Bay Port runs past Pulaski
Bay Port’s offense is tough to stop.
It’s certainly not a unit you want to give second chances to in the rare instances when it does stall.
Pulaski made that mistake at the end of the first half Friday and never could fully recover to keep pace with the high-octane Pirates, who improved to 5-0 with a 48-27 victory in a Fox River Classic Conference game.
Bay Port extended its conference winning streak to 14 games with the win in addition to clinching a WIAA playoff berth for a 17th straight year.
The Pirates rushed for 294 yards and six touchdowns in beating the ground-and-pound Red Raiders at their own game in maintaining a six-minute advantage for time of possession.
“Their offense is hard to prepare for and it’s hard to defend,” Bay Port coach Gary Westerman said of Pulaski’s Single Wing. “With the flow of the game, we wanted to keep the ball as long as we could.”
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Bay Port definitely made the most of the extra time it received in the final minute of the first half.
Despite spotting the Pirates a 14-0 lead and throwing an interception that was returned to its 30-yard line, Pulaski was in position to go into halftime down only a touchdown and with the momentum after it had held the Pirates to a missed 28-yard field goal following the pick by Bay Port senior Carson Schroeder.
A defensive holding penalty on the field-goal attempt wiped that out.
The fourth-and-8 from the Red Raiders’ 11 became a fourth-and-1 as a result, warranting the explosive Bay Port offense to return to the field.
A play after Bay Port quarterback Isaac Krause rushed for a first down, fellow senior Jacob Calawerts drove into the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown to put the Pirates up 27-14 at the half.
“This is a big rivalry, so momentum is always huge,” Bay Port senior center Ben Rathburn said. “It was pretty even there and then we got the momentum and ran with it. That was a big play for us.”
The Red Raiders couldn’t catch up in the second half, which began with them losing a fumble on the first play from scrimmage on a low shotgun snap that was recovered by Bay Port senior Matt Barnard.
The Pirates promptly scored one play later with a 4-yard TD rush by Calawerts to extend the lead.
Calawerts, Krause and sophomore Isaiah Gash all finished game with two rushing touchdowns to lead Bay Port, which sealed the win with Barnard returning an interception 56 yards for a touchdown late in the contest.
Krause rushed for 144 yards in addition to throwing for 91 yards by completing 11 of 15 passes, most of which were short flicks to senior Cordell Tinch on jet sweeps.
Tinch finished with 75 receiving yards, while Gash (85) and Calawerts (56) combined for 141 rushing yards.
“I was real happy with the way we played on offense,” said Westerman, whose team is averaging 45.6 points per game. “We got stalled out once. We just didn’t make a couple plays and had one punt. That’s a pretty good outfit. We just gave up too many big plays on defense and that’s got to get corrected.”
Pulaski scored its first touchdown when senior Dustin Graf broke free for a 90-yard scoring scamper. It actually could have been the Red Raiders’ second touchdown had a penalty not wiped out a 91-yard scoring strike from Graf to junior Alec Jonet on their first drive of the game.
Graf threw for 97 yards and a touchdown in addition to rushing for 85 yards and two scores.
Junior Dylan Hendricks, who came into Friday leading the FRCC with 751 rushing yards, gained 108 yards on 19 carries.
Pulaski rushed for 258 yards in the contest, which saw senior center Mason Rasmussen have to exit in the first half with an injury.
“We had a young center go in, and he did a fine job, but those things happen,” Pulaski coach Jerad Marsh said.
“Our guys are pretty resilient. That conversation among themselves will continue to stay positive. They’ll continue to put themselves in position to win games.”
The Red Raiders’ three losses this season have come against the three unbeaten teams in the FRCC. They fell in overtime against Green Bay Southwest in the opener and lost on a field goal in the closing seconds against Green Bay Notre Dame last week.
Pulaski (2-3) will have to win at least two more games to become playoff eligible and win three of the remaining four games in the regular season to guarantee a return trip to the postseason.
Meanwhile, Bay Port faces Notre Dame and Southwest the next two weeks in games that will go a long way in determining if it can win a second straight FRCC title.
“Every week is big,” Westerman said. “You want to get the win and do what you’re supposed to do, but they’re a 5-0 football team and we’re a 5-0 football team, so we got to take care of business.”
Bay Port beat Pulaski 48-27 in a Fox River Classic Conference football game on Sept. 15, 2017.
Posted by on Saturday, September 16, 2017
Pulaski 7 7 6 7 – 27
Bay Port 14 13 14 7 – 48
First quarter
BP – Isaac Krause 10 run (Owen Miller kick)
BP – Krause 43 run (Miller kick)
PUL – Dustin Graf 90 run (Kendall Karcz kick)
Second quarter
PUL – Karcz 29 pass from Graf (Karcz kick)
BP – Isaiah Gash 40 run (Miller kick)
BP – Jacob Calawerts 2 run (Kick failed)
Third quarter
BP – Calawerts 4 run (Miller kick)
PUL – Lucas Graycyalny 3 run (Run failed)
BP – Gash 5 run (Miller kick)
Fourth quarter
PUL – Graf 4 run (Karcz kick)
BP – Matt Barnard 56 interception return (Miller kick)
Individual statistics
Rushing – PUL: Dylan Hendricks 19-108, Dustin Graf 11-85, Lucas Gracyalny 9-58, Alec Jonet 2-4, Brock Gracyalny 1-3; BP: Isaac Krause 17-144, Isaiah Gash 12-85, Jacob Calawerts 14-56, Elijah Gash 1-9.
Passing – PUL: Dustin Graf 5-16-2-97, Dylan Hendricks 0-1-0-0; BP: Isaac Krause 11-15-1-91.
Receiving – PUL: Kendall Karcz 2-79, Dylan Hendricks 1-13, Nathan Przybylski 1-5, Alec Jonet 1-0; BP: Cordell Tinch 9-75, Elijah Gash 1-9, Ben Giese 1-7.