G.B. Southwest’s magical run comes to an end
Nathan Steinbrecker would regularly go out for a midnight run to prepare for the season.
The Green Bay Southwest football team wouldn’t have made it this far without players willing to go the extra mile like that when nobody was watching.
The clock struck midnight on Southwest’s magical season Friday via a 35-14 loss against Waunakee in a WIAA Division 2 state semifinal game at Calder Stadium in Menasha.
But what a remarkable run it was for the Trojans this year.
“We put in a crazy amount of time,” Steinbrecker said. “It paid off. Now, it’s the juniors and sophomores time. But it was a fun ride, and I wouldn’t take any of it back.”
Southwest (11-2) set a program record for wins in reaching the state semifinals for the second time in school history.
Its squad of 38 players looked a bit out of place Friday during warmups when across the field was nearly 90 players suiting up for a traditional power in Waunakee (13-0), which advanced to state for the ninth time since 1999.
However, the Trojans never appeared outmanned when the whistle blew although they ultimately fell one step short of a coveted trip to Camp Randall Stadium.
Southwest was instead done in by missed opportunities and self-inflicted wounds, including a steady stream of flags and four turnovers.
The play that probably summed up the game the best came in the second quarter when senior Joe Statz had a would-be interception slip from his hands and go into the arms of Waunakee’s L.O. Johnson.
The bounces simply just didn’t go Southwest’s way on a cold and frigid night.
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“When you play a team like that, you just can’t make mistakes,” said Southwest co-head coach Tim Birr, whose team committed nine penalties for 75 yards. “We had too many mistakes.
“We were pretty physical. Going into the season, that was one of my concerns. I didn’t know if we were going to be physical enough, but these guys answered the bell. We were so close at times as far as sacking their quarterback. We were blitzing tonight probably more than we have been in the last two or three weeks. We were just trying to empty the kitchen sink on them and do whatever we could.”
Nate Carter threw for 183 yards and a touchdown, while Javian Dayne rushed for 156 yards on 27 carries and reached the end zone twice as the Warriors amassed 382 yards of offense in building a 35-0 lead by the end of the third quarter.
Seventeen of those 35 points came following turnovers. Waunakee’s longest play from scrimmage was 28-yard scoring strike from Carter to Josh Block in the second quarter.
Southwest fell to Waunakee in a WIAA Division 2 state semifinal game on Nov. 10, 2017 at Calder Stadium in Menasha.
Posted by Preps Agenda on Saturday, November 11, 2017
“We really did not give up the big play,” Southwest co-head coach Pat Wallace said. “They live on the big play. We tackled and got better as time went on. It’s hard for our team to understand how well they came together this year and played. We were in it. We just made a lot of mistakes on offense, and they capitalized. You can’t turnover the ball at this level and not have it hurt you and it did.
“When you have 38 guys suiting up on a Friday night at this level, and they come and they play their butts off and give you everything they got, all you can do is applaud them and thank them.”
Senior Kaleb Keener scored touchdowns on a 13-yard run and 33-yard reception from junior Nick Howard in the fourth quarter for Southwest, which accounted for 199 of its 222 yards of offense in the second half.
Howard threw for 105 yards in addition to adding 56 yards on the ground. Senior Josh Komis was limited to 34 rushing yards on eight carries as the Trojans dug an early hole and never could establish their ground game.
Statz made nine tackles, while Steinbrecker totaled 17, including three for losses, in the final game of his high school career.
“All these guys just played their hearts out and worked hard,” said Steinbrecker, who was one of 22 seniors on the team. “You can’t thank them enough for that.
“With the amount of guys that we had, the amount of effort we brought to this team was just phenomenal. This senior class is guys that I’ll be friends with for the rest of my life. To put Southwest back on the map, and represent Green Bay, you couldn’t ask for anything more from these guys. I’m going to miss them a lot.”
Waunakee 10 10 15 0 – 35
G.B. Southwest 0 0 0 14 – 14
First quarter
W – Michael Saxby 33 field goal
W – L.O. Johnson 7 run (Reese Marek kick)
Second quarter
W – Josh Block 28 pass from Nate Carter (Marek kick)
W – Marek 29 field goal
Third quarter
W – Javian Dayne 7 run (Marek kick)
W – Dayne 13 run (Olsen run)
Fourth quarter
SW – Kaleb Keener 13 run (Cam Czarnecki kick)
SW – Keener 33 pass from Howard (Brian Dutkowski kick)
Individual statistics
Rushing – W: Javian Dayne 27-156; SW: Nick Howard 6-65, Josh Komis 8-34, Kaleb Keener 2-19, Noah Schmidt 1-8.
Passing – W: Nate Carter 16-22-0-183; SW: Nick Howard 6-15-3-105.
Receiving – W: L.O. Johnson 5-51; SW: Kaleb Keener 4-63, Noah Schmidt 2-42.