Two-point conversion in second OT allows Freedom to fight off Fox Valley Lutheran football
By Dustin Riese
For AppletonSportsPage.com
APPLETON – It’s hard to believe that this week marks the midway point of the high school football season already, and two top-10 state ranked teams took to the field in what turned out to be a wild one on Friday night at Fox Valley Lutheran High School.
FVL came into the Bay Conference/North Eastern Conference crossover game ranked No. 9 in Division 3, while the Irish had climbed into the top 10 in Division 4.
Coming off a disappointing 18-17 loss last week at Waupaca, the Foxes were looking for a statement win against one of their former North Eastern Conference rivals. In what was expected to be another exciting matchup, this one lived up to the hype as four quarters wasn’t enough to settle it.
Tied at 35 after the first overtime, Lucas Papendorf hooked up with Nicholas Martin for the second time in the game as the Foxes jumped in front 42-35. Needing a hold to win the game, Freedom had other plans as Drew Kortz got free and found Nolan Phillips open in the end zone to pull the Irish within 42-41. Freedom elected to go for two and with the game on the line Kortz took it up the middle himself to give the Irish a 43-42 win.
“There is no quit in our team, and I give our guys a ton of credit for that,” Fox Valley Lutheran head coach Seth Jaeger said. “We just have to find a way to show more grit, effort and heart. I know it is there as we show it every week in practice, but now it all comes down to showing it on Friday nights as well.”
For the first time all season, FVL faced an offense similar to theirs as the Irish like to pass the ball just as much as the Foxes do. However, it was the ground attack of the Irish that gave the Foxes fits early as Nixon Heinke took it in from 26 yards out to give the Irish a 7-0 just over two minutes in.
That score held until late in the first quarter as the Foxes’ offense had a tough time getting going until a Graham Feidt fumble recovery set the offense up at the Irish 48-yard line.
Feidt then got involved offensively as he hauled in a 19-yard reception to keep the chains moving which set things up for running back Blessings Kapande, who raced in from 19 yards out to tie the score.
Once again, it was the Irish offense wasting little time as Kortz went to the air and found Quinn Brennenstuhl for a huge gain before closing out the drive with his legs on a 9-yard run to put Freedom ahead 14-7 after one.
The Irish had a chance to break things open early in the second quarter as Nolan Phillips found himself wide open only to drop a potential TD pass. One play later it was the Foxes defense making a play as Kortz was picked off by Jack Schlueter and the Foxes took over inside the Irish 20. Once again, it Kapande that took care of business as he muscled in from 3 yards out to tie things back up 14-14.
Miscues continued to be the theme of the second quarter as the Irish put the ball on the ground midway through and Dustin Heyn came away with the recovery for FVL. Freedom continued to hurt themselves with a costly pass interference call in the end zone, but when the Irish needed a stop, their defense made a play as the Foxes were turned away on downs without points.
With the first half coming to a close, FVL was looking for its first lead of the game and with Papendorf finding Martin for a 37-yard reception, the Foxes were in business. As was the case on the first two TD drives, Kapande took it upon himself to finish off another as his 27-yard TD was his third of the half and it gave the Foxes a 21-14 lead.
But, as was the theme of the night, Kortz and the Irish had an answer as he had another TD run of his own to tie things up at 21-21 at the half. Kortz was an issue all game for the Foxes as they didn’t do a good enough job containing him.
“We just had poor tackling across the board tonight,” Jaeger said. “One of our biggest emphases before the game was needing to make that first tackle. We didn’t do that tonight and it cost us.”
A costly interception to begin the second half gave the Irish life and set the offense up with good field position. A few plays later, Kortz was at it again, although this time it was his arm making the play as he found Corey Mathison for 7 yards to put the Irish back in front 28-21.
Like the second quarter, the third quarter was full of miscues with Papendorf getting picked twice in the quarter. There was also a missed field goal by Freedom as the Irish had a chance to extend their lead, but it held on to a 28-21 lead after three.
Needing points in a hurry, the Foxes turned to what they do best as Papendorf began flinging the ball all over the field. Feidt made a nice play to keep a drive alive before Martin started to take over with his 16-yard TD tying things up 28-28 and just over six minutes to go.
Following a quick stop, FVL got the ball back and turned to Kapande, who raced in from 39 yards out to put FVL back in front 35-28. Kapande had a massive game, rushing for 119 yards and scoring four times on offense, while also logging 12 tackles, four for loss, on defense as Jaeger praised him for his effort.
“Blessings is an incredible athlete and does a lot of great things when he is on the field,” he said. “This was the first time we put him at outside linebacker during a game situation due to an injury on the defensive side. Not only did he do a great job, but showed the kind of teammate he is.”
With time winding down in the fourth, Freedom had once last hope to tie things up and took to the air to find Phillips for a crucial first down. Throw in a personal foul at the end of that play, and the Irish were in great field position as Kortz moved the ball inside the 20. With under 30 seconds to go in the game, Kortz continued to have his way with the Foxes’ defense as he escaped another Kapande sack and found a wide open Quinn Brennenstuhl for the 18-yard touchdown to tie things up 35-35 and force OT.
In the first OT, it was Kapande making his presence felt as he forced a crucial Heinke fumble and gave the ball back to the offense with a chance to win the game. Needing just a field goal to seal the victory, FVL had its chance, but a missed 26-yard attempt kept the Irish hopes alive with a second OT set to begin. One play into the second extra period, it was the Papendorf-to-Martin duo hooking up as the 25-yard TD that gave FVL a 42-35 lead and put the pressure on the Irish offense to keep this alive.
After picking up a massive first down to move the ball inside the 10, Kortz continued his mastery in the pocket as he avoided another sack that led to a 9-yard TD pass. Needing an extra point to send the game into a third OT, Freedom (5-0, 3-0 North Eastern Conference) brought its offense back out onto the field as lined up for the win. With Kortz under center, the FVL front had a shot to make a play, but Kortz found a way to break one tackle and darted in for the game-winning two-point try in the 43-42 victory.
With the loss, the Foxes (3-2, 1-2 Bay Conference) have now dropped two conference games in a row by one point and must win out and get some help to contend for a conference title. Next up for FVL will be a surprising Seymour squad as the Foxes will host the Thunder next Friday, Sept. 27, for Homecoming.
Click here to view the Bay Conference football standings
Irish 43, Foxes 42 (2 OT)
Freedom 14 7 7 7 0 8 – 43
Fox Valley Lutheran 7 14 0 14 0 7 – 42
First Quarter
FRE: Nixon Heinke 26 run (Nolan Phillips kick), 9:58
FVL: Blessings Kapande 8 run (Reagan Doriot kick) 3:21
FRE: Drew Kortz 9 run (Phillips kick), 2:02
Second Quarter
FVL: Kapande 3 run (Doriot kick), 10:04.
FVL: Kapande 27 run (Doriot kick), 1:51.
FRE: Kortz 14 run (Phillips kick), 0:38.
Third Quarter
FRE: Corey Mathison 7 pass from Kortz, (Phillips kick) 4:24.
Fourth Quarter
FVL: Nicholas Martin 16 pass from Lucas Papendorf (Doriot kick), 6:13.
FVL: Kapande 39 run (Doriot kick), 4:19.
FRE: Quinn Brennenstuhl 18 yard pass from Korth (Phillips kick), 0:22.
Second Overtime
FVL: Martin 25 pass from Papendorf (Doriot kick).
FRE: Phillips 9 pass from Korth (Kortz run).
Individual Statistics
Rushing: FVL, Blessings Kapande 23-119, Gabe Heiges 2-2, David Schumacher 1-minus 1, Lucas Papendorf 3-minus 2. FR, Drew Korth 17-101, Nixon Heinke 12-64, Aaron Hambel 17-45, Quinn Brennenstuhl 2-20, Jack Bonnet 1-10.
Passing: FVL, Papendorf 18-36-233-3. FRE, Korth 12-22-194-1.
Receiving: FVL, Nicholas Martin 7-131, Graham Feidt 5-71, Schumacher 3-6, Heiges 2-19, Jacoby Dobberstein 1-6. FR, Brennenstuhl 4-100, Parker Jochimsen 3-29, Nolan Phillips 2-36, Corey Mathison 2-23, Bonnet 1-7.
Interceptions (defense): FVL, Jack Schlueter.
Records: Freedom 5-0, 3-0 North Eastern Conference; Fox Valley Lutheran 3-2, 1-2 Bay Conference.