Timberwolves stun host Cashton 55-14
Submitted by admin on Thu, 10/31/2024 - 11:09
By A.J. Gates
As the No. 5 seed going into last Friday night’s level 1 division 7 playoff game against No. 4 seed Cashton, River Ridge head football coach Wade Winkers had one goal of utmost importance for his team.
“Our big thing this week was just to try and get out to a fast start, to use our speed and our explosiveness to get us some big plays early,” said coach Winkers.
As it turned out, his hungry Timberwolves took the message to heart, using just two plays to score their first touchdown and take an early 7-0 lead 21 seconds into the contest.
From there, the Timberwolves proceeded to find the end zone on a regular basis, holding a halftime lead of 35-0 and a third-quarter lead of 49-0 before sealing the deal with a lopsided 55-14 victory.
“We’ve really stressed that we’ve got to start fast,” explained coach Winkers. “We are an explosive team, but if we let somebody hang around with us, we put ourselves in a position to be in a dog fight late in the game. We’ve answered that so far, and I think obviously at this time in the season, you better be excited to play. You’re playing in the playoffs against quality teams, and if you show up late, you might find yourself in a hole like we put Cashton in.”
The Timberwolves truly had all three facets of the game working in their favor last Friday night, scoring on offense through the air and on the ground, on defense, and even on special teams.
Doing most of their damage on the ground, coach Winkers’ team rushed for 311 yards and four touchdowns on 34 attempts.
Senior fullback Andrew Nies led all rushers with 123 yards on just 10 carries, including a two-yard TD plunge to open the scoring in the first quarter.
Junior quarterback Brandon Davis added 79 yards on nine rushing attempts, scoring from four yards out late in the second quarter and from 24 yards out midway through the third.
Sophomore Noah Copsey even found the end zone in the fourth quarter from 24 yards out on his only carry of the game.
Through the air, Davis completed 3-of-6 passing attempts for 50 yards and two touchdowns.
He first connected with senior Ty Adrian on an 11-yard score midway through the first quarter, and then with senior Carter Copsey from 35-yards out later in the first. Davis’ other completion went to senior Drake Barrineau for four yards.
Nies also found the end zone from his linebacker position, picking off a pass by Cashton quarterback Rory Misna, and returning it 40 yards to the house late in the second quarter to give River Ridge a 35-0 halftime lead.
Adrian also found the end zone on special teams, taking a punt return 70 yards to the house late in the third quarter to put River Ridge up 49-0.
Senior kicker Owen Wagner also made good on all seven of his extra-point kick attempts last Friday night.
Defensively, the Timberwolves limited Cashton to 202 yards rushing on 31 attempts, while allowing 4-of-7 passing completions for seven yards.
Cashton didn’t score until the 2:02 mark in the third quarter, then added another touchdown midway through the fourth.
“We played really good defense, we didn’t give up a first down until their third or fourth possession,” Winkers said. “I was a little nervous, because we hadn’t seen a team that plays double-tight all season long, and we were up to the task. Our D-line play in general was very good, and our linebackers were up to their normal selves, as far as making plays.”
Leading the defensive unit with eight tackles and one interception was Nies, while Brock Bunge and Blake Reynolds each had seven tackles from their linebacker positions.
“Blake Reynolds had probably his best game of the year,” said coach Winkers. “As a sophomore he’s starting to figure out those reads and is more confident and playing down hill like he needs to.”
With an overall record of 8-2, the Timberwolves will now head to No. 1 seed Bangor (8-2) this Friday night in a level 2 playoff game.
“It’s Bangor,” They’re going to go double-wing, double-tight, and just try to kind of methodically keep moving the ball and surprise you with a pass here and there,” coach Winkers said of his opponent. “Traditionally they have been very good for the past decade, almost two decades. They are not as big as they have been in the past, but they are well coached, they are veterans and they have playoff experience. They have all the things that you need to have this time of year, so it’s going to take a really good performance by us to get to the third round.”
Having won their last six games in a row, coach Winkers likes where his team is at, and is excited to see just how far they can go.
“This is one of the more complete teams that we’ve had,” Winkers said. “They have high expectations for themselves and for the team, and if we can continue this, that is our big goal. We want to make sure we get to play the full five weeks of the playoffs.”
“We know that we are well tested in the conference that we are in,” he added. “We’ll see how it all plays out on Friday.”
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