Bay Port decks Pulaski in shutout win

PULASKI – The Bay Port football team didn’t bring any brooms or mops to Saputo Stadium Friday night.

However, the Pirates produced about as clean of a performance as you’ll see in a midseason matchup of unbeatens.

Bay Port decked Pulaski in recording an impressive 28-0 shutout in the Fox River Classic Conference game.

The Pirates (5-0) dominated all facets of the contest to clinch a WIAA playoff spot and extend their FRCC winning streak to 23 games.

Bay Port outgained the Red Raiders in yards of offense by a wide margin (421-188), held the football for 33 minutes, 11 seconds over the duration of the 48-minute game, forced two turnovers while giving up none and committed only three penalties.

“Defense was lights out,” Bay Port coach Gary Westerman said. “I don’t know that you can play any better than that really against that offense. I’m just really proud of our kids.”

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The Pirates set the tone for the game with a 13-play, 65-yard, which was capped with a 5-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Jake Plummer.

Plummer added a second rushing TD in the second half and finished with 60 rushing yards in addition to completing 11 of 13 passes for 122 yards, most of which came on quick tosses to senior Cody Lindquist on jet sweeps. Lindquist finished with nine receptions for 107 yards.

Junior Isaiah Gash did the heavy lifting for Bay Port on the ground, rushing for 193 yards on 33 carries with a pair of touchdowns.

Bay Port was 9-for-17 in converting on third downs to maintain control of the clock and keep Pulaski’s Single Wing offense on the sideline.

“They had an excellent game plan,” Pulaski coach Jerad Marsh said. “They bled us slow. They were better than us. They took their time and took time off the clock and didn’t allow our offense on. They executed it perfectly. They did a really nice job. That’s a good football team.”

The Red Raiders (4-1) had opportunities to swing momentum, but never could quite make big plays like they enjoyed the previous week in a 35-28 victory at Green Bay Notre Dame.

The defense had an opportunity to record a big stop in the first quarter when a punt pinned Bay Port at its own 7. A 41-yard run by Gash changed that quickly.

The Red Raiders’ moved to the Bay Port 15 at the end of the first half before being stopped on downs.

Pulaski was then stymied on the opening drive of the second half when Bay Port junior Logan Geissler made an interception, which led to Plummer’s second touchdown run that extended the Pirates’ lead to 21-0.

“Our kids didn’t cut loose on allowing anything deep,” Westerman said. “That’s huge because (Pulaski) will lull you to sleep and somebody gets behind you on something that’s wide open. We didn’t allow that.”

Pulaski senior Dylan Hendricks racked up 151 yards on 26 carries in going over 1,000 rushing yards on the season. However, it was the first time the North Dakota State recruit had been held out of the end zone in a FRCC game since last year against the Pirates.

“He’s a tough runner,” Geissler said. “I give him all the respect. He played a hard game, but our defense we got all 11 guys to the ball every play. I think that’s what brought us to the victory.”

Bay Port can take another big step towards securing a third straight conference title when it faces Green Bay Notre Dame next week. The Pirates will face unbeaten Green Bay Preble in the regular-season finale.

The Red Raiders will face De Pere next week and hosts unbeaten Preble on Oct. 5.

“You have to approach a loss no different than you approach a win and sometimes you can learn a little bit more from it,” Marsh said. “That’s where I’ll guys will take it. They’ll do a great job of bouncing back. It’s an excellent group of kids.”