Girls golf team wins invite
By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Badger High School football team lost its season opener 28-7 to Greendale on Aug. 16. The loss was the Badgers’ first loss at home since the 2014 season.
The game got off to a late start as weather delayed the game for an hour and 45 minutes. Once the game got going, neither offense could put the ball in the end zone in the first quarter. Greendale came close on the opening drive of the game after keeping the drive alive with a successful fake punt on fourth and four at its own 31-yard line. Greendale moved the ball into Badger territory but fumbled it away.
The Badgers scored first on their second possession of the second quarter. The score was set up by a six-yard pass completion from Grant DuMez to foreign exchange student Jake Cmejla that got the Badgers down to the Greendale 26-yard line. Two plays later, Hunter Wrzesinski scored on a 20-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0.
That was the only time the Badgers found the end zone all night as the Greendale defense held the Badgers to 236 total yards – 175 on the ground. Wrzesinski led the Badgers with 86 yards rushing. Zach Behenna added 42 yards. Running back Jordan Hodges was injured playing defense on the first series of the game and did not return.
The Badgers did not hold the lead long. Greendale answered on its next possession scoring on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Sean Sanchez to Masaeo Wooden to tie the game with 53 seconds left in the first half. The Panthers converted a fourth-and-less-than-one play at the Badger 41-yard line to keep the drive alive.
The Badgers moved the ball to the Greendale 46 before the half ended, but Greendale’s J.R. Muth intercepted a pass intended for Connor Love at the Badger eight-yard line.
The second half started off slow offensively as well as the two teams traded punts. On Greendale’s second possession, the Panthers took over at their own 49-yard line and took just one play to take a 14-7 lead. Sanchez hit Andy Vey with a 51-yard touchdown pass to put Greendale on top.
Badger tried to answer back by driving the ball deep into Greendale territory. A 19-yard burst up the middle by Mitch Rife put the ball at the Greendale 20 as the third quarter came to a close. The Badgers could not score, failing to convert a fourth down from the 17-yard line as DuMez’s pass to Love fell incomplete in the end zone.
Greendale took over and burned more than seven minutes off the clock before scoring on a three-yard touchdown run by Sanchez to put the Panthers up 21-7. The Panthers again converted a fourth-down play at the Badger 29 to keep the drive going.
Rife gave the Badgers a lift returning the kickoff 27 yards with just less than three minutes to play, but Greendale’s Paul Toetz put the final nail in the coffin by intercepting a DuMez pass and returning it 55 yards for a touchdown to make it 28-7.
DuMez and Connor Clifford split time at quarterback for the Badgers with Clifford getting the start. Clifford failed to complete a pass in five attempts, had one interception and ran for 20 yards on six carries. DuMez completed one of seven passes with two interceptions and 13 yards rushing on four attempts.
Sanchez led the Panthers by completing 10 of 14 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns while also leading the team in rushing with 77 yards on 18 carries.
The Badgers will try to get in the win column tonight at home against Kenosha Bradford. Bradford lost to Wilmot 22-19 in four overtimes on Aug. 17. The game was tied 10-10 at the end of regulation. Last season, Bradford gave the Badgers their only regular season loss in Kenosha 26-21, but the Badgers avenged that loss in their Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Level 1 playoff game at Badger 42-26.
Badger golf wins invite
The Badger golf team won the eight-team Taylor Clark Memorial Invitational hosted by Westosha Central on Aug. 16. The Badgers had a team score of 377, finishing 13 shots ahead of second-place Union Grove.
Junior Holly Murphy was the low medalist with a 75. Freshman Annie Murphy finished seventh with a 96. Kayla Kerns and Kristin Walczynski both shot 103.
The Badgers took second at the Union Grove Invitational on Aug. 13. The event was played as a two-player scramble. Holly and Annie Murphy paired up to finish as the top team with a 70. Overall, the Badgers finished with a 167, two shots behind Union Grove.
