Lakeside Lutheran Drowns NGM 52-21

Lakeside Lutheran, a private school from Lake Mills, WI, brought their triple-threat-option offense and Top 10 ranking to New Glarus Friday night. They did not leave disappointed. 93.7 “The Big FM” was there to cover what they hoped would be a competitive ball game. They saw an NGM team that plays hard, but in what has become a theme of sorts, was once again overwhelmed by a team of much more size, power, and depth. Welcome to the Capitol Conference.
The Warriors, who in both uniforms and style of play resemble Penn State, presented with one of the most massive and talented front lines these eyes have ever seen in high school football. Led by their senior Benjamin Buxa, a D-1 commit to North Dakota University, at 6’3’’ and 294 pounds he was not the biggest man in their line. With a ball control offense that even (or perhaps especially) Martin Luther himself would be proud of, they ground out 311 rushing yards on 37 carries and dominated the time of possession. Yet in total offense, it was Lakeside’s 426 yards to NGM’s 406, a stat that clearly does not show up in the score.
It was Senior Night, even though it was not the last home game. Honored were eight young men who have given, and continue to give, their all to the NGM football program: Ja’Kodey Strahm, Zuteus Blades, Dayne Righter, Max Parman, Emery Johnson, Jackson Eyler, A.C. Strok, and Ethan Friedrich.
The first quarter was played to a 0-0 draw, but not without some fireworks. Showing some vulnerability, Lakeside fumbled on their first two plays of the evening...with NGM recovering the second one. Exhibiting quad receivers left, NGM quarterback Max Marty directed the offense with passing precision all the way to the 6-yard line of the Warriors. Ethan Friedrich was everywhere on this drive with catches both long and short, each one accompanied by his signature crafty and elusive running style. (Friedrich would tally 11 receptions for 121 yards in the evening, both team highs). Junior running back Lawrence Vasquez showed strong running to add to the mix and keep this drive alive. Unfortunately the drive stalled short, and on fourth and one a field goal attempt sailed wide right.
In the second it was that vaunted offense of Lakeside that came alive under the direction of their talented senior quarterback Levi Birkholz and running backs Nathan Yaroch and Kayden Bou. An 80-yard drive, all runs, was capped off when Birkholz kept it himself and bolted the last 11 yards for their first score at the 9:29 mark. Yaroch would run one in at 3:00 to play, and later with only 1:02 in the half Birkholz would now airmail his team to within field goal range and take a 17-0 lead into the locker room (their kicker being true on all extra point and field goal attempts both in this quarter and for the entire contest).
The Warrior’s Bou scored quickly in the third, looking something like a pinball as he bounced off three tackles to make it a 24-0 game at 8:14. But NGM refused to go quietly into the night as once again with quad receivers stacked right (OMG I love this formation!) Marty found senior A.C. Strok on a solo crossing pattern from the left. Strok used some clever broken field running to take it to the house for an 85-yard touchdown! The 2-point conversion was good as Marty came right back to Strok. Score 24-8 at 5:56 in the third. (A.C. Strok came into the game as the conference leader in yards per reception. Guess where he stands now!)
From here on it quickly became the <i>Bou-Yaroch Show</i> as Lakeside’s massive line opened the way for scores at the 3:33 and 2:01 marks. With an NGM fumble on their own 20-yard line, and now with “blood in the water”, the Warriors added another score at 1:01 left in the third to make it 45-8 Lakeside Lutheran.
The NGM air attack came alive to start the fourth when Marty connected on strikes of 40 and 35 yards, then taking it in himself on a quarterback sneak. He would finish with 22 completions and 328 passing yards on the night. Freshman Ethan Seffrood’s PAT was good to bring the score to 45-15.
Lakeside came right back with another running touchdown, this one by their backup QB Kooper Mlsna. With the score now at 52-15, and the clock running uninterrupted, it was time for both teams to make wholesale lineup changes. NGM’s junior lineman Sam Perkins finished his evening with a team high 7 solo tackles and 7 team tackles. NGM freshman quarterback Grady Johnson came in and connected on his first varsity pass to sophomore Andrew Sarbacker, good for 18 yards. On the next play it was another freshman quarterback, Matt Roth connecting again with Sarbacker for 12 yards and his first varsity passing touchdown. Well done lads!
Final score: 52-21.
Life in the Capitol Conference does not get any easier. Next up is a trip to Lake Mills to face that other top tier team which also resides there. Must be something special in the water.
Game time is 7:00 p.m. See you at the game!