Menomonie remains undefeated with win over Spartans

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The Menomonie Indians celebrated their homecoming with a 52-14 win over the Superior High School football team Friday night at Don and Nona Williams Stadium in Menmonie.

While the Indians remained undefeated on the season and Spartans remained winless, the game ended up belonging to Menomonie’s Sam Kolden.

With less than a minute remaining, Kolden a senior with a developmental disability, caught a screen pass from senior quarterback James Nelson and ran 66 yards for the game’s final touchdown.

The play was arranged during a time out. All Menomonie was asking for was that Kolden could catch a pass and that the Spartans would take it easy while tackling him.

Superior went a step beyond the request and led Kolden score a touchdown.

“Superior’s guys are a class act,” Menomonie coach Joe LaBuda said in the Dunn County News. “It was a great thing they did at the end.”

Zach Erickson scored both of Superior’s touchdowns, a 7-yard run in the third quarter and an 8-yard pass from Rob Dembroski late in the fourth quarter. Jack Bergum ran in for two points on the second score.

Erickson led the Spartans on the ground with 155 yards on 21 carries. Dembroski completed 5-of-12 passes for 61 yards and Spencer Urban was 2-of-4 for 12 yards and an interception. Josh Gordon was their main target, hauling in three passes for 19 yards. Nolan Holcombe, Bergum, Spencer Koskie and Erickson also caught a pass apiece.

Aaron White rushed for 113 yards and Drew Otto added 61 for Menomonie. Nelson was 3-of-4 passing for 98 yards and Nikko Stokke was 2-of-6 for 33 yards. Besides Kolden’s TD catch, Colin Jacott caught two passes for 39 yards and Blake Bauer and Isaac Hoaglund had one catch each.

On defense the Spartans were led by Ben Erickson, who was in on 13 tackles, including 11 solo. George Eisenmann and Cam Stanley were next with four tackles apiece. Eisenmann also helped out on four tackles and Stanley had one tackle for loss.

Menomonie (5-0 overall, 3-0 Big Rivers Conference) will attempt to remain undefeated this week when they play at Rice Lake, which is also undefeated at 5-0 and 3-0.

The Spartans (0-5, 0-3) will look to get into the win column for the first time when they host Eau Claire Memorial in their homecoming game at 7 p.m. Friday.

Superior 0 0 6 8 — 14

Menomonie 14 13 13 12 — 52

First Quarter

M—Aaron White, 3-yard run (Nick Didier kick), 9:19.

M—Drew Otto, 6-yard run (Didier kick), 6:54.

Second Quarter

M—Nikko Stokke, 11-yard run (Didier kick), 6:33.

M—White, 4-yard run, 2:32.

Third Quarter

M—Otto, 20-yard run, 8:09

S—Zach Erickson, 7-yard run, 5:35.

M—Brandt Tharp, 2-yard run (Didier kick), 2:31.

Fourth Quarter

M—James Heimler, 9-yard run, 9:11.

S—Rob Dembroski, 8-yard pass to Erickson (Jack Bergum run), 1:19.

M—James Nelson, 66-yard pass to Sam Kolden, 0:54.

Team statistics

SHS MEN

First downs 9 25

Rushes-yards 35-189 48-272

Passing yards 73 131

Comp-att-int 7-16-1 5-10-0

Return yards 98 41

Punts-average 3-9.7 2-35.5

Fumbles-lost 3-3 2-1

Penalties-yards 4-20 5-55

Time of possession 25:34 22:26

Total plays 51 58

Total offense 262 403

Def. sacks-yards lost 0-0 1-6

Time of possession 25:34 22:26

3rd down efficiency 3 for 14 7 for 8

4th down efficiency 4 for 5 0 for 0

Individual statistics

RUSHING: Superior, Zach Erickson, 21-155; Spencer Koskie, 2-16; Rob Dembroski, 5-15; Spencer Urban, 2-3; Colton Lorentz, 4-1; Jack Bergum, 1-(minus 1). Menomonie, Aaron White, 21-113; Drew Otto, 8-61; Mitch Cervenka, 2-29; Nikko Stokke, 3-29; James Heimler, 3-24; Steve Eiden, 3-6; Connor Hanson, 1-2; Brandt Tharp, 1-2; No. 78, 1-2; Isaac Hoaglund, 1-2; Connor Gregg, 3-2; James Nelson, 1-0.

PASSING: Superior, Dembroski, 5-12-0-61; Urban, 2-4-1-12. Menomonie, Nelson, 3-4-0-98; Stokke, 2-6-0-33.

RECEIVING: Superior, Josh Gordon, 3-19; Nolan Holcombe, 1-20; Bergum, 1-14; Koskie, 1-12; Erickson, 1-8. Menomonie, Colin Jacott, 2-39; Kolden, 1-66; Blake Bauer, 1-14; Isaac Hoaglund, 1-12.

Defensive Stats

Superior

Tkl Ast TFL Int

Erickson, Ben 11.0 2 0.0 0

Eisenmann, George 4.0 4 0.5 0

Stanley, Cam 4.0 0 1.0 0

Dembroski, Josh 3.0 0 2.0 0

Valentine, Anthony 3.0 0 0.0 0

Sannes, Morgan 3.0 0 0.0 0

Koskie, Spencer 2.5 3 0.0 0

Olson, Trent 2.5 3 0.0 0

Schorr, Cole 2.5 1 0.0 0

VanPuymbrouck, Eric 2.0 2 0.5 0

Holcombe, Nolan 2.0 2 0.0 0

Lamoureaux, Jimmy 2.0 2 0.0 0

Fuhrman, Chris 2.0 0 0.0 0

Erickson, Zach 2.0 0 0.0 0

MacDonald, Jordan 2.0 0 0.0 0

Dembroski, Rob 1.5 1 0.0 0

Kvam, Scott 0.5 1 0.0 0

LaPorte, Nolan 0.5 1 0.0 0

Total: 51.0 22 4.0 0

Menomonie

Sankey, Eli 5.0 0 0.0 0

Stout, Brent 4.5 3 0.0 0

Neeb, Jake 4.0 0 0.0 0

Didier, Nick 3.5 1 0.0 1

Wemmer, Josh 3.0 0 0.0 0

Danovsky, Ben 3.0 2 1.5 0

Besse, Eric 3.0 0 0.0 0

Shafer, Mike 3.0 0 1.0 0

Hanson, Connor 2.5 3 1.5 0

Burkard, Corbin 2.0 0 0.0 0

Naatz, Tyler 2.0 0 0.0 0

Otto, Drew 2.0 0 1.0 0

Veenendall, Kerry 2.0 0 2.0 0

Pecore, Austin 1.0 0 0.0 0

Heim, Drake 1.0 0 0.0 0

Church, Jake 1.0 0 0.0 0

No. 84 1.0 0 0.0 0

McVey, Connor 1.0 0 0.0 0

Anderson, Garrett 1.0 0 0.0 0

Bryant, Richard 0.5 1 0.0 0

Evenson, Joey 0.0 0 0.0 0

Benrud, Jimmy 0.0 0 0.0 0

Total: 48.0 10 7.0 1

Tags: sports, superior, spartans, football, preps, menomonie