The Ellsworth Panthers’ football season came to an abrupt end in their Level 2 WIAA football playoff game against Baldwin-Woodville Friday night.

Second-seeded Baldwin-Woodville rolled to a 28-0 halftime lead enroute to a 42-7 win over the third-seeded Panthers. Ellsworth finished the season with a 7-4 overall record, including a 5-2 Middle Border Conference campaign that landed the team in third place.

“Friday was an unfortunate end to a pretty good season,” said Ellsworth Head Coach Rob Heller. “I would call most any season when you find your team is in contention for a Middle Border championship, you have a pretty good squad. The same could be said for any season when you win a playoff game, your program is doing something well. Unfortunately, we just ran into a really tough team in Baldwin-Woodville on Friday evening and didn’t put our best foot forward.”

Baldwin-Woodville moves on to face top-seeded Freedom this week. The Panthers look back on the success of their program and endeavor to build on that for next season.

“The message I tried to leave the players with on Friday was as coaches we were proud of our season, a season where we were picked to finish fifth in the conference, and the players should be as well,” said Heller. “Moving forward, when you find yourself presented with certain opportunities, it is critical to make the most of those opportunities. Baldwin-Woodville has a talented group of players, and they are coached very well. We wish them nothing but the best moving forward as they represent the MBC.”

Ellsworth had a talented group of seniors who anchored the squad and will be missed: Gavin Puhrmann, Nolan Kummer, Blake Nelson, Clint Hoyer, Brady Mitchell, Brady Brown, Michael Holst, Levi Nelson, Braydon Anderson, Ryker Tieman-Hoyer, Sawyer Blomberg, Nick Horstman, Nash Kuhl and Derek Johnson.

“This group of seniors played some key roles in our last conference championship in 2022. Our program will miss our seniors and are very grateful for everything they have given to Ellsworth football over the past four years,” said Heller.

The Blackhawks picked up their first touchdown on a five-yard run halfway through the first quarter but did most of their damage in the second, when they owned possession and had touchdown plays of 1, 23 and 58 yards.

They built the lead to 35-0 before Ellsworth got on the scoreboard early in the fourth when Levi Nelson broke open an 84-yard touchdown run on first down. Junior Nathan Augustine’s extra point made the score 35-7. B-W added a final score for the margin of victory.

The Blackhawks did most of their damage on the ground, amassing 379 yards rushing, with two players rushing for more than 100 yards; Taden Holldorf had 198 himself.

Ellsworth quarterback Jack Stoltenburg completed 6-12 passes for 44 yards. Omar Coulson caught three of those passes for 41 yards, while Nash Kuhl, Braydon Anderson and George Rohl also caught one. Nelson led the Panther ground attack, carrying the ball just twice for 94 yards.

On the season, Stoltenburg passed for 1,092 yards. Anderson led the squad with 1,033 yards rushing, with Nelson behind him at 372. Coulson picked up 475 yards receiving, and Rohl had 222.