Two-point conversion stop on final drive key to 30-29 victory
A famous saying used in most sports is, “It’s a game of inches.”
Although St. Clair-Loyola tested the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton football team’s defense on Friday, September 5, the Bulldogs passed. Despite allowing a touchdown on the Spartans’ last drive of the game, JWP stopped them from completing the two-point conversion, tackling them just short of the goal line, and JWP secured its first win of the season.
“We really just played the game the whole way through,” commented Head Coach Ryan Luedtke. “It was a great effort by the guys. They had a good week of practice with great energy, and they maintained that energy throughout the game. They worked through the adversity down late and came back.”
Since we cover both schools, we have two separate reports. This will be from JWP’s point of view. For St. Clair’s perspective, check out the next page.
JWP was first to strike in the first quarter. The two teams traded blows on defense on their first drives. St. Clair looked like it would get a drive going, but junior Parker Geariety decided that wasn’t happening as he got a sack on Spartan quarterback Sam Freitag.
It didn’t take long for the offense to get the first points of the game. In four plays, senior quarterback Daulton Bauer found his younger brother, Gavin, for a nice 79-yard passing touchdown. Daulton ran the ball in for the two-point conversion. St. Clair responded with a nice pass from Freitag to Austin Ward. Some quality running between Ward and Huntly Lentz led to the responding touchdown, with Freitag showing he could run it, too, on the two-point try.
JWP’s offense stalled slightly, as their drive between the end of the first and the beginning of the second ended up marred by a holding penalty that sent them back ten yards for 2nd and 20. After stymying the Bulldogs, the Spartans got their second touchdown of the game thanks to the Freitag-Ward connection through the air for a 21-yard touchdown, followed by Ward punching it in for two extra. It looked like JWP would tie it to end the half, but D. Bauer couldn’t quite connect with G. Bauer, leaving the score 16-8 St. Clair at halftime.
The second half featured a long drive by JWP, as they opted to run through the Spartan defense. Chase Gerdts got the six on the opening drive of the second half, but Daulton Bauer was stopped short of the goal line for the two they needed to tie the game.
It looked like the game was slipping from them, as the JWP defense started to falter and was unable to tackle St. Clair’s running backs. If it wasn’t Freitag taking the rock, it was either Austin Ward or Brevin Hansen punching it in. Ward got six, and instead of going for two, the Spartans opted for the extra point from Max Wilson to make it 23-14.
It looked like trouble on JWP’s next offensive drive, as they were forced back for a 4th and 2 situation at midfield. However, Bauer threw a dime to Chase Gerdts, and the running back did the rest. Gerdts took the ball for the two-point conversion only to be met by St. Clair’s tossing it to Daulton Bauer, who had open space to his left.
It not only shocked the home crowd, but also the players. The coaches joked that’s “just how they drew it up,” even Coach Luedtke. But he praised Gerdts’s quick thinking. “Chase understands the game and works so hard at it. He’s always a solid kid, making the heads-up play. And Daulton’s right there ready for anything thrown his way. It takes an athlete like him to take the edge and get those two points.”
Down only by a point, JWP just needed a stop on defense. The Spartans were very close to getting a touchdown as the clock wound down to 3:19. However, they were getting nervous. Freitag had the ball on fourth and goal on the five-yard line, attempting to run it in for a touchdown. But he fumbled, and sophomore Tyson Kronbach was there to grab it and run a few yards to give the Bulldogs more breathing room. The Bulldogs only needed two plays to score a touchdown as Bauer found receiver and fellow senior Caleb Quast for a 77-yard touchdown to take the lead. The two connected again for the two-point conversion.
It was once again up to the defense to hold on. But despite some good plays, St. Clair got the touchdown. The score was 30-29. They only needed one last play to take the lead with 58 seconds left. Freitag decided to put the game in his hands, running and trying to reach the end zone. But the duo of Gerdts and Gavin Bauer stopped him, Gerdts getting the first grab and Bauer stepping outside of the end zone to finish off the tackle.
The defense represented the true meaning of the phrase “bend but don’t break” on that final drive. “I’m super proud of them, because we haven’t always made those plays at the end of the game,” Luedtke said in praise. “We talk about the next play a lot, and they probably think it’s silly how much we talk about it. But the more time we spend worrying about the bad things, the more it takes away from living in the moment.”
It was a thrilling way to end the game for JWP and a gut punch to the Spartans, who put up a great fight and were even leading for much of the game. It was also the second straight victory for the Bulldogs against their neighboring rivals, following a string of wins by St. Clair against them in the past several years.
Statwise, D. Bauer was admittedly not as accurate, only completing 12 of 20 passes. But the ones he did complete were enormous gains for touchdowns, throwing for 287 yards for three touchdowns. He also had 21 yards rushing. Gerdts led the rushing attack, which only had 60 yards, as he contributed 36 of those yards and the lone rushing touchdown. Caleb Quast was the lead receiver, catching 7 of 9 passes for 129 yards and the game-winning touchdown. Gavin Bauer had 87 yards on two receptions and a touchdown, while Gerdts had 66 yards on two receptions and a touchdown.
Defensively, Gerdts was once again a leader with six tackles and seven assists. Aidan Rider also had six tackles, and Geariety contributed the lone sack and one of two solo tackles for a loss, senior Aiden Cummins with the second tackle for loss. Yale Johnson and Rylan Rolfson collaborated for a third tackle for loss.
The victory, the first of the season, put JWP at 1-1 overall. It was also the first to count toward the Section 2AA standings. They will face Blue Earth, who are also 1-1 and 1-0 in the section standings, in Janesville on Friday, September 12.
