Aquinas Blugolds over Prairie du Chien Hawks
Prairie du Chien’s Ty Wagner fields a high punt snap and runs for the first down versus La Crosse Aquinas Friday night. (Photos by Ted Pennekamp)
Maddox Cejka throws to a teammate near the sideline against visiting Aquinas Friday night in the opener for both teams.
Seth MacEachern returns a kickoff for Prairie du Chien Friday night.
Aiden Martin (55), Keagan Dull (28) and Joey Xiya (45) bring down the Aquinas ballcarrier at John C. Mulrooney Stadium.
By Colton Thompson
Friday, Aug. 20 marked the long awaited return of Prairie du Chien Blackhawk football. Prairie du Chien (0-1) hosted the Aquinas Blugolds (1-0) at John C. Mulrooney Stadium to kick off the season.
The Blugolds started their scoring early and often on big drives led by Calvin Hargrove, Jackson Flottmeyer, and David Malin. The Hawks’ defense was not able to contain the strong offense from Aquinas as they put up 36 in the first quarter. The Hawks put a few good drives together and ended the night with a loss of 49-15.
Aquinas started the night receiving the ball as Collin Conzemius almost returned it for touchdown to open the game but Tommy Mara was able to stop him at the Hawks’ 46-yard line. The Bluegolds drive started out with a 38-yard pass from Jackson Flottmeyer to Jackson Christensen that moved Aquinas all the way to the 8-yard line. Calvin Hargrove capped off the drive with a 5-yard rushing touchdown to put the Blugolds up 6-0 early. Jackson Flottmeyer connected with Quinn Miskowski on the two-point conversion to put them up 8-0 with 10:50 to play.
The Blackhawks started with the ball at their own 32-yard line after a 17-yard return by Ty Wagner. It appeared that the Hawks were going to have to punt after only gaining 5 yards in their three plays but, on the punt there was a bad snap and Ty Wagner was able to run for 13 yards and secure the first down for the Hawks. After a 7-yard pass to Max Amundson on third down the Hawks were faced with a 4th and 1 at the Aquinas 41-yard line. They attempted a handoff to Brogan Brewer but he was stopped at the line for no gain and a turnover on downs.
Aquinas opened their drive up with yet another big pass as Flottmeyer connected with Quinn Miskowski for 45 yards to put them at the Hawks’ 14-yard line. Two plays later, Flottmeyer connected with Miskowski again for an 11-yard touchdown making it 14-0. Flottmeyer ran the ball into the end zone to convert the two-point try and the score was 16-0.
On the first play of the Hawks’ drive, Maddox Cejka threw an interception to Ethan Schamberger at the Bluegolds 46-yard line but was stopped by Seth MacEachern at the 50-yard line. This time, Aquinas started with a big run from Collin Conzemius for 23 yards. Conzemius then caught a pass from Flottmeyer for another 12 yards to put Aquinas in the red zone. David Malin then ran the ball for 15 yards for a touchdown and the score was now 22-0. David Malin attempted to rush the ball in for the two-point conversion but was stopped at the line for no gain and it was no good.
PDC started their drive at their own 20-yard line after a touchback on the kickoff. Kurt Wall was able to rush for 2 yards to open the drive. On the next play, Maddox Cejka was picked off by Calvin Hargrove at the Hawks’ 30-yard line and ran it back for a touchdown. The two-point conversion was no good and the score was 28-0.
Aquinas got the ball back with 10 seconds left in the first quarter at their own 28-yard line. Flottmeyer connected with Collin Conzemius once again and this time for a 72-yard touchdown to end the quarter. The two-point conversion was good after a rush by David Malin and it was 36-0 at the end of the first.
On the Hawks’ next possession, they were able to move down the field with nice rushes from Rhett Koenig as he was able to rush 3 times for 16 yards to open the drive. A few plays later, Maddox Cejka threw an interception to Calvin Hargrove at the 50-yard line and almost ran it back for a touchdown but was caught by Trent Mallat at the 15-yard line. On the first play of the Bluegolds drive, there was a fumble on the handoff and Aden McCluskey was able to jump on it as the Hawks would take over in Aquinas territory. The Hawks were able to put together a nice drive on big rushes from Rhett Koenig who had 8 rushes for 71 yards, including the 7-yarder he ran in for a touchdown to end the drive. The PAT attempt by Joey Xiya was good and the Hawks were on the board with the score now being 36-7.
The Bluegolds got the ball with 50 seconds left in the first half and managed to get the ball down to the PDC 26-yard line but were hit with an illegal block penalty and were pushed back to the 41-yard line. With a few seconds left, Flottmeyer threw up a Hail Mary pass and connected with Will Skemp in the end zone. The PAT kick was good by Ben Corsi and the half ended 43-7.
PDC started the second half with the ball but lost it after a fumble from Kurt Wall and the BLuegolds scored on their sixth play on a Calvin Hargrove rushing touchdown and the PAT kick by Ben Corsi was no good, making the score 49-7.
The Hawks started out their next drive as Maddox Cejka connected with Seth MacEachern for 8 yards and hit Owen Oldenburg on a 41-yard wheel route. Then Cejka found Amundson for 18 yards to put PDC at the Aquinas 7-yard line. Rhett Koenig was able to rush it for a touchdown a few plays later to make it 49-13. Maddox Cejka hit Max Amundson for the two-point conversion and it was now 49-15.
The leading rusher for PDC was Rhett Koenig with 19 rushes for 148 yards and 2 touchdowns. Kurt Wall had 11 rushes for 34 yards, Ty Wagner with 3 rushes for 15 yards and Brogan Brewer with 3 rushes for 8 yards. Maddox Cejka was 9-23 with 108 yards and 3 interceptions. Max Amundson had 6 catches for 55 yards, Seth MacEachern had 2 catches for 12 yards, and Owen Oldenburg had one reception for 41 yards. Ryan Wall led the defense with 7 tackles, Brogan Brewer had 5, Joseph Xiya had 5, and Kurt Wall had 5 as well. Aden McCluskey was able to add on a fumble recovery.
Next game at Tomah The Hawks will be looking to bounce back next week as they will travel to play the Tomah Timberwolves on Aug. 27. Game time is 7 p.m.
