This story is sponsored by: Chili Implement
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – From the opening kickoff on Friday night, the Stratford football team showed it was in dominating form.
Gavin Leonhardt took a short opening kickoff and ran 79 yards for a touchdown and the Tigers never trailed, rolling to a 50-14 victory over Nekoosa in a Central Wisconsin Conference Large Division game at Heiting Community Stadium at Marshfield High School.
The Tigers won their third game in a row and are now 3-1-1 overall and a perfect 3-0 in the CWC Large. Nekoosa remains winless at 0-5 overall and 0-3 in conference play.
Stratford’s Payton Glenn returned a punt 37 yards to set up another score, a 6-yard run by Koehler Kilty, and the Tigers had a 14-0 lead just 3:42 into the game.
Nekoosa popped a big play on its next drive as Jonathan Wenzel raced 63 yards, and quarterback Nash Krcmar connected with Jaden Hughes for a 7-yard touchdown pass on fourth down. The Papermakers added a two-point conversion to cut Stratford’s lead to 14-8, but it was all Tigers after that.
Braeden Schueller tossed a 3-yard touchdown pass to Ashton Wrensch later in the first quarter and the Tigers put up three unanswered touchdowns in the second to take control.
Conner Weigel had a 32-yard touchdown run on the second play of the second quarter, and Kilty added two more scores on a 3-yard run and a 13-yard pass from Schueller, to give Stratford a 42-8 advantage at halftime.
Schueller had an 8-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, which was countered by a 32-yard TD run from Krcmar, before Stratford finished off the scoring in the fourth quarter on a safety by Izaiah Hadlock.
The Tigers finished with 383 total yards, 263 on the ground. Kilty racked up 102 yards on 13 carries, and eight other ballcarriers had totes in the win.
Wenzel finished with 125 yards rushing for Nekoosa, accounting for all but 35 yards of its offense.
Stratford will travel to Wittenberg-Birnamwood next Friday, while Nekoosa will be at home against Spencer/Columbus Catholic.
Click here to view the CWC Large football standings
Tigers 50, Papermakers 14
Nekoosa 8 0 6 0 – 14
Stratford 22 20 6 2 – 50
First Quarter
S – Gavin Leonhardt 79 kick return (Evan Danielson kick), 11:45.
S – Koehler Kilty 6 run (Danielson kick), 8:18.
N – Jaden Hughes 7 pass from Nash Krcmar (Jonathan Wenzel run), 5:41.
S – Ashton Wrensch 3 pass from Braeden Schueller (A. Wrensch pass from Schueller), 2:00.
Second Quarter
S – Conner Weigel 32 run (kick missed), 11:19.
S – Kilty 3 run (Payton Glenn kick), 6:52.
S – Kilty 13 pass from Schueller (Henry Zaleski kick), 3:52.
Third Quarter
S – Schueller 8 run (kick missed), 8:00.
N – Krcmar 32 run (run failed), 1:00.
Fourth Quarter
S – Safety, Izaiah Hadlock tackled Krcmar in end zone, 7:17.
Team Statistics
First downs: Nekoosa 7; Stratford 14.
Rushing (att-yards): N 34-140; S 32-263.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): N 3-12-20-0; S 8-13-120-0.
Total yards: N 160; S 383.
Penalties (no.-yards): N 2-10; S 3-19.
Fumbles (total-lost): N 3-1; S 1-1.
Punting (no.-avg.): N 4-40.5; S none.
Individual Statistics
Rushing: N, Jonathan Wenzel 18-125, Nash Krcmar 10-37, Jordon Pasch 1-0, No. 28 (name not provided) 4-minus 10, Joseph Bertling 1-minus 12. S, Koehler Kilty 13-102, Jack Tubbs 6-49, Conner Weigel 1-32, Payton Glenn 2-27, Gavin Leonhardt 1-17, Reid Miller 2-17, Braeden Schueller 5-16, Ryan Becker 1-3, Matt Folz 1-0.
Passing: N, Krcmar 3-12-20-0. S, Scheuller 7-11-115-0, Tubbs 1-1-5-0, Folz 0-1-0-0.
Receiving: N, Jaden Hughes 2-16, Pasch 1-4. S, Ashton Wrensch 3-67, Kilty 3-56, Cole Tichy 1-11, Henry Zaleski 1-5.
Fumble recoveries (defense): N, Wenzel. S, Izaiah Hadlock.
Records: Nekoosa 0-5, 0-3 Central Wisconsin Conference Large Division; Stratford 3-1-1, 3-0 Central Wisconsin Conference Large Division.