Pierce County’s Dunn-St. Croix representatives led by example in week two, each bouncing back from week one losses to improve to 1-1. The Spring Valley Cardinals won 34-12 over Chetek-Weyerhaeuser in the home opener and Elmwood/Plum City hit the road to beat Augusta 26-22.

“We just wanted to make sure we improved from last week. We’re a pretty young team coming in, and I thought that showed last week against a good Durand team. We just wanted to try to make improvements. I think the guys did that. It was still a little bit sloppy at times, we got things that we’re going to keep fixing, but we’re better than a week ago,” Spring Valley Coach Ryan Kapping said.

The Cardinals set the tone instantly. After recovering an onside kick just shy of mid-field, senior running back Asher Turner took the first play of the game like a bullet train up the middle for about 15 yards. Senior quarterback Mason Winger dropped back to pass on the second play, dropping a dime into the lap of senior Jake Hannack, who was taken down at the one-yard-line after a 33-yard pick-up. Turner was stopped once at the goal-line, but the lineman paved the way on second and goal to make his life easy for a 6-0 lead.

“That was really big, because last week we came out and the energy was really poor to start the game. To see them come out of the gate and really perform well right away, I think that was a big plus,” Kapping said of the Cardinals snatching the momentum right away.

The Bulldogs had a promising first drive, with back-to-back tackles in the backfield from senior lineman Braden Gregg taking the wind out of their sails. The Bulldogs would intercept a Spring Valley deep pass down the left sideline on the ensuing drive, giving them the ball all the way back inside their own 10-yard-line. A couple of plays fell flat, and on third down Turner came from the linebacker position, blasting through the offensive line before their hands could even leave the dirt, and sacking the quarterback for a safety. The Bulldogs were running some wide sweeps early, which worked against Spring Valley for Durand-Arkansaw in the season opener, but they patched those issues during the week of practice between games.

“We struggled against that last week, and we knew they would probably test us early there,” Kapping said. “We just made improvements from a week ago. We challenged kids during the week, and they stepped up and got better.”

Mid-way through the second, after a lengthy drive ate away at the clock, Winger threw a fourth and goal fade to the back of the endzone, and junior Brady Lamb went up and made a play to extend the lead to 15-0. The Bulldogs matched with a touchdown with 30 seconds to play in the first half, but with a halftime score of 15-6, the Cardinals had the momentum at the break.

“We’ve got to take care of the football, like any team does. Basically, we’ve got to move the chains. We can’t have those negative plays. We just don’t have the big play, explosive ability to make up if we get behind the chains. We’ve really got to stay on schedule, make sure we’re getting ourselves in third and short situations,” Kapping said.

The second half was all Spring Valley. Turner found the end zone two more times to finish with 127 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries. Isaiah Haug and Sam Schmitt each had interceptions, with Schmitt returning his 60 yards for a touchdown. Gregg and Oliver Hemry also each recovered fumbles Friday, marking four turnovers out of the Spring Valley defense.

“Preparation all week long at practice. Going through their plays and making alignments for it,” Gregg said. “We need the right amount of energy every game. We’ve got to start off firing and keep our energy up high the whole game,” Gregg said.

“It’s nice seeing everyone here, the whole community, and just playing under your own lights,” Gregg added.

EPC took a long road trip to Augusta for what turned out to be one heck of a game. It was actually a scoreless first half for both teams, with the Beavers striking first mid-way through the third quarter on a run up the middle for an 8-0 lead.

“We didn’t execute very well in the first half. We played good defense, but then in the second half it was fun to watch because everybody started to understand what they needed to do. Our line blocked super well. We did a lot of good things. At times we still had some breakdowns, but I thought that we executed our offensive gameplan really well in the second half,” EPC Coach Mike Birtzer said.

EPC fought right back. Senior quarterback Landen McDonough found Robbie Duffy on a crossing route, which was turned up the field for 23 yards to put the Wolves within striking distance. Senior running back Logan Auth then took a handoff to his left, trampling a trio of defenders for 20 yards to get to the 6-yard-line. Two plays later, Auth waltzed into the endzone untouched, and McDonough threw one up to Brewer Link, who made a brilliant toe drag catch on the two-point conversion to tie the game.

A quick three-and-out put the Wolves right back inside of the 50-yard-line. Senior Teigen Bauer found a soft spot in the defense, catching a pass from McDonough and taking it for 21 yards. On the very next play, Auth sped through the front seven and scampered right into the endzone from 27 yards out, 14-8 after he was stopped on the two-point conversion.

On the next drive late in the third, McDonough found senior Kramer Anderson for 22 yards. McDonough later hit Link on a slant route for an 18-yard score and a 20-8 lead early in the fourth.

With their backs against the wall, the Beavers pulled a rabbit out of their hat on fourth and long with a sideline pass that went just over the outstretched hand of a leaping Link for a touchdown, 20-16. Auth got revenge for the Wolves, taking a run for 38 yards and another for 13 yards and a touchdown to push the lead up to 26-16 with 6:24 remaining. Augusta went on to move methodically down the field and into the endzone for the final score of the game, 26-22 with just shy of four minutes on the clock. It looked like the Wolves could run out the clock the way they were moving the ball prior, but a fumble on the first play of the drive breathed plenty of life into Augusta. The Beavers had the ball with plenty of time on the clock and 30 yards away from the lead. A big first down run cut that necessary yardage in half. It was a holding call that would cost the Beavers, as they could not find the big play to move the sticks and handed the ball back to EPC after a fumble denounced into the diving hands of the defense. Auth then ran for a first down to run out the clock and secure the game.

He had 232 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 27 carries to go with 19 tackles, four tackles for a loss, half a sack and three forced fumbles.

“He loves football. He plays football as intense as anybody I’ve ever coached. He just gets the game and he’s there,” Birtzer said. “He sees the things that we see as coaches, which helps because he’s another coach on the field.”

McDonough had a solid day in the pocket, completing 8-of-13 passes for 143 and a touchdown, finding five different receivers.

“I thought that this game was going to be very important in determining how the season’s going to go,” Birtzer said. “Winning this game, I’m hoping, brings around a good amount of confidence. They saw what they can do, now we just have to build on that.”

Birtzer said a lot of his players have moved around to different positions, and they are starting to find the right formula. The offensive line was good in week two, wearing down the defense and getting better as the game went along. Birtzer expects the rest of the position groups to find their rhythm as the practices continue.

“As they become more and more familiar with their positions, they’re going to do better,” Birtzer said. “You could see they started to figure it out, and that’s when we started creating the holes, and we started taking advantage of what the defense was giving us.”