Spartans rally past Chippewa Falls
Superior keeps playoffs hopes alive with 14-6 victoryBy: Ken Olson, Superior Telegram
- Superior Football
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Thursday night’s football game between the Superior High School Spartans and Chippewa Falls Cardinals was a tale of two halves.
After being dominated in the opening 24 minutes and trailing 6-0 at halftime, the Spartans turned things around in the second half, rallying for a 14-6 victory before a large crowd at Ole Haugsrud Field.
The win improves Superior to 3-4 overall and 3-2 in the Big Rivers Conference. More importantly, the win keeps the Spartans’ playoff hopes alive. With two games remaining against River Falls (2-4, 0-4) and Eau Claire North (1-5, 1-3), Superior needs to win just one of them to qualify for the playoffs for the third straight season.
Chippewa Falls took the opening kick and marched deep into Spartan territory. But, one play after gaining 12 yards on a fourth-down play, defensive end Jordan Butera recovered a Cardinals’ fumble at the 20-yard line.
After a Superior punt, Chippewa Falls took the ball deep inside Spartan territory again and took a 6-0 lead as Brad Huempfner scored his 13th touchdown of the season from 4 yards out. The kick was blocked with 2:45 left in the first quarter.
Superior followed that up by driving to the Cardinals’ 12. But that was as far as the Spartans got as an incomplete pass on fourth down gave the ball back to Chippewa Falls.
The Cardinals again moved the ball deep into Spartan territory, but once again failed to score as Superior stopped Chippewa Falls on a fourth-down play at the 17-yard line with 1:15 left in the half.
After running out the remainder of the first half, Superior kicked off to start the second half.
The Spartans caught a break when David Zastrow’s kick was fumbled and senior Rafael Ramirez, a 5-foot-10 lineman, recovered the ball at the 43-yard line.
Long runs by Kellen McCoshen, Dan Quade, AJ Soland and Zach Erickson gave the Spartans a first-down-and-goal at the 2-yard line. After losing a yard on first down, Erickson dove into the end zone with 7:21 left in the third quarter. Zastrow’s extra-point kick gave Superior a 7-0 lead.
Superior’s defense had its best series of the game, forcing Chippewa Falls to punt for the first time late in the third quarter.
The Spartans found themselves in scoring position again when Zach Colvin returned the punt to the 48-yard line and Quade scrambled for 17 more yards on first down.
A couple of plays later Superior took a 14-6 lead with 1:41 left in the third quarter as Colvin busted up the middle untouched for a 13-yard touchdown and Zastrow kicked the extra point.
After each team punted, Superior’s Jake Turkowski intercepted a pass give the Spartans the ball at their own 35 with nine minute remaining.
Superior failed to capitalize on the turnover and punted the ball away with 6:11 remaining.
The Spartans got the ball back a couple of minutes later when Colvin deflected a pass and it was intercepted by Butera at their own 39-yard line.
Superior proceeded to move the ball down field with a number of short gains and then a 21-yard run by Soland to the 15. Chippewa Falls’ defense kept the Spartans from scoring and took over at its own 8-yard line with 53 seconds left.
The Spartans sealed the victory with Turkowski’s second interception.
SPARTAN SPIN: Superior played without Mike LaValley, Spencer Koskie (shoulder), Chad Murray (ankle) and Cody Kitch (ankle) due to injuries.
Chippewa Falls 6 0 0 0 — 6
Superior 0 0 14 0 — 14
First Quarter
CF—Brad Huempfner, 4-yard run (kick blocked), 2:45.
Third Quarter
Zach Erickson 2-yard run (David Zastrow kick), 7:21.
Zach Colvin 13-yard run (Zastrow kick), 1:41.
Team stats
CF SHS
First downs 14 14
Rushes - yards 41-192 50-234
Pass completions - attempts 3-11 1-3
Passing yardage 32 12
Comp - att - int 3-11-3 1-3-0
Total plays 52 53
Return yards 34 34
Total offense 224 246
Fumbles - lost 1-1 1-0
Penalties - yards 2-15 1-5
Defensive sacks - yards lost 1-7 0-0
Time of possession 21:35 26:25
3rd down efficiency 5 for 11 3 for 9
4th down efficiency 1 for 2 0 for 2
Punts - average 2-35.0 3-25.7
Individual statistics
Rushing: CF, Brad Huempfner, 19-78; Jared Jaquish, 11-70; Brett Vavra, 6-36; Zandy Stowell, 4-6; Anthony Dienger, 1-2. SHS, #AJ Soland, 20-109; Dan Quade, 12-56; Zach Erickson, 4-36; Zach Colvin, 4-20; Kellen McCoshen, 9-10; Jared Bryant, 1-3.
Passing: CF, Jaquish, 3-11-3-32; SHS, McCoshen, 1-3-0-12.
Receiving: CF, Matt Leis, 2-24; Joe Krenzelok, 1-8; SHS, Tyler Plunkett, 1-12.
Defense – Superior
Tkl Ast TFL Int
McCoshen, Kellen 10 7 0.5 0
Colvin, Zach 7 2 0.0 0
Erickson, Zach 6 2 0.0 0
Turkowski, Jake 6 3 0.0 2
Soland, AJ 5 3 0.0 0
Van Puymbrouck, Eric 5 1 2.0 0
Bogojevic, Nikola 4 3 0.0 0
Collins, Scott 4 3 0.5 0
Taylor, Ethan 3 1 0.0 0
Preston, Casey 2 2 0.0 0
Kutzler, Ryan 2 1 0.0 0
Lorenz, Colton 1 0 0.0 0
Butera, Jordan 1 0 0.0 1
Bronson, Andrew 1 0 1.0 0
Gordon, Josh 1 1 0.0 0
Fuhrman, Chris 1 1 0.0 0
Kalan, Cam 1 1 0.0 0
Zuchowski, Byron 1 1 0.0 0
Total: 61 32 4 3
Chippewa Falls
Sullivan, Jake 10 0 1.0 2.0 0
Ruf, Alex 9 0 0.0 1.0 0
Nevin, Garret 5 0 0.0 0.0 0
Kinderman, Tyler 5 0 0.0 0.0 0
Hysell, Dillon 4 0 0.0 0.0 0
Schindler, Grant 3 0 0.0 0.0 0
Cook, Caden 3 0 0.0 0.0 0
Bowe, Luke 3 0 0.0 0.0 0
Schindler, Stuart 2 0 0.0 0.0 0
Woolever, Loren 1 0 0.0 0.0 0
#46 1 0 0.0 0.0 0
Woods, Sean 1 0 0.0 0.0 0
Total: 48 0 1 3 0
Tags: chippewa falls, sports, superior, spartans, football
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