Ellsworth kicked off to open last Thursday’s WIAA Level Two Playoff game.

The Northwestern Tigers (6-1) took the field for the first drive behind a physically imposing offensive line.

The Tigers converted early on fourth down at the Panthers 42yard line. Shortly later on second down with six yards to go, senior Shane Lange made a big play with a tackle for a loss of four yards. The Tigers completed a 41-yard pass before punching it in to go ahead 6-0 before junior linebacker Jurrell Gooden blocked the extra point.

The Tigers came up with an interception in the endzone after the Panthers drove down the field. On first down, sophomore Bo Hines slowed down the drive with a tackle for loss of five yards. After two more stops, Junior MBC Runner-Up Player of the Year Jack Janke returned the punt 25-yards to the Tiger’s 26-yard line.

The Panthers made it inside red zone before Senior Mason Anderson hit junior Ashten Quade on an out route, but the ball slipped through his fingers in the endzone, bringing up fourth and six around the ten-yard line.

Quade craftily beat his defender on the same exact route. Anderson hit him once more, and the Panthers tied the game at 6-6 just seconds into the second quarter.

Janke, wide open in the endzone, caught a pass from Anderson on the two-point conversion to take an 8-6 lead.

The Tigers took over around midfield. On second and four at the 46, Lange made another powerful stop, tackling the running back at the line of scrimmage. On third down, three Panthers flew through the offensive line, forcing the quarterback to send the ball deep over the head of his receiver down the field. On fourth down with four yards to go, the Tigers quarterback dropped back into the pocket. Junior outside linebacker Max Grand sliced through the blockers and sacked the quarterback for a loss of 15yards and a turnover on downs.

Grand ran in his first touchdown of the evening to take a 14-6 lead.

The Tigers tied it up with a touchdown and two-point conversion of their own with about a minute to play in the first half.

Quade was split out to the left. Anderson dropped back to pass and hit Quade deep down the sideline for an 80-yard touchdown to take a 20-14 lead into the break. The Panthers never looked back, dominating the second half and winning, 42-14. Once again, the undersized Panthers offensive and defensive lines dominated the game. The defense fought to get clear of blockers and tackled as a unit.

The Panthers put the finishing touches on an incredible undefeated season, led by four seniors.

Mason Anderson, Shane Lange, Braden Matzek and Chase Matzek led their teammates by example on the field.

“It’s bittersweet,” Lange said after the win. “We did everything we could. We took advantage of every opportunity that we got, but you kind of wish you could go father. But we did everything we could with the circumstances we were dealt.”

“I feel like we’re still going to play next week,” Anderson said. “We’ve never ended a season on a win, so that feels weird. But it’s a good feeling. We did everything we could, like Shane said.”

The Panthers showed tremendous resiliency this season. Week to week, they didn’t know if they would get the opportunity to play the following week.

“The younger guys stepped up,” Braden Matzek stated. “We’ve grown a lot this year and the last couple of years.”

“I’ve never seen a team grow together like this team has over the last three years,” Chase Matzek said emotionally. “It’s been really special.”

“We knew we had a great group of guys. We’ve been playing together for a while,” Anderson said. “We were young last year. We took our punches the last couple years like Coach (Heller) has said, and we put a lot of work in when we were quarantined. We really felt like we had expectations and we felt like we could run the table.”

“I wish we had the opportunity to play at State this year to prove to everybody, but I know the players younger than us will prove our point next year,” Braden Matzek added, commenting that he wouldn’t have believed someone if they told him at the beginning of the year that they would go undefeated.

I asked the two Senior Matzek’s how appreciative they are for having the opportunity to have a season at all this year.

“You have no idea,” Chase responded. “It’s been something I’ve worried about all summer. We went into every week hoping to God we got to play that game.”

“I think as a team, we think we’re the best team in the state, and we wish we could have kept playing the best teams in the state,” Anderson stated confidently. “Northwestern was a good team. They were big, too. But we really wanted to make a statement to show that we belonged at Camp Randall tonight in a normal year, for sure.”

“I can’t thank our coaches and school board enough for fighting for us to get the opportunity to play this year,” Lange iterated.

“It feels great to be part of something this special. For those four seniors, for this football team, I couldn’t be happier for those kids,” Coach Rob Heller expressed, echoing the sentiment of the whole community that followed this spectacular Panther season that won’t soon be forgotten.

Photos by Jack McLoone.