almond-Bancroft.
“Not really thinking about it much. Just game by game, touchdown by touchdown,” Noffke said.
Zeitler, who completed four of six passes for 47 yards, connected with Matt Peterson for an 8-yard TD in the first quarter and on a 12-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-4 to close out the third quarter.
“He is the best quarterback in our league,” Kamp said. “I don’t care what the stats say. I don’t care who the other kids are. He is the best quarterback.”
Kamps said Zeitler called audibles several times at the line of scrimmage during the game.
Wild Rose (5-5, 3-2 CWC-10) also was able to run the ball effectively. Senior Marcus Kasuboski and Lesniak combined for 252 yards and both topped the 100-yard mark. Each also scored a TD.
The Tigers’ defense, however, held quarterback Ty Butzin to one completion on five attempts for 40 yards.
Gillett will face a more balanced attack this week.
Almond-Bancroft is led on the ground by senior Reegan Anderson, who has rushed for 853 yards, and through the air by Wyatt Richtmyre, who has thrown for 881 yards.
The Eagles’ only loss was to CWC-10 champion Rosholt, 38-26. They defeated Wild Rose, 28-20, in the regular season.
Gillett and Almond-Bancroft had one other common foe this year. Both hosted Tigerton/Marion. Gillett won 49-7; Almond-Bancroft won 35-6.
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