By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
A tough start Sept. 16 against visiting Jefferson put the Big Foot football team in a precarious situation.
But the Chiefs refused to just roll over and let the Eagles do what they wanted.
Big Foot fought back from a 16-2 deficit, but the comeback fell just short in a hard-fought 24-23 Rock Valley Conference setback.
The Chiefs fell to 1-3 overall and 1-3 in the RVC, while Jefferson improved to 3-1, good for a four-way tie on top of the conference standings with Beloit Turner, Evansville-Albany and Clinton.
Trailing by one with less than two minutes remaining, Big Foot was stopped short on a fourth down and five from the Jefferson 18-yard line.
Big Foot had one last chance to get the ball back, but Jefferson gambled on fourth down and one at its own 20-yard line with a little more than a minute left, converted and was able run out the clock.
Jefferson led 8-0 in the first quarter on an 8-yard touchdown run by Evan Anfang. After a Big Foot safety cut the lead to six points, the eagles answered again, this time on a 7-yard touchdown run by Hunter Milbrath.
The back-and-forth affair continued from there.
Big Foot quarterback Jackson Enz gave the Chiefs their first touchdown of the night on a 6-yard scoring run to cut Jefferson’s lead to 16-8 heading into the second quarter.
But once again, Jefferson gave itself a two-score advantage, as quarterback Zack Peterson connected on a 14-yard touchdown pass to Matt Siefkes. Peterson and Milbrath then hooked up on the two-point conversion.
Big Foot added two second-half touchdowns to set up the late drama.
Enz and Pedro Sierra connected on a 12-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, followed by a 21-yyard pass from Enz to Hunter Sharpe.
Enz and Sharpe were successful on the two-point conversion to account for the final score.
For the game, Enz completed 23 of 40 passing attempts for 241 yards. He also rushed 12 times for a team-high 89 yards.
Big Foot receiving leaders were Sierra with six catches for 72 yards, Sharpe with seven for 64, Austin Brongiel with four for 58 and Jack Heidenreich with four for 34.
Jacque Christman led the Big Foot defensive effort with 14 tackles, followed by Brennan Malone with 12, Thallin Baker with 11, Olinh Craig with nine and Sam Ritchey with seven.
Next up for the Chiefs is a road game tonight at Beloit Turner. The Trojans (3-1 overall), who are coached by former Williams Bay coach Derek Diehl, edged Brodhead-Juda 28-26.
