Little Chute, Winneconne earn championship berths in D4 state football playoffs
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It’s the WIAA Division 4 state championship game the Fox Valley area has been waiting for since the playoff brackets were revealed in late October.
About 25 miles separate Little Chute from Winneconne and the two high schools will be facing each other in the D4 title game Thursday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m. at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.
Little Chute (12-1) held off Columbus, 35-25, in a semifinal in Kewaskum with Winneconne (13-0) routing Baldwin-Woodville, 28-8, in its semifinal game in Marshfield.
“(They’re excited) and we’re excited. I mean, the whole Valley’s excited to see something like that,” Winneconne co-coach Ryan Krings said about the matchup.
The two teams met in Week 1, with Winneconne getting a tight 14-6 victory at Little Chute.
Little Chute rides fast start to semifinal win over Columbus
The Mustangs left little doubt against Columbus, jumping out to a 22-0 lead on the strength of three early touchdown runs by junior running back Reece Joten.
“He’s a special player, that’s for sure,” Little Chute coach Mark Krommenacker said. “I mean, he’s one of the best players I’ve coached. The speed that he shows. I mean, just a junior, but he just takes advantage of those holes. Again, the offensive line creates a couple holes and a couple lanes and he makes very good cuts and just really reads those blocks well.”
Joten had touchdown runs of 62 yards and 86 yards in the first quarter, then added a 16-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter to give the Mustangs a 22-0 lead.
“All I saw was green turf,” Joten said. “I mean, my blockers do everything for me. I can’t take credit for it. I didn’t get touched, I don’t think, for another 15 or 20 yards downfield, so I can’t take any credit for that.”
Tyler Hietpas scored on a 7-yard run with 31.8 seconds remaining in the first half to give the Mustangs a 29-7 halftime lead. Trevor Verhagen added an 8-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
The Cardinals pulled within 35-25 with 8:10 remaining in the game, but the Mustangs held on and sealed the win when quarterback Jaden Hermsen converted on a fourth-and-2 with 2:48 remaining with a 4-yard run up the middle.
Up next is a rematch of the season opener against Winneconne. The Mustangs have come a long way since that game Aug. 22, which was the first for Krommenacker as head coach of the Mustangs.
“We know what we’re up against,” Krommenacker said. “We played them Week 1 and Week 1 was before we really even knew what we were doing yet. Had a lot of new stuff going in and lost out on a lot of opportunities. But, man, they are a really good team so we got our work cut out for us. But I think there’s no surprises of what we like to do, and so we’re going to have to come up with a really good game plan against those guys.”
Little Chute is headed to its second state championship game and is seeking its first title. The Mustangs played Somerset in the Division 4 title game in 2014, losing 28-16.
Schaffer sparks Winneconne victory over Baldwin-Woodville
The same ingredients that have made Winneconne successful this season are the same ones that propelled the Wolves to the brink of a state championship.
The Wolves used the athletic wizardry of Brody Schaffer, a staunch, opportunistic defense and a physical mindset to upend Baldwin-Woodville in the semifinal matchup in Marshfield.
The Wolves got a measure of revenge against the Blackhawks, who defeated Winneconne in a D4 state semifinal last season, 40-16.
This year’s matchup couldn’t have been more different, with the Wolves setting tempo with their defense. The Wolves held Baldwin-Woodville out of the end zone until late in the fourth quarter when the game was well in hand.
“This was an awesome game and I’m very proud of my big boys up front,” senior offensive/defensive lineman Hudson Samolinski said. “One of our concerns from our coaches was handling their run because they’re a very run-dominant team. And in the first half we really set the tone with multiple three-and-outs.”
Samolinski joined Jesse Michaud, Ethan Duel and Karter Hawthorne as key defenders making big plays.
Winneconne went up 14-0 in the second quarter on Schaffer’s arm. The Iowa commit tossed touchdown passes of 5 and 16 yards to Ryan Quigley and Jordan Nettekovan, respectively. Schaffer, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound senior quarterback/defensive back, also had a 15-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.
He then sealed the game with an incredible weaving 78-yard interception return for a touchdown that squelched any thought of a comeback from the Blackhawks (12-1).
Schaffer finished with 61 yards on 17 carries and was also 9-for-16 passing for 122 yards.
“It was a team effort,” Schaffer said. “We all had a chip on our shoulder since last year at this time. We took a full year to get that bad taste out of our mouth but we’re really excited that we did that and now we get to face off against the same team that we did in Week 1, which is pretty cool.”
Winneconne is making its second trip to the state finals. The Wolves won the D4 state championship in 2013 with a 28-14 victory over Platteville.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Little Chute, Winneconne grab WIAA high school football semifinal wins
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