By David Paulsen
Correspondent
The Whitewater High School football team played the Rock Valley North Division-leading Evansville Blue Devils tough for nearly three quarters Friday in a 26-6 loss at Evansville.
The Whippets trailed just 14-6 until late in the third quarter when the Blue Devils scored to make it 20-6. Another Evansville score with 9:31 to play in the game provided the final margin.
Evansville got on the board first with 5:27 to go in the first quarter, but led just 6-0 when the extra point kick failed.
It looked like it might remain 6-0 at the half until Evansville quarterback David Jenkins connected with Isaiah Shell for a 24-yard touchdown pass with just 24 seconds to go before half. A two-point conversion was successful and the Blue Devils led 14-0 at the half.
Whitewater cut into that lead with 2:41 to go in the third quarter when Zach Miles scored from nine yards out. The extra point kick failed and Evansville led just 14-6.
Just over two minutes later, with just 21 seconds to go in the third quarter, Evansville struck on a long scoring play, a 55-yard run by Michael Austin that gave them the 20-6 lead going into the final quarter.
A three-yard run by Johnson with 9:31 to play finished off the scoring.
Evansville outgained Whitewater by more than a 2-1 margin in this game – 406-153. The Blue Devils averaged nearly seven yards per carry on the ground, accumulating 348 yards on 51 attempts. Johnson had 211 of those yards on 24 carries.
Evansville added 58 yards through the air on five of nine passing attempts.
Whitewater had just 143 yards on the ground in 43 carries, a 3.5 yard per carry average. Miles had 43 yards and Wendel Welter 40.
Quarterbacks Jack Bullis and Scott Gorsuch each attempted four passes and completed one. Gorsuch was also intercepted once. The Whippets had just 10 yards through the air.
Andy Cooper continued to punt the ball well for the Whippets, getting 228 yards on six punts.
With the loss, Whitewater fell to 3-2 overall, and is 1-2 in the RVC North. Evansville improved to 4-1 overall and 3-0 in the RVC North.
Schedule
Whitewater will travel to McFarland for an RVC game on Friday, Sept. 28, at 7 p.m. McFarland and Whitewater have ident
