LeCaptain carries Southern Door to another close win
The Southern Door football team has been walking a tightrope this season.
It has been quite a show to watch.
“You come watch a Southern Door game you’re getting your $4 worth,” Southern Door coach Pat McCarty said. “This was another one right down to the wire.”
The Eagles came away with a 28-27 victory at Kewaunee Friday in a thrilling MONLPC-Large game.
It marked the fourth time in as many weeks that Southern Door (3-1, 2-0) found itself in a one-score contest in the end and the second consecutive week it pulled out a one-point win. Its four games this year have been decided by a combined 11 points.
Friday’s victory against the Storm, coupled with a 34-33 overtime win against Oconto from the previous week, puts the Eagles in the driver’s seat to winning a third straight conference title.
“It’s really big because we just beat two elite teams, but we can’t sleep on any of those other teams,” Southern Door junior Derik LeCaptain said. “We have a target on our back as two-time defending champs, so we have to come to play every single game.”
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That target falls mostly on the back of LeCaptain, who accounted for all four of the Eagles’ touchdowns, scored the game’s deciding points on a two-point conversion run and sealed the win by intercepting a pass on a two-point conversion attempt after Kewaunee (3-1, 1-1) scored with 37 seconds remaining.
The Storm’s touchdown in the final minute was a response to a 79-yard touchdown catch by LeCaptain on a one-play drive, which was an answer to Kewaunee taking its first lead in the second half on the previous possession with a 1-yard TD run by senior Michael Barribeau on a fourth-and-goal with 1 minute, 51 seconds remaining.
“He’s their playmaker,” Kewaunee coach Randy Charles said of LeCaptain. “You know the ball is going to be in his hands, and we couldn’t stop him tonight.”
LeCaptain seemingly did everything for Southern Door but drive the bus back to Brussels on Friday, including scoring touchdowns on a run, a reception and an interception return in the first half to give the Eagles a 20-7 lead.
However, the Storm actually did a solid job of shutting down the 6-foot-2, 215-pounder on the ground, limiting LeCaptain to a season-low 44 yards on 21 carries.
Southern Door built its big lead at the break thanks to forcing three turnovers in the first half. It opened the second half with senior Andrew Montana making the squad’s third interception of Kewaunee senior quarterback Cody Bultman.
The Eagles, meanwhile, committed only one turnover in the game to extend their conference winning streak to 15 games.
Bultman showed tremendous moxie in shaking off the early mistakes to lead the Storm on three touchdown drives in the fourth quarter, including throwing a 22-yard TD strike to senior Michael Halada to make it a one-point game with 37 seconds remaining.
Bultman ran for a first down and found senior Andrew Richard to convert on another third down earlier in the possession. He completed 16-of-27 passes for 243 yards with two touchdown passes, including a 25-yard toss to Richard to start the scoring in the first quarter.
Bultman was unable to make the connection with Richard again on Kewaunee’s two-point attempt at the end of the game as Southern Door stayed home with its coverage on the play-action rollout.
Despite the loss, the Storm’s response in the end is a positive sign for a squad that was playing in its first close game after outscoring opponents 119-20 in its three wins to start the season.
“They definitely battled back,” said Charles, whose team had a 347-220 edge in yards of offense. “That’s something we can definitely take away from this and be proud of. We battled, but you can’t put yourself in that position to begin with.”
Kewaunee plays at Oconto next week. The winner of that game will still have an outside chance of sharing a conference title should Southern Door get knocked off down the stretch.
But the Eagles certainly look like they’ll be tough to slow down.
“I just put my head down and went,” LeCaptain said about cramping up during his 79-yard touchdown reception late in the game. “Pain is temporary. You can play through it.
“Last year, we didn’t have a lot of games like this. So, this is kind of like our first experience having to play in these late, real tight games and get the job done.”
Southern Door beat Kewaunee 28-27 on Sept. 8, 2017.
Posted by Preps Agenda on Saturday, September 9, 2017
Southern Door 7 13 0 8 – 28
Kewaunee 7 0 0 20 – 27
First quarter
K – Andrew Richard 25 pass from Cody Bultman (Alex Hewett kick)
SD – Derik LeCaptain 1 run (Kick)
Second quarter
SD – LeCaptain 28 pass from Kyle Daoust (Kick)
SD – LeCaptain 30 interception return (Kick failed)
Fourth quarter
K – Travis Reinke 1 run (Hewett kick)
K – Michael Barribeau 1 run (Hewett kick)
SD – LeCaptain 79 pass from Daoust (LeCaptain run)
K – Michael Halada 22 pass from Bultman (Pass failed)
Individual statistics
Rushing – SD: Derik LeCaptain 21-44, Adam Gutschow 3-7, Andrew Montana 1-5, Kyle Daoust 4- -9; K: Michael Barribeau 13-44, Lincoln Barta 7-28, Owen Kudick 4-16, Cody Bultman 12-12, Wyatt Kruse 1-3, Travis Reinke 1-1.
Passing – SD: Kyle Daoust 11-17-0-173; K: Cody Bultman 16-27-3-243.
Receiving – SD: Derik LeCaptain 4-116, Andrew Montana 3-24, Alex Daoust 1-15, Sam Gerend 2-13, Nicholas Baudhuin 1-5; K: Andrew Richard 5-105, Michael Halada 6-80, McCoy Walechka 1-32, Cam Hanrahan 3-26, Michael Barribeau 1-0.