By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Lake Geneva Badgers traveled to Union Grove on Friday and came away with a hard fought 41-38 win that preserves Badger’s showdown with undefeated Waterford for the Southern Lakes Conference championship Friday at Badger.
Badger and Union Grove went back and forth on the scoreboard all night long.
Union Grove got on the scoreboard first on a 43-yard touchdown pass from Matt Nelson to Joe Peterson. Badger answered with a 69-yard touchdown run by Christian Martinez but the extra point failed and Badger trailed 7-6. The Broncos returned the ensuing kick 87 yards for a touchdown to lead 14-6. Badger came right back with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Mason DuMez to Martinez. Martinez converted the two-point conversion on the ground to tie the score.
Union Grove went back on top 21-14 on a one-yard touchdown run by Nelson. Badger answered again with an 11-yard touchdown run by Tyler VanDeVelde. Union Grove capped the first half scoring with a 33-yard field goal.
Union Grove opened up a 10-point lead with a 44-yard touchdown pass to Toby Robe. VanDeVelde scored on a 27-yard run to bring the Badgers back within three. VanDeVelde then gave the Badgers their first lead of the night on a four-yard touchdown run and Badger led 34-31. DuMez scored from 18 yards out to complete Badger’s swing from 10 points down to 10 points ahead. The Broncos closed the scoring with less than a minute left on a five-yard touchdown pass to Peterson.
As usual, Badger’s offense was mostly on the ground with 358 yards on 54 attempts. DuMez led the way with 132 yards on 22 carries. VanDeVelde rushed for 106 on 19 carries with three touchdowns. Martinez added 84 yards on seven carries. DuMez was also six of 10 passing for 115 yards.
The Badgers surrendered an unusually high 343 yards. Nelson completed 21 of 31 passes for 282 yards and three scores. Peterson caught all five passes thrown to him for 62 yards and two scores. The Badger rush defense did better, holding the Broncos (5-3, 3-3 SLC) to 61 yards on the ground. Nelson had 43 of those yards himself.
Waterford (8-0, 6-0 SLC) blasted Delavan-Darien 55-0 last week in preparation for Friday’s regular season finale at Badger. Badger (6-2, 5-1) can clinch a share of the SLC title with a win.
Tennis to state
The Badger tennis team finished tied for first with Sun Prairie after the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association sub-sectional and sectional on Oct. 5 and 7. Both teams finished with 36 points. Watertown was next with 28.
Freshman Claudia Huerth lost her first match at the sectional but still made it to state Thursday as a special qualifier. Coach Paul Lauterbach said that was based on her 14 wins during the season. Huerth (14-6) faced Karolina Lungova (23-9) of Madison West on Thursday afternoon.
Katie Theisz and Olivia Stout (19-3) finished first at the sectional and faced off against Marli Stellhorn and Emma Koppa (28-3) of Nicolet on Thursday afternoon. Gia Danna and Joanne Walczynski (24-4) finished second at the sectional and advanced to face Jami Turriff and Larissa Wagner (18-4) of West Depere on Thursday.
“We need to make sure we don’t get overwhelmed or intimidated and play like we did to get there,” Lauterbach said about what the state qualifiers need to do to succeed at state.
Alexis Wisdom finished second at the sectional in Flight 2, Shannon Lojeski finished third in Flight 3, and Heidi Engermann finished fourth in Flight 4. Mia Trent and Leslie Zelinski finished third in Flight 3 of the doubles bracket.
Golf finishes season
The Badger golf team wrapped up its season by finishing eighth at the WIAA sectional at Mukwonago on Oct. 6. Badger shot 416 after qualifying for the sectional by finishing fourth at the Milton regional on Oct. 1 with a 428. Milton won the sectional with a score of 324.
Badger was led by Moira Ring who carded a 99. Jenn Freeman shot 102, Liz D’Auria shot 107, and Tori Pierce shot 108.
Soccer loses to Elkhorn
The Badger soccer team lost to Elkhorn 2-0 on Oct. 6. Elkhorn (11-3-1, 7-1 SLC) got goals from Sid Babu and Leonardo Loredo and outshot Badger (13-7, 5-3) 10-1.
Swim wins invitational
The Badger swim team won the Beloit Memorial Fall Invitational on Saturday with 793 points. Beloit Memorial was a distant second with 548.
Invitational championships were won in the following events
- 200-yard individual medley – Cora Rafe, 2:12.57;
- 50-yard breaststroke – Grace Gillingham, 33.67);
- 200-yard freestyle relay – Natalie Stratton, Theresa VanSchyndel, Katelyn O’Brien and Eden Wember, 1:47.87;
- 100-yard fly – Molly Dover, 1:03.24;
- 100-yard backstroke – Rafe, 59.12;
- 100-yard breaststroke – O’Brien, 1:10.62;
- 150-yard freestyle sprint – Wember, Rafe, VanSchyndel, 1:21.09; and
- 200-yard medley relay – Rafe, O’Brien, Dover, Stratton, 1:56.63.
