Appleton North football knocks off Fond du Lac in FVA opener

By Paul Lecker
AppletonSportsPage.com

APPLETON – The Fox Valley Association is a rough and tumble football conference, and a break here or there can make all the difference.

Appleton North took advantage of two big breaks in the second half and won its FVA opener 21-7 over Fond du Lac on Thursday night at Paul Engen Field at Appleton North High School.

A 7-7 tie at halftime changed quickly in the second half when Fond du Lac had a low snap on a punt attempt hit the ground, Appleton North’s Mason Skorstad made a big tackle of the Cardinals’ punter, and the Lightning took over at the Fond du Lac 27.

Two plays later, quarterback Charlie Olson scored from 1 to put the Lightning up 14-7.

After Fond du Lac put together a promising drive at the end of the third quarter, North safety Daniel Garrigan picked off a pass on fourth down and returned it 75 yards on the first play of the fourth quarter, setting up North at the 34 following a penalty on the play.

Olson hit Gavin Zielinski for a 5-yard touchdown pass five plays later, giving the Lightning some cushion and that proved to be enough as North improves to 2-1 overall. Fond du Lac is now 0-3.

“In FVA games, all these little breaks – you have to make some of them yourselves – you have to capitalize on them,” Appleton North head coach Rob Salm said. “These games are always close. We talk a lot about resiliency, when stuff happens, how do you respond. They took it to us a little bit, but we didn’t give in.

“We were able to respond in those situations and make some plays, then the momentum all of sudden starts going in your favor. With a younger team, you can kind of build off of that.”

The teams began the game exchanging long scoring drives. Fond du Lac had a simple approach using quarterback Caden Umentum behind eight or nine blockers on the line. It proved tough to stop on the opening drive as Umentum ran on eight of the first 10 plays. The QB went to the air after 10 straight running plays and found tight end Rhett Hlavacka for a 24-yard touchdown pass, putting the Cardinals on top.

Appleton North responded, going 68 yards in seven plays. A 21-yard pass play from Olson to Zielinski set up the Lightning at the 24 and running back Bobby Salm took care of the rest, plowing to the end zone to knot the score at 7-7 with 2:05 to go in the opening quarter.

Fond du Lac’s grinding running game looked to be unstoppable as the Cardinals ran off 17 plays to travel 69 yards. All but one play came on the ground as Fond du Lac reached the 4 before North’s defense stiffened and the Cardinals missed a short field goal.

The drive, which chewed up 11 minutes off the clock, ended with nothing and was somewhat of a turning point for the Lightning.

“It was a huge moment in the game when you get a stop after they worked so hard to get down there,” Coach Salm said. “To keep them out of the end zone, to hold them to no points, that was a huge momentum swing for us. The defense seemed to be in a better mental state and we could get after them pretty good.”

Salm finished with a team-high 69 yards rushing and tied fellow linebacker Ben Wenzel with 13 tackles to pace the North defense.

Garrigan added another interception midway through the fourth quarter and the Lightning was able to hold Fond du Lac on downs on its final drive before reaching midfield.

Appleton North will play at Titan Stadium in Oshkosh against Oshkosh West (1-2, 0-1 FVA) next Friday, Sept. 13, at 8:15 p.m.

Lightning 21, Cardinals 7
Fond du Lac   7   0   0   0   –   7
Appleton North   7   0   7   7   –   21
First Quarter
F – Rhett Hlavacka 24 pass from Caden Umentum (Zander Scannell kick), 5:58.
AN – Bobby Salm 24 run (Mason Skorstad kick), 2:05.
Third Quarter
AN – Charlie Olson 1 run (Skorstad kick), 7:54.
Fourth Quarter
AN – Gavin Zielinski 5 pass from Olson (Skorstad kick), 9:43.
Team Statistics
First downs: F 15; AN 11.
Rushing (att-yards): F 38-188; AN 24-110.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): F 5-13-72-2; AN 10-14-88-1.
Total yards: F 260; AN 198.
Fumbles (total-lost): F 0-0; AN 1-1.
Penalties (no.-yards): F 7-43; AN 2-30.
Individual Statistics
Rushing: F, Caden Umentum 41-152, Mason Henschel 3-14, Conor Johnson 3-10, Zander Scannel 1-minus 12. AN, Bobby Salm 10-69, Charlie Olson 8-28, Gavin Zielinski 4-10, Jack Kangas 1-2, D.J. Wilson 1-1.
Passing: F, C. Umentum 5-12-73-2. AN, Olson 10-14-88-1.
Receiving: F, Quinton Ortegon 2-14, Rhett Hlavacka 1-24, Adrian Johnson 1-18, C. Johnson 1-16. AN, Michael Guido 3-41, Zielinski 3-16, Keegan Muchow 2-14, Grant Hardy 1-10, Abraham Tomori 1-7.
Interceptions (defense): F, Peyton Umentum. AN, Daniel Garrigan 2.
Fumble recoveries (defense): F, Sam Maury.
Records: Fond du Lac 0-3, 0-1 Fox Valley Association; Appleton North 2-1, 1-0 Fox Valley Association.