Week 3: Five things we learned
Three weeks of the high school football season are now officially in the books. Most everyone in the area has begun conference play and the area picture is coming a little better into focus.
Questions still surrounded a number of unbeaten teams through two weeks, including Stevens Point Area Senior High, Wisconsin Rapids and Spencer/Columbus Catholic.
SPASH (3-0) and the Raiders (3-0) picked up resounding wins in their official Valley Football Association South Division openers. The Panthers took down state-ranked Fond du Lac 45-14, while Rapids overcame an early 19-14 deficit to blow out Oshkosh West 55-32.
Meanwhile, Spencer/Columbus Catholic received a reality check from perennial state powerhouse Stanley-Boyd in a 33-14 setback after the Rockets posted a pair of lopsided victories to open the season. The Orioles also own a convincing win over Stratford this season.
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Athens also was brought back down to earth after a 2-0 start in a 35-0 CloverWood Conference whitewashing by Assumption, which bounced back from a tough 21-20 loss to Abbotsford a week earlier in impressive fashion.
1. Looking legit: Following wins over Wausau West and Wausau East to open the season, there was still some mystery surrounding SPASH and just how good the Panthers really are. If its 45-14 beat down of defending VFA-South champion Fond du Lac is any indication, SPASH eliminated any doubts and has a chance to be really good. Senior quarterback Beau Rosenthal threw for 162 yards and three touchdowns. Meanwhile, Gus Turner Zick and Colton Kizewski combined for 171 yards and a pair of scores on the ground. More importantly, the Panthers shut down a Fond du Lac offense averaging 28 points a game to seven points until a meaningless TD with 11 seconds left.
2. Star power: Every week a handful of individuals grab the spotlight with outstanding individual performances and Iola-Scandinavia's Jayden Sivertson, a senior quarterback, and Benjamin Olson of Wisconsin Rapids, did just that. Sivertson accounted for 224 yards of total offense with four rushing touchdowns in the Thunderbirds' 45-7 pounding of Wittenberg-Birnamwood. Olson did him one better by contributing five touchdowns to the winning cause for the Raiders. Olson, who finished with more than 250 yards through the air, had TD passes of 30, 63, 60 and 91 yards. He also ran for a score. Assumption's Zack Krings spent a lot of time in the end zone as well accounting for four touchdowns, including three in the first half.
3. Defense states case: Scoring points has been next to impossible against Edgar this season and Phillips became the latest to find the going extremely tough against the Wildcats, joining Pittsville and Auburndale in that regard. The Loggers became the first team to score against Edgar, which has outscored three opponents 147-6, with a late TD against reserves deep from the Wildcats bench during a 62-6 drubbing of Phillips. Things should get a lot tougher next week when Edgar (3-0) and Stratford (2-1), a 62-7 winner over Tomahawk, renew their annual rivalry Friday in Edgar.
4. Entering the win column: It was a rough first couple of weeks for several area teams who were still in search of their first victories heading into the third week of action. Among the first-time winners this week were Nekoosa, which earned a 34-14 nonconference home win over Cambridge after coming out on the short end to Onalaska and River Valley. Mosinee found life in the Great Northern Conference more to their liking with a 27-7 win over Rhinelander to give first-year coach Craig Martens his first 'W' at the helm. The opening of GNC play also suited Merrill well as the Bluejays grabbed their first win with a 30-14 verdict over Lakeland after suffering losses to Superior and Chippewa Falls to start the season. Wausau West also tasted victory for the first time, holding off D.C. Everest 17-12.
5. Bluejays hurt by injury bug: Merrill claimed its first win of the season against Lakeland but may have suffered a bigger loss moving forward. Senior running back/linebacker Jake Collinsworth, who has committed to the University of Wisconsin, went down in the third quarter with what Bluejays coach Dominic Sturm referred to as a "pretty serious" knee injury in his postgame radio interview. The injury came one drive after Collinsworth scored on a 45-yard touchdown run. If Collinsworth is forced to miss an extended amount of time, it could severely hamper any hopes Merrill has to earn a playoff spot.
Scott A. Williams can be reached at 715-345-2282, or by email at ssswilliam@stevenspoint.gannett.com. Find him on Twitter as @SPJScottWill
