Fennimore rallies past River Ridge

By A.J. Gates

Despite taking a 22-12

lead into the fourth quarter of last Friday night’s home opener, coach Wade Winkers and his River Ridge varsity football team suffered their first loss of the season, at the hands of visiting Fennimore, who scored 12 unanswered points in the closing minutes of a 24-22 final.

The Timberwolves put together three scoring drives in the first half of Friday night’s contest, then failed to find the end zone at all in the second.

“We did a lot of really good things offensively, but we were unable to sustain drives in the second half,” explained coach Winkers. “Mistakes and penalties were costly, and we didn’t overcome them like we needed to.”

Fennimore took an early 6-0 lead on their opening possession, getting a 51-yard touchdown run from quarterback Dawson Crubel.

It didn’t take long for River Ridge to answer on a 43-yard TD pass from quarterback Brandon Davis to wideout Cael Koenig to even the score.

A two-point conversion run by Davis then gave the Timberwolves an 8-6 lead with 6:56 to play in the opening quarter. The second-quarter action was fast and furious, with three touchdowns being scored in less than two minutes.

River Ridge extended their lead in the early minutes of the second quarter on a 14-yard TD run from Brock Bunge, giving the T-Wolves a 14-6 advantage at the 9:13 mark.

Fennimore kept pace with a 19-yard TD run of their own less than a minute later, pulling to within 14-12 with 8:17 showing on the second-quarter clock.

River Ridge had the final say to end the first half, scoring on a 20-yard TD run by Noah Copsey less than a minute after Fennimore’s score. A two- point conversion pass from Davis to Reese Drew put the T-Wolves up 22-12.

With neither team finding the end zone in the third quarter, the action picked up in the fourth for Fennimore, who held River Ridge scoreless the entire second half, and put themselves in position to steal away a victory.

In the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, Fennimore found the end zone on a 34-yard TD pass from Crubel to Shawn Jahnke-Fiedler, pulling to within 22-18.

Then, on their final possession of the contest, the Golden Eagles put together the game-winning drive that ended with a two-yard TD run by Reece Kelley with 19 seconds to play, securing a 24-22 come-from-behind victory.

The Timberwolves concluded the contest with 374 yards of total offense to Fennimore’s 414.

On the ground River Ridge rushed for 260 yards and two touchdowns on 31 attempts. Davis led the ground game with 104 yards on nine attempts, and was followed by Braden Skaife with 90 yards on nine carries.

Through the air, Daviscompleted 5-of-13 passing attempts for 114 yards, one touchdown and one interception, while Reese Drew led the team with 71 yards on four receptions.

Defensively, Davis led the Timberwolves with nine tackles, followed by Koenig with eight and Blake Reynolds 6.5.

Coach Winkers and his Timberwolves (1-1) begin conference play in the Six Rivers this Friday night when they host Black Hawk/Warren (2-0), who have non-conference wins over Southwestern/East Dubuque and Westby.

“I am proud of our guys fight all night and we were spent at the finish,” Winkers said. “This coming week we start the conference season and still have all that we want to accomplish in front of us.”

“We are going to really stress the importance of details this week and make sure we understand that those details can change a game,” Winkers added. “We are not the explosive offense and stout defense we have been in the past and we need to do those little things every night if we want to be competitive this season.”