The Spring Valley Cardinals won a close game on Friday beating the Hurley Northstars 29-24 in Spring Valley.

The Cardinals got out to a fast start, pushing down field and handing the ball off to running back Kaden Robelia for a 3-yard score to take a 7-0 lead.

Early in the second quarter, the Northstars took the lead on a rushing touchdown of their own, followed by a two-point conversion. The Cardinals answered back, retaking the lead 15-8 on a quarterback sneak from Wyatt Goveronski and a two-point conversion from running back Diego Schmitt, who was second in the conference in yards and touchdowns. That lead held going into the half.

The red birds made it three unanswered scores in the third quarter as they scored back-to-back rushing touchdowns, a 3-yarder by Goveronski and a 89-yard exclamation point by Schmitt to permanently put the game away, taking a 29-8 lead.

The Northstars put up 16 unanswered points to close out the game at 29-24, and the Cardinals held on to advance to the next playoff round where they will face the tough Boyceville team they lost the conference championship to just two Fridays ago.

On the night, Schmitt unsurprisingly led the offense with 154 yards rushing and a touchdown on just 10 carries. Goveronski went 5/8 for 90 yards and rushed for 52 yards and two scores on 11 carries, and Robelia had a good night as well, putting up 29 yards and a score on four carries while adding in 57 yards receiving on two receptions. The defense did its job too, led by the Cardinals’ leading tackler Trevor Forster, who had five tackles and 12 assists.

Head Coach Ryan Kapping was pleased with the results; winning is the most important part, but said they can’t take their foot off the gas in games like this.

“Overall, I thought we played pretty well Friday night. We were able to get up big in the second half but got a little too high and relaxed a bit, which allowed them to make a run at us,” Kapping said. “We have to focus on playing four full quarters of football, but overall, I thought our performance was pretty good against a really good opponent.”

Boyceville has been the team to beat in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference this season, a change of pace for the Cardinals who have dominated the conference for the better part of the last five years. Kapping is confident they can flip the script this week after a disappointing loss in the championship game.

“The confidence level for the game Friday will be much like it always is. Our guys know that if they perform consistently in their assignments that they can play with and beat anybody,” Kapping said. “Two weeks ago, we did some really good things in our matchup with Boyceville, but we had some moments of inconsistency that hurt us. The key this week will be to perform more consistently by eliminating turnovers, executing consistently up front with a good pad level, and limiting their big plays.”   

Elmwood-Plum City

The Elmwood-Plum City Wolves lost to the Regis Ramblers by a score of 53-16 on Friday in Eau Claire.

Just 40 seconds into the first quarter, Regis broke off a 41-yard touchdown, immediately putting the Wolves behind the 8-ball. They responded well with a long drive down to the 2-yard line where running back Blake Allen, who led the conference in rushing attempts, yards and touchdowns (otherwise known as the triple crown), pushed one in from the 2-yard line and did it again on the two-point conversion to tie it up.

EPC continued to have problems with the long ball, so to speak, as Regis went on a string of four unanswered touchdowns, all of which were scored from 20+ yards out. The Wolves scored again late in the third quarter to bring the score to 42-16 on another Allen touchdown and 2-pointer, but that was it for them, while Regis tacked on a garbage time touchdown to make the final score 53-16.

The conference’s leading rusher Allen put up 165 yards and two touchdowns on a night where the Wolves as a whole only put up 225 yards of total offense. It’s a tough end for EPC’s players, especially the seniors, all of whom played hard all season.

“We lost two starters in the first half, our starting center/linebacker and our starting offensive/defensive tackle. I thought that when we were healthy that Regis had a hard time stopping our offense. The issue was that we could not stop theirs,” Birtzer said. “The boys that stepped in played their hearts out, and I was very proud of them. I hope that this helps make those players hungry to be even more successful next year.”

As is the case with every team this time of year, it’s the last hurrah for seniors.

“It was an emotional night as this team has always been very close. We will be graduating 10 seniors, all but two played quite a bit this season,” Birtzer said. “We not only lose tremendous players, but we lose young men who were huge parts of the successes of the last two years.”  

Ellsworth

The Ellsworth Panthers lost to the Baldwin-Woodville Blackhawks in round 1 of the playoffs in Baldwin Friday night by a score of 23-6.

It was a hard-fought game where Ellsworth had the lead in the waning minutes of the first half.

The first quarter was a defensive stalemate, but the Panthers struck first with 6:00 left in the second quarter on a 17-yard pass from quarterback Jack Stoltenburg to wide receiver Jake McCabe. The score was followed by an unsuccessful two-point attempt to leave the score at 6-0.

The Blackhawks answered back on a rushing touchdown and extra point to take the lead, 7-6 with just over 2:00 remaining in the half. Unfortunately, Ellsworth turned the ball over and the Blackhawks scored again with just 31 seconds left on the clock, and that’s the way the score stayed until the bitter end of the third quarter when Baldwin added on insurance points, breaking out for a 27-yard rushing touchdown to make it 23-6.

The fourth quarter, like the first, was all defense. In fact, besides two small mistakes by Ellsworth, this was a one-point game. On the whole, the Panthers played very well against a tough Baldwin team who was vying for a conference title all season.

Sophomore Stoltenburg performed well in the first postseason game of his career, throwing for 123 yards and a score on 16 attempts. Running back Braydon Anderson also put up good numbers, going for 120 yards on 26 carries, and McCabe had a good night as well, rushing for 46 yards on 10 carries and securing three receptions for 48 yards and a score.

Injuries were a big part of Ellsworth’s season, unfortunately. They continued to be decimated by them as three out of four captains spent some time on the bench this year, but even after losing their starting quarterback Griffin Blomberg, they still made the playoffs. Rob Heller, head coach of the Panthers, thinks the team performed admirably under the adversity and likes the way this sets the team up for the future.

“Anytime you make the playoffs, you give yourself a chance, and that's always good. The goal is to get to the second season. Obviously, we wanted it to go a little better, but with the injuries we dealt with, and having the young quarterback, I thought the kids played pretty well this year,” Heller said. "Moving forward, we’ve got to have a better mentality about our offseason training, getting in the weight room, playing multiple sports, running track, that kind of stuff. Getting faster and stronger. But I kind of like where we're sitting right now.”

As with any high school team, the Panthers are losing a lot of talent to graduation in the spring, but with all the injuries, Heller got a lot of his young guys some invaluable experience this season.

Andrew Gutting is a three-time all-conference center, that will probably be two-time all-regional center. “So, we’re losing a big piece of the middle in our offensive line. We had three seniors starting on the offensive lines, so we're losing some significant player experience, but with all the injuries we've had this year, we got a lot of young guys experience by giving them some playing time on Friday night. So, it won't be completely new,” Heller said. “This team reminds me a lot of the 2019 team, where we just kind of spent some time playing sophomores and getting experience. We were able to put stuff together and finally go on a run for two or three years.”

Another change that will give Middle Border teams like the Panthers a boost next year is the realignment of Rice Lake and Altoona. Rice Lake has always been a Division 3 school, and they will be rejoining the Big Rivers Conference. In turn, Altoona will be joining the Middle Border, which is a much more appropriate fit, size wise.