By Dwayne Corry
August 31, 2012
Wisconsin Rapids–The Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln Red Raiders defeated unbeaten Fond du Lac at home 35-28 behind the power rushing of Ryan Duxbury and his 29 rushes for 190 yards and 3 touchdowns on Friday night in Wisconsin Rapids.
This game was a tale of two halves again for Lincoln as they built a commanding 27-7 lead at halftime.
“We needed our running game to get started in the first half, and we accomplished that tonight,” said Rapids’ head coach Tony Biolo.
The Red Raiders kicked off to start the game, and Josh Biba recovered a fumble on the second play of the game to set the first half tone. Rapids would move the ball 35 yards with Ryan Duxbury taking it in from the one to give Lincoln a 7-0 lead.
The Red Raiders would then onside kick and Red Raider Regis Henke would recover at midfield to give Rapids the ball right back. On the very next play, Lincoln QB Simon Stevenoski rambled in on a 50 yard TD, sprung by a great block by Hayden Biegel, and Rapids built the lead to 13-0 with 6:30 left to go in the first quarter.
Rapids got the ball back to start the second quarter at the 47 after a nifty 32 yard punt return by Zach Bassuener. Rapids’ offense would march the 47 yards on 9 plays with Logan Boettcher hauling in a 12 yard TD pass from Jared Halbur to put Rapids up 19-0.
But Fond Du Lac answered on the next possession when Cardinal QB Andrew Matthews stuck one in from the one, capping an 11 play drive on 65 yards to close the score 19-7 with 4:07 left before halftime.
Rapids marched 73 yards on 9 plays, and Ryan Duxbury took it to the house from 27 yards out. The line was blocking extremely well. The score stood at 27-7 after Zach Bassuener scored on a two point conversion.
“I give credit to my o-line. They are the best in the world,” said Ryan Duxbury.
“We needed to come out fast and hard tonight, and just forget the mess we put ourselves in up in Wausau,” said Alex Klonowski.
The second half featured a different Cardinal team. Fondy QB Andrew Matthews connected with John-Myles Gaskell from 8 yards out cap a 7-play, 52-yard drive to make the score 27-14.
But give the Red Raiders offensive line credit as they blew open big holes for Ryan Duxbury as “Dux” ran 4 times for 65 yards, topped by a 55 yard touchdown run to stretch the lead back out to 35-14. Jared Halbur would connect with Alex Berlyn on a two point conversion to finish the scoring.
But the Cardinals would just not go away. Fondy QB Matthews scored on a one yard QB sneak, and on fourth and goal from the one, connected with Gaskell again and the score stood at 35-28 with 8:20 left in the fourth quarter.
“We thought the entire game we could win. Our line was outstanding tonight in the second half. This is a tough, and frustrating loss,” said QB Matthews.
The Cardinals would get the ball back one last time with 3:23 left and marched down to the Red Raider 17 yard line, only to have Zach Bassuener bat down a pass on 4th and 7 to seal the victory for Rapids.
Red Raider notes: Some very quirky calls tonight. Rapids received the ball at the 35 after Fondy kicked the ball out of bounds. Rapids advanced the ball to the 45 only to have a measurement called, and it came up short. The officials explanation after the game was that the lines were painted crooked and they have to go by the sticks, and, to be honest, it looked like they were off somewhat… Zach Bassuener destroyed a runner knocking him 10 yards out of bounds. Hit of the night… Regis Henke came up with a few great pass breakups to end drives… After getting creamed on a kickoff catch, Tony Biolo looked at Regis Henke as he came to the sidelines and told him “Uou are allowed to fair catch a ball.” The first ever Fan of the Game drew lots of excitement, and was won by Kevin Bassett of Wisconsin Rapids… Fond Du Lac is a much improved team, and will be handful for the rest of the VFA South… Yes that was Hayden Biegel on defense for Rapids at the end of the game.
