Appleton North football blanks Appleton East, clinches postseason berth

By Dustin Riese
For AppletonSportsPage.com

APPLETON – The 2024 high school football season has been an interesting one to say the least and both Appleton North and Appleton East can attest to that. North has battled through some offensive issues all season, while the Patriots started the year 2-0 before dropping several close games since to hinder their season.

With one final push until the postseason begins, the Patriots and Lightning took the field on Friday at Appleton North High School as the host team was hoping to keep its playoff hopes alive. It wasn’t pretty, but it rarely is in the Fox Valley Association as the Lightning survived a defensive slugfest against the Patriots 12-0.

Appleton North is now 5-3 overall and 4-2 in the FVA and clinches a WIAA postseason berth. Appleton East lost its sixth game in a row to fall to 2-6 overall and 0-6 in the FVA.

“We secured a solid victory over East, showcasing a strong effort for 48 minutes,” North head coach Rob Salm said. “East is a scrappy team with a well-prepared coaching staff. We’ll celebrate this win for a day before turning our attention back to improving.”

“Outstanding second half and overall effort from the defense,” East head coach Mark Krommenacker said about his Patriots’ effort. “Having to defend on our own side of the 50-yard line pretty much the entire second half and not allowing a point is super impressive. Forcing those two turnovers was huge. Even more impressive is we had to replace one of our best outside backers who was out with injury. Carter Koepsell did a great job filling in when his number was called. He’s a senior who’s been prepared for multiple positions all year and has stepped in when we’ve needed him.”

This was one of those games where you had a sense that scoring was going to be at a premium as neither team was able to get much of anything going in the first quarter. Although the Patriots did have the best scoring chance following a long play to set up a 30-yard field goal, the Lightning defense held as they managed to block the kick to keep the game scoreless.

That was the only scoring chance in the opening 12 minutes, but after getting the ball back late in the first quarter, the Lightning offense finally started to get something going offensively.

Quarterback Charlie Olson played a role in that as he found Jack Kangas and Brady Golden for a pair of first downs as the Lightning had the ball inside the Patriots’ 20. That was only the beginning for Olson as he continued to rely on his arm, finding Michael Guido in the corner of the end zone for the 18 -yard touchdown as the Lightning went in front 7-0. Those would be the only points North would need as their defense continued to set the tone.

“Our defense has been exceptional all year,” Salm said. “There were two possessions against Neenah that we’d like to have back, but otherwise, they’ve been outstanding. This week, we’ll concentrate on refining all aspects of our game.”

Just when it looked like the Patriots’ offense was about to get something going, it was the North defense coming away with a play as the Patriots fumbled. Olson found Guido for back-to-back first downs, but the Patriots managed to stiffen up late and held North to a 33-yard field goal from Mason Skorstad to extend the lead to 10-0.

Krommenacker was pleased with his team’s defensive effort from start to finish as they did enough to win this game.

“Appleton North has really good athletes across the board so to hold them to 10 points before we gave them the safety is a huge accomplishment,” he said. “Our defense has kept us in these games and has given us a chance to win.”

Trailing by 10 at the break, it was the Patriots defense coming away with another stop setting things up for the offense to finally start moving the ball. Unlike North who relied a lot on the pass to get the ball moving, it was the Patriots ground attack that did the trick as Damian Fisher delivered a pair of first downs to move the ball near midfield. After another good run from Kyreese White, it was the Lightning defense coming up huge as a huge fourth down stop killed the drive and kept the shutout intact.

That was the theme of the second half as neither team could do much of anything offensively as several turnovers from both sides took away from what was otherwise an exciting game. Still trailing by 10 late in the game, the Patriots offense started to get the offense rolling again as Fisher continued to do his thing on the ground.

As was the case most of the night, East couldn’t get the first down when it mattered as another turnover on downs gave the Lighting great field position only to have their defense come away with a massive defensive stop. A few plays later saw the Lightning close out the scoring as their defense came through with a massive stop as Jordan Stubbs delivered a safety to close out the 12-0 win.

Despite the losing effort, East has come close in several of their games as they need to figure out a way to close out these close games. The Patriots will wrap up their season at home against Kaukauna on Oct. 18.

“If we want to turn these close losses into wins, we need to execute in the red zone and take advantage of opportunities,” Krommenacker said. “We have had costly penalties throughout the year, we have one more week to clean it up. Our record doesn’t indicate the type of team this is, the effort they have given, the time they’ve sacrificed, but I don’t expect anyone but the Brotherhood to understand that. I’m happy our seniors get one more opportunity to play football at home next week.”

With a 4-2 conference mark and one regular-season game remaining at Kimberly, the Lightning still have an outside shot at a conference title as they need to win and a lot of help. Regardless of what happens, the Lightning are ticketed for the postseason again as Salm knows his team needs to improve on several things.

“Our special teams have been excellent, but there are a few areas where we’d like to see improvement,” he said. “On offense, we’ll focus on red zone efficiency and sustaining drives. We’re close to reaching our full potential. As a team, just keep working to be the best version of ourselves.”

Lightning 12, Patriots 0
Appleton East   0   0   0   0   –   0
Appleton North   0   10   0   2   –   12
Second Quarter
AN – Michael Guido 17 pass from Charlie Olson (Mason Skorstad kick).
AN – Skorstad 33 field goal.
Fourth Quarter
AN – Safety, Christian West tackled Jacob Weisbach in end zone.
Team Statistics
First downs: AE 8; AN 10.
Rushing (att-yards): AE 39-177; AN 35-156.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): AE 4-16-25-1; AN 8-16-91-0.
Total yards: AE 202; AN 247.
Penalties (no.-yards): AE 6-45; AN 7-60.
Fumbles lost: AE 1; AN 2.
Individual Statistics
Rushing: AE, Alex Thompson 10-101, Damian Fisher 15-59, Brandon Moua 7-14, Kyreese White 4-12, Adrian Scaife 1-3, Jacob Weisbach 2-minus 12. AN, Bobby Salm 14-70, D.J. Wilson 12-52, Charlie Olson 7-35, Team 2-minus 1.
Passing: AE, Thompson 4-16-25-1. AN, Olson 8-16-91-0.
Receiving: AE, Joshua Christiansen 2-12, Apolo Massingue 1-7, Fisher 1-6. AN, Michael Guido 3-43, Jack Kangas 1-22, Brady Golden 1-13, Salm 1-6, Keegan Muchow 1-4, not reported 1-3.
Records: Appleton East 2-6, 0-6 Fox Valley Association; Appleton North 5-3, 4-2 Fox Valley Association.