Zelhofer, SPASH run over Fon du Lac

Posted by Brian Kalish on 14 Sep 2012 / 0 Comment

By Brian Kalish

September 14, 2012

Stevens Point– SPASH head coach Pete McAdams said in his post-game interview on Friday night that football is a game of emotion.

Truer words have never been spoken.

The SPASH Panthers seemed to have all the momentum heading into this contest, were challenged by the Cardinals throughout, then showed some fire and grit in a critical series in the third quarter to hold on for a 28-21 win.

With the win, SPASH remains undefeated at 4-0 overall, 3-0 in the VFA South, while a scrappy and dangerous Fon du Lac team falls to 0-3 in the VFA and 1-3 overall.

SPASH broke through in the first quarter when junior running back Joey Flowerette scored the game’s first touchdown.

SPASH lit up the scoreboard again in the second quarter when Zach Pozorski rushed for a two-yard touchdown. The Pozorski touchdown was set up in part by spotty special teams play from the Cardinals, this time a poorly executed punt that put SPASH in excellent field position to begin the drive.

The Cardinals mounted an impressive drive that took them to SPASH’s 12 yard line with 23 seconds to go in the half, but SPASH’s Andrew Ruzek came up with a Andrew Mathews fumble to halt Fondy’s drive and the score stood 14-7 at halftime.

Fon du Lac came out with a vengeance on the first series of the second half. It took them only three plays to cross the goal line, courtesy of some punishing running by George McEnroe. The highlight of the scoring drive for the Cardinals was McEnroe’s 48 yard run to set up the touchdown.

Just like that, the game was tied and a fired-up Cardinals team seemed to have knocked the wind out of SPASH.

The Panthers’ next offensive series sputtered and Fond du Lac took possession, driving into SPASH territory before Adam Wachowiak came up with huge sack of Mathews to force a Cardinals punt. Wachowiak’s sack turned out to be the perhaps the biggest play of the game for SPASH.

With the next snap of the ball for SPASH’s offense– courtesy of the Wachowiak sack– Eric Zelhofer ran 85 yards for a touchdown to give SPASH the lead.

Talk about a momentum shifter.

“The sack was great for me personally,” said Wachowiak. ”But it was even better for the team. I think it was a signal to come together as a defense and we did just that. We played together throughout the rest of the game.”

The significance of Wachowiak’s sack was not lost on McAdams.

“That was huge,” McAdams said. ”I mean (Fon du Lac) was able to move the ball tonight. When he made the sack there to get us the ball back and we score on the next play, that was just huge.”

With Fon du Lac’s aggressive– and sometimes unorthodox– defensive scheme keying in on Panther standout running back Zach Pozorski, quarterback Eric Zelhofer stepped up to provide an offensive lift, including the 85 yard scoring run. In total, Zelhofer rushed for 132 yards, while Pozorski rumbled for 95 and two touchdowns.

“I just thought ‘run fast,’” said Zelhofer of the 85 yard scamper. “I knew no one could catch me. I saw the hole and hit it hard and was gone from there.”

SPASH added another touchdown by Pozorski in the fourth quarter to take a 28-14 lead.

But the Cardinals would not go away. They scored when John-Myles Gaskell broke a 63 yard reception for a touchdown to bring Fon du Lac within one touchdown. But the crafty running of Zelhofer prevented Fon du Lac from gaining another possession and SPASH ran out the clock for the win.

So how does it feel to be undefeated?

“It’s awesome,” Zelhofer said. “We know every team is going to be gunning for us and we have to give it our all and we did that today.”