SPORTS

SPASH claims VFA-South title

Scott A. Williams
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

STEVENS POINT - An outright Valley Football Association-South Division championship was on the line late in the fourth quarter Friday night.

Stevens Point Area Senior High coach Pete McAdams pulled out a simple yet time-tested game plan to seal a win. McAdams put the game and the conference championship on the broad shoulders of Noah Stroik, Jacob Erdman and the rest of the interior line.

Stroik and his buddies took over the game. SPASH engineered a 16-play, 80-yard drive all on the ground that chewed 6:23 off the clock and was capped by Gus Turner-Zick's 2-yard burst into the end zone to give the Panthers a clinching 17-7 win over Hortonville at Community Stadium in Goerke Park.

A loss to the Polar Bears would have resulted in a three-way tie atop the standings with Hortonville, Fond du Lac and the Panthers, who weren't in a sharing mood.

"We were fired up waiting to get the ball back. We knew if we scored, we win. We came out and found a way to get it done," said Zdroik of the game-clinching drive. "(Winning conference) in my senior year is a big, big deal. No sharing."

SPASH (8-1, 7-1 VFA South) could only breathe a sigh of relief after putting together a drive for the ages.

Points and yards were tough to come by for both teams most of the night. That has been true for a lot of teams going up against the Panthers, who endured a one-week hiccup when Wisconsin Rapids erupted for 41 points on Sept. 23.

The Polar Bears managed to end a streak of 10 straight scoreless quarters by SPASH with a 14-play drive in the third quarter. Quarterback Charlie Schabo found Brock Young from seven yards out to not only put Hortonville on the scoreboard, but give the VFA-South leaders a lot to think about.

The 93-yard drive accounted for nearly half of the Polar Bears'' total for the game, however. Not a surprise according to their coach.

"We knew coming in they have the top defense in the league," Hortonville coach Tom Kolosso said. "You look at some of their numbers on defense and they've been outstanding all year. They have great players all over the field. Ultimately, we needed one or two more big plays."

Kolosso can thank his defense for keeping the game close.

SPASH had a chance to break the game open late in the opening half when an interception by Keon'te Williams and a blocked punt by Trent Hamerski set it up deep in Hortonville territory.

The Polar Bears forced a punt and a missed field and only trailed 10-0 at the break.

"To play like we did (in the first half) with two interceptions and blocked punt, I thought we were lucky at that point to be where we were," Kolosso said. "Our defense got some red zone stops. I was proud of them all night."

While hardly an offensive juggernaut, the Panthers were able to muster a couple scoring drives over the opening 24 minutes.

Joey Dorgan, Jr. delivered a 22-yard field goal to culminate the opening drive of the game. In addition, quarterback Beau Rosenthal connected with Jack Helfand on a 32-yard TD pass in the second quarter.

That was the extent of the offense until the game-deciding drive for SPASH.

"(The conference-winning drive) is more of a mindset for our kids. We pretty much were telling them, 'We're going to run the ball,'" Panthers coach Pete McAdams said. "You're going to get butterflies when it's a big game. Yet this was the most loose I've seen our team in pre-game all year long. They were energized in a positive way."

Now the Panthers can turn their attention to the WIAA playoffs.

But having the conference belt already in their possession feels awful good.

"This was a big goal, a big goal for us," Zdroik said. "We had a couple goals (tonight). Score first, we got that done tonight. Conference championship, we've been getting it done. I'm proud of the team so far. We persevered and were able to get it done."

Scott A. Williams can be reached at 715-345-2282, or by email at ssswilliam@stevenspoint.gannett.com. Find him on Twitter as @SPJScottWill

SPASH's Gus Turner-Zick holds up the football after scoring the game-clinching touchdown late in the fourth quarter Friday night. SPASH beat Hortonville 17-7 to clinch the Valley Football Association South Division championship.
SPASH senior Jack Helfand goes over Hortonville cornerback Braden Vallafskey to haul in a 32-yard touchdown in the second quarter Friday night.