Appleton North football overcomes sluggish first half to down Green Bay Preble

By Paul Lecker
AppletonSportsPage.com

GREEN BAY – Following a sloppy first half, the Appleton North football team had to feel fortunate it was in a scoreless tie at halftime.

After a fumble on their first possession of the second half, the Lightning came back determined, scoring on three of their final four possessions and were able to pull out a 21-7 win on Thursday night at Preble High School.

Bobby Salm had a pair of touchdown runs and rushed for 79 of his team-high 91 after halftime to lead the way for Appleton North, which evens its season record at 1-1.

“I think the boys just realized that to play the game of football at the highest level, you’ve got to be dialed in 100 percent of the time,” Appleton North head coach Rob Salm said. “You can’t take anything for granted, everything will be earned on the football field. It’s a good lesson for us to learn, so hopefully next week we hit the ground running from the opening kickoff and go from there.”

The first half was a rough one for the Lightning. The first drive looked promising before ending with a lost fumble at the Preble 20.

North went three-and-out on its next two possessions, but the Lightning defense did its job as well, holding Preble down by forcing a fumble of its own that was recovered by Bobby Salm inside the 10-yard line.

North’s Brady Golden and Ezra Bowman-Barnes had back-to-back sacks on Preble’s next possession, keeping the game scoreless.

The Lightning put together a good drive near the end of the half as quarterback Charlie Olson connected with Grant Hardy for a 30-yard play down to the 14. The drive stalled, however, and North missed a field goal with just more than one minute to go before halftime. The half ended in a scoreless tie.

After losing another fumble on the third play of the second half, the Lightning buckled down. Olson completed six passes for 39 yards and Salm pounded it in from the 6 to put North on top 7-0.

North shut down the Hornets on three plays and went 68 yards on 11 plays on the ensuing possession, which ended with a Salm 28-yard touchdown run on the second play of the fourth quarter to make it 14-0.

The Lightning had a chance to put the game away on their next drive, but Preble’s Ty Gerard stepped in front of a short pass from Olson and returned the interception 93 yards for a touchdown, cutting North’s lead in half.

Appleton North recovered an onside kick attempt and capped off the win thanks to a miscue from the Hornets. The Lightning were forced to punt after picking up one first down, but the kick was muffed and recovered by North’s Daniel Garrigan at the 2. Olson ran in on the next play to put the Lightning up 21-7 with 2:42 to go.

Preble did not pick up a first down, ending the game.

“We have to be more efficient and more consistent,” Coach Salm said. “The offensive line is really growing. It’s a young group, there’s only one senior in there, and it’s Charlie’s first time playing full-time as a quarterback. There’s always going to be some growing pains, and we have a new offensive coordinator too. We saw some positive steps and we saw some things we have to work on, but there is definitely some potential there to be really good.”

Olson finished 16-for-23 for 175 yards passing, with Keegan Muchow hauling in seven catches for 64 yards. D.J. Wilson tacked on another 63 yards on the ground as North finished with 162 yards rushing and outgained Preble 337-132 overall.

Appleton North will host Fond du Lac for its Fox Valley Association opener on Thursday, Sept. 5, at 7 p.m.

Lightning 21, Hornets 7
Appleton North   0   0   7   14   –   21
Green Bay Preble   0   0   0   7   –   7
Third Quarter
AN – Bobby Salm 6 run (Mason Skorstad kick), 3:55.
Fourth Quarter
AN – B. Salm 28 run (Skorstad kick), 11:14.
GBP – Ty Gerard 93 interception return (Drew Soli kick), 5:48.
AN – Charlie Olson 2 run (Skorstad kick), 2:42.
Team Statistics
First downs: AN 15; GBP 8.
Rushing (att-yards): AN 40-162; GBP 19-51.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): AN 16-23-175-1; GBP 8-17-81-0.
Total yards: AN 337; GBP 132.
Penalties (no.-yards): AN 7-54; GBP 5-43.
Fumbles (total-lost): AN 3-2; GBP 4-2.
Punting (no.-avg.): AN 3-26.0; GBP 5-30.4.
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Bobby Salm 14-91, D.J. Wilson 16-63, Charlie Olson 8-10, Gavin Zielinski 1-5, Keegan Muchow 1-minus 7. GBP, Gavin Sullivan 12-22, Calvin Veriha 2-16, Anthony Torres 1-6, Ty Gerard 1-5, Aiden Bruce 3-2.
Passing: AN, Olson 16-23-175-1. GBP, Sullivan 8-15-81-0, Gerard 0-2-0-0.
Receiving: AN, Keegan Muchow 7-64, Grant Hardy 3-49, Michael Guido 3-39, Zielinski 2-16, Jack Kangas 1-7. GBP, No. 46 (name not reported) 3-48, Braylon Schadt 2-20, Bruce 1-11, Veriha 1-2.
Fumble recoveries (defense): AN, B. Salm, Daniel Garrigan. GBP, Jesse Cortes, Spencer Brigham.
Interceptions (defense): GBP, Gerard.
Records: Appleton North 1-1; Green Bay Preble 0-2.