By Kevin Cunningham
Correspondent
At 1-2 overall, the Delavan-Darien/Williams Bay football team played its rival Elkhorn, on the road, on Sept. 8. In 2016, the Comets won a tight, 35-34 game.
This year, the Comets would win much more comfortably, 38-15. At the end of the first quarter, after a four-yard touchdown run by Jaxson Sawtelle and a 28-yard touchdown pass from Dakota Williams, the Comets led, 14-7.
In the second quarter, Delavan-Darien/Williams Bay would blow the game open, scoring 24 unanswered points.
“Comparing halves, when you put up 38 points in a half, that’s pretty tough to top,” Comets head coach Bret St. Arnauld said. “We didn’t even have to punt in the first half, so that’s always a good thing. If you score every time you touch the ball and the defense is getting stops and everything is going well, that’s when it’s really fun to coach.”
The rest of the rivalry game would go scoreless until the five-minute mark in the fourth quarter. Elkhorn scored one more touchdown, making the final score, 38-15.
“Any time you get an opportunity to beat your cross-town rival, it’s always a big deal,” St Arnauld said. “Everything that could have went well for us in that first half went well for us. I think our kids kind of took their foot off the gas in the second half, but that’s almost to be expected when you put up 38 in the first half.
“We turned a corner [defensively]. It was the same way last year, where it took us three games to get our feet wet for the defense to start coming around. Against Elkhorn, we did well. I have no complaints with how we defended Elkhorn. We caused some turnovers and put them in third-and-longs and second-and-longs and when you do that, you have a chance to be successful.”
With the win, the Comets were 2-2 overall heading into its next game against Union Grove at home. Despite having the home-field advantage – and a 14-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter – Union Grove would come away with a 21-14 victory.
“We defended well for most of the game, but we had four turnovers inside our own end in the second half,” St Arnauld said. “It was Murphy’s law in the second half. Anything that could go wrong went wrong. It all went wrong for us. I think that most times on most days, we more than likely come out with a victory against Union Grove.
“It was unfortunate the way it went. It was a tough weekend trying to bounce back from it. That was a game that was right there for us to take, but, that’s what happens. You can’t turn over the ball five times in a game and expect to win. That was the difference in the game.”
In the first half, the Comets had two touchdown passes from Williams to build the 14-0 lead. In the fourth quarter, however, from the 9:40 point on, the Broncos took over the game with its three touchdowns.
“I honestly felt great [at halftime],” St Arnauld said. “I thought we did what we needed to do.”
St Arnauld said that a sequence took place in the second half where the Comets turned the ball over twice in the matter of three plays. Then, after a Union Grove touchdown, the team would lose a fumble on the ensuing kickoff.
With the seven-point defeat, Delavan-Darien/Williams Bay now has a 2-3 record. In order to make the playoffs, a team must finish above .500 and the Comets have four games left to play.
In order for the Comets to reach the postseason, the team must win at least three of its final four games. To start, St Arnauld’s bunch must travel to face Badger on Sept. 22. Badger is currently atop the Southern Lakes Conference at 4-1 overall.
Last year, at Delavan-Darien High School, Badger left with a 14-7 victory and finished the season at 12-1, losing in the fourth round of the playoffs.
