Football team wraps season on loss to Catholic Memorial
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
The East Troy High School football team had an answer for top-seeded Catholic Memorial’s first-quarter touchdown Friday night.
From there, however, it was the Crusaders’ turn to take control – and they never gave it back.
Catholic Memorial broke a 7-7 tie with 34 unanswered points en route to a 41-14 victory in a Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 3 second-round playoff matchup that ended East Troy’s season at 8-3.
The Crusaders improved to 10-1 and advanced to the third round this Friday against third-seeded Mount Horeb/Barneveld at Carroll University in Waukesha.
East Troy coach Jeff Crandall credited Catholic Memorial for its effort.
“(They are) a very well-coached team,” he said. “Their players play hard, and they make very few mistakes.”
Catholic Memorial took a 7-0 lead on a 3-yard touchdown run by Tate Kopulos before the Trojans responded through the air.
Senior quarterback Jake Dessart connected on a 72-yard scoring pass to senior Jacob Price to tie the score at 7-7.
“It was a play-action pass,” Crandall said. “Price was able to get behind the safeties. Dessart’s pass was perfect, and Price outran the defense for the score.”
At that time, the scoring play provided a huge spark to the Trojans, Crandall said.
“It was huge for us,” he said. “It gave the defense and the offense confidence on what we were trying to do.”
Unfortunately, it didn’t last.
Catholic Memorial scored three straight touchdowns to end the half and take a 28-7 lead into the intermission.
Quarterback Luke Fox connected on touchdown passes of 44 and 33 yards to Kopulos, followed by a 5-yard run by Tommy Schmitzer.
Schmitzer added two 6-yard touchdowns in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.
East Troy’s Dylan Jakscht, who rushed 23 times for 119 yards, scored for the Trojans on a 3-yard run in the fourth quarter.
“Dylan competed hard all year for us,” Crandall said. “He was a guy who did his job each night. He is an excellent running back.”
Dessart had 18 carries for 50 yards to close out his season with 2,334 rushing yards, good for second in the state, according to wissports.net. Pulaski’s Dylan Hendricks grabbed the top spot from Dessart this week and has 2,468 rushing yards.
Despite the loss, there was plenty to proud of about the 2018 campaign, Crandall said.
“We are proud of our players,” he said. “They worked hard all year. We won eight games and won the first-ever playoff game in school history.”
The loss also ended the East Troy playing careers for 19 seniors – who definitely left an indelible mark on the program, Crandall said.
And it’s up to returning players and the newcomers to pick up the baton from here.
“Our senior class was outstanding,” he said. “They were a group that helped us qualify for the playoffs for four straight years. They helped us to win our first-ever playoff game, and they helped us raise the bar for the standard of East Troy football.”
Results of All-Rock Valley Conference voting and a statistical wrap up will run in a future edition.
