Kewaunee overpowers Southern Door

BRUSSELS – The Kewaunee football team hasn’t won a conference title since 2010.

It took a big step towards ending that dry spell Friday night.

The Storm put together a dominating performance in beating Southern Door 41-12 in a MONLPC-Large game.

Kewaunee totaled 438 yards of offense and held Southern Door standout Derik LeCaptain in check to end the Eagles’ 20-game conference winning streak.

“It definitely feels good,” Kewaunee coach Randy Charles said. “But we know this is just another step on the journey. We just have to make sure we stay focused and keep this thing rolling.”

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After nearly getting upset by rival Algoma last week, the Storm played like a completely different team to stay unbeaten on the season.

It overcame an early 68-yard touchdown run by LeCaptain by countering with an impressive display of explosive plays of its own.

Junior Ryan Carmichael completed 7 of 12 passes for 139 yards and four touchdowns to four different receivers, including an amazing strike to senior McCoy Walechka, who palmed the pass with his right hand on the way to the 42-yard score to put the Storm up 20-6 in the second quarter.

“I actually had a drag,” McCoy said about the catch, which made ESPN’s SportsCenter Top 10 Plays Friday. “He rolled out, and I went up, and I just kept going and Ryan placed the ball perfectly.”

Walechka and junior Max Hanrahan recorded a team-high six tackles in helping to contain LeCaptain, who was held to under 100 rushing yards over the final three quarters of play in finishing with 156 rushing yards on 25 carries for the game.

Walechka recorded a fumble recovery to stifle the Eagles’ first drive of the game and nearly broke up Southern Door’s second touchdown that closed the gap to 20-12 before the half when the 6-foot defensive back forced a fumble at the goal line that was recovered by Southern Door junior Alan Malcore for the score.

“They did an excellent job,” Charles said about his defense. “We know (LeCaptain) is going to make plays. We told the guys that he’s going to make his big plays, but we can’t let that faze us. We have to battle through adversity. We saw a little bit of that early, but we fought through it.”

Kewaunee opened the second half with a 70-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage by junior Owen Kudick, who finished with a game-high 230 rushing yards and two scores on 21 carries.

An 8-yard fade to Hanrahan and a 62-yard out route taken down the left sideline by senior Wyatt Kruse from Carmichael capped the scoring for Kewaunee, which got its first score on a 10-yard fade caught by senior Alex Hewett on the first play of the second quarter.

“You’ve got to have guys make plays,” said Charles, whose team was 5-for-6 in converting on third down. “That’s what we had tonight. We had guys that stepped up and made plays.”

Seemingly the only thing that slowed down the Storm’s offense Friday was itself. Penalties hampered Kewaunee for the second straight week as it had two Carmichael touchdown passes in the first half wiped out by penalties.

In addition to his ground totals, LeCaptain finished with a game-high 11 tackles. The 6-foot-2, 225-pound senior also caught three passes for 30 yards and made a completion for 15 yards.

Southern Door senior Kyle Daoust completed 19 of 36 passes for 130 yards and made an interception on defense in the final minute of the first half.

The Eagles’ (2-2, 1-1) hopes of winning a share of a fourth straight conference will depend on whether it can run the table for the remainder of the season and get some help.

Kewaunee (4-0, 2-0) and Peshtigo (4-0, 2-0) are the last two unbeatens in the MONLPC-Large. The two will meet in Kewaunee in the regular-season finale on Oct. 12 with the outright conference title possibly being up for grabs.

“It has definitely been too long,” Charles said. “We’re itching to get back there, but we have to make sure we take it one step at a time.”

Kewaunee 0 20 21 0 – 41

Southern Door 6 6 0 0 – 12

First quarter

SD – Derik LeCaptain 68 run (Kick failed)

Second quarter

K – Alex Hewett 10 pass from Ryan Carmichael (Hewett kick)

K – Owen Kudick 36 run (Kick failed)

K – McCoy Walechka 42 pass from Carmichael (Hewett kick)

SD – Alan Malcore fumble recovery (Run failed)

Third quarter

K – Kudick 70 run (Hewett kick)

K – Max Hanrahan 8 pass from Carmichael (Hewett kick)

K – Wyatt Kruse 62 pass from Carmichael (Hewett kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – K: Kudick 21-230, Travis Reinke 7-60, Carmichael 1-9; SD: LeCaptain 25-156, Kyle Daoust 6-15, Nicholas Baudhuin 3-6.

Passing – K: Carmichael 7-12-1-139; SD: Daoust 19-36-0-130.

Receiving – K: Kruse 1-62, Walechka 2-54, Hewett 1-10, Hanrahan 1-8, Kudick 2-5; SD: Max Pierre 7-78, LeCaptain 3-30, Baudhuin 2-13, Malcore 2-12, Devin Schinktgen 1-8, Tyler Kroll 5-4.