G.B. Southwest shuts down Pulaski to advance
Green Bay Southwest co-head coach Tim Birr usually calls one of the more complex and sophisticated defenses you’ll see by a high school team.
That wasn’t the case Friday night.
Birr knew he had to keep things pretty simple in going up against the Single Wing offense of his alma mater.
“We weren’t fancy,” Birr said about facing Pulaski. “I called the same thing almost every play. There isn’t much you can do against them. I hardly used any of this stuff. I usually have a sheet of about 15 things plus a lot of different stunts. You can’t do that with those guys. I handed it to the players.”
They didn’t disappoint.
Southwest held the Red Raiders to 222 yards of offense in picking up a 27-17 victory in a WIAA Division 2 second-round playoff game at Dahlin Family Stadium.
“They were more physical than us up front,” Pulaski coach Jerad Marsh said. “They took the fight to us and did an excellent job. That was a well-prepared team. They beat us physically. We’ll watch film, and I’m sure we’ll find some breakdowns somewhere, but the tip of the hat goes to them.”
Follow PrepsAgenda.com on Facebook
The Trojans (10-1) will play at top-seeded Menomonie (11-0) next week in their first state quarterfinal appearance since 2012.
After letting Pulaski (6-5) take its first lead of the game early in the third quarter, Southwest rallied for the win Friday with a pair of touchdown passes by Nick Howard, who threw for 135 yards in addition to rushing for 62 yards and a touchdown.
The Trojans seemingly controlled the tempo and pace against the normally time-consuming and deflating run game of the Red Raiders, who were held to 170 rushing yards, well below their season average of 332 rushing yards per game.
Fox River Classic Conference co-offensive player of the year Dylan Hendricks totaled 104 yards on 22 carries, getting most of that on a 58-yard touchdown run in the second quarter for Pulaski.
Besides simplifying things on defense, Southwest also went with some unconventional methods on offense to extend its lead to 10 points.
Howard connected with senior Nathan Steinbrecker for a 28-yard touchdown for what was the final score of the game with 10 minutes, 36 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
Steinbrecker, a team captain, is known for making big plays. But the FRCC defensive player of the year wasn’t used to making that kind on the other side of the line of scrimmage.
“Nick was scrambling and I was like, ‘Oh God, don’t throw it to me. Don’t throw it to me,’” Steinbrecker said. “Then he threw it to me and, luckily, I made the catch and made a couple of moves and ended up in the end zone.”
Birr added, “He actually ran the wrong route. He ran to the wrong side, and he ended up scoring the touchdown.”
Southwest defeated Pulaski 27-17 in a WIAA Division 2 second-round playoff game on Oct. 27, 2017.
Posted by Preps Agenda on Saturday, October 28, 2017
Steinbrecker came up with an interception and returned it to the 6-yard line on the ensuing Pulaski possession, while sophomore Taejon Richard came up with a fumble recovery on the next one at the Red Raiders’ 19.
The Southwest defense capped the game with back-to-back quarterback pressures by the combination of junior Isaac Klarkowski and senior Josh Komis, who usually is just asked to rack up yards on offense but was added to the defensive line late in the game to help generate a pass rush.
Klarkowski, who is also the team’s center, was crucial in shutting down Pulaski’s run game.
“Isaac did a wonderful job at end,” Birr said. “We started noticing they were running their plays and cutting it in a little bit sooner than they normally were the last few games, so then we moved Isaac down and took care of that as well.”
Pulaski had opportunities to take control of the game.
Senior Kendall Karcz made interceptions on Southwest’s opening possession of each half. He returned the first for a touchdown, which was called back due to a block in the back.
His pick in the second half led to a Dustin Graf 19-yard touchdown seven plays later on fourth-and-2 to give the Red Raiders a 17-14 lead.
“Our guys’ goal has been to get in the playoffs and make a splash in the playoffs, and they’ve been able to do that the last two years,” Marsh said. “The seniors that are walking away have left a pretty good trail for the young guys to follow and a blueprint about how to be professional and go about your work and how to be good people. We just hope to keep building off of that.”
Southwest will attempt to avenge a second-round playoff loss to Menomonie from last year.
The Trojans, who beat Pulaski 21-20 in overtime on Aug. 17, have been just fine taking the unconventional road to get this far.
“These guys handle adversity like I’ve never had a team before,” Birr said. “It doesn’t seem like it fazes them. They continue to keep working and just overcome it. Then we finally got some momentum going.”
Pulaski 0 10 7 0 – 17
G.B. Southwest 0 14 6 7 – 27
Second quarter
SW – Nick Howard 15 run (Brian Dutkowski kick)
PUL – Dylan Hendricks 58 run (Alec Jonet kick)
SW – Kaleb Keener 17 run (Dutkowski kick)
PUL – Alec Jonet 31 field goal
Third quarter
PUL – Dustin Graf 19 run (Jonet kick)
SW – Will Pytleski 26 pass from Howard (Kick failed)
Fourth quarter
SW – Nathan Steinbrecker 28 pass from Howard (Dutkowski kick)
Individual statistics
Rushing – PUL: Dylan Hendricks 22-104, Dustin Graf 20-55, Alec Jonet 1-7, Brock Gracyalny 2-4; SW: Josh Komis 13-77, Nick Howard 12-62, Kaleb Keener 5-19, Noah Schmidt 2-2.
Passing – PUL: Dustin Graf 4-12-1-52; Dylan Hendricks 0-1-0-0; SW: Nick Howard 9-16-1-135; Josh Komis 0-1-0-0; Allen Bunker 0-1-0-0.
Receiving – PUL: Kendall Karcz 2-36, Brock Gracyalny 1-8, Alec Jonet 1-8; SW: Will Pytleski 3-52, Kaleb Keener 2-30, Nathan Steinbrecker 1-28, Josh Komis 1-13, Allen Bunker 2-12.