The Prescott Cardinals defeated the Amery Warriors 61-21 on Friday night in Amery.

This game was over before halftime as the Cardinals scored six unanswered touchdowns in the first two quarters. Four of those were of the passing variety by quarterback Teddy Bernick who racked up nearly 200 yards passing in the first half alone.

The Warriors scored three touchdowns in the third quarter, but the Cardinals tacked on three more of their own before game’s end.

All in all, it was a very balanced attack for the Cardinals who had nine total touchdowns on the night, four via the pass and five via the run. Bernick had almost 400 yards passing and threw for four touchdowns while the running back room put up almost 150 yards on the ground and had scores by four different rushers.

Jordan Hansen, head coach of the Cardinals, sees potential for a conference championship in this team, despite having dropped two games in a row.

“Our O line did a great job protecting for Teddy and blocking in the run game. If we can protect the QB and give our WRs time to get open, we are tough to defend,” Hansen said. “We are just taking the last three games one game at a time. Baldwin is a phenomenal football team so we have to make sure we are locked in and do the best we can to prepare for a great game Friday.”

The Cardinals are now 4-2 on the season and will return home to take on the first place 5-1 Baldwin-Woodville Blackhawks. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

River Falls keeps hope alive

The River Falls Wildcats defeated the Superior Spartans by a score of 37-8 in Superior on Friday night.

The game was a stalemate through the end of the first quarter, but the Wildcats came alive in the second. They scored twice before the half, once via the legs of running back Jonah Severson who broke away for a 36-yard touchdown, and the other via the arm of quarterback Jacob Range as he connected with wide receiver Eli Johnson.

The Wildcats tacked on a Range rushing TD in the third, and a field goal in the fourth before capping their victory with an interception by wide receiver Preston Johnson who returned it for a touchdown.

Head Coach Ryan Scherz said the conditions for their game in Superior were a grind, but it was a good win.

“Our kids played well. They handled the long drive and adverse weather conditions admirably,” Scherz said. “The defense shut them out until midway through the fourth quarter, and we scored off a turnover. Our offense scored on 5 of 7 possessions, including the last five possessions in a row.”

Scherz said although their hopes for a conference championship are still very much alive, they need some help from other teams to make that a reality.

“Right now, given that we don't control our own destiny for a conference championship, we will just continue focusing on getting better,” Scherz said. “We still haven't fully realized our potential as a team, so hopefully we can play a complete game on Friday.”

The good news for the Wildcats is that two of their next three games are against teams with losing records.

With this win, River Falls is now 4-2 on the season. Wildcats football continues on Friday when they return home to play the 2-4 Chippewa Falls Cardinals. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Elmwood-Plum City has field day

The Elmwood-Plum City Wolves beat the Colfax Vikings in Colfax Friday night by a score of 60-32.

With nearly 100 cumulative points scored, it’s unusual to say that this game was over in the first quarter, but it was as the Wolves scored five, yes five touchdowns in the first 12:00 of play. Running back Blake Allen scored four of the five TD’s and had well over 200 all-purpose yards just in the opening quarter. From there on out, all the Vikings could do is futilely try to play catchup.

On the day, Allen had 370 total yards including 294 rushing and a whopping six touchdowns on a massive 30 carries. Wolves quarterback Aaden Birtzer chipped in 113 yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns on just 10 carries.

Elmwood Head Coach Mike Birtzer said that, although it was a nice win, there are still some things that they’re trying to clean up.

“We ran the ball well and did some good things early, but we had a lot of mental breakdowns though,” Birtzer said. “We gave up two huge passes on halfback options, a big run where we missed four tackles and we allowed them to get two onside kicks.”

After last week’s loss, though, Wolves fans will be very pleased with this one. 

“We focused on the Colfax game all week, and we cleaned up some minor questions on our blocking schemes,” Birtzer said. “The positive is that when we have a pretty balanced attack we are fine, the negative is that we cannot have those mental breakdowns.”

With this, the Wolves advance to 3-3 on the season. They will return home this Friday to host the 3-3 Turtle Lake Lakers. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.  

Ellsworth quarterback out for season

The Ellsworth Panthers lost to the Rice Lake Warriors on Friday night in Ellsworth with a final score of 8-44.

It was a tough night for Panthers fans as Ellsworth just couldn’t seem to get anything going. By halftime, they were down by four touchdowns. Their lone score came in the third quarter.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, though as the Panthers lost quarterback Griffin Blomberg to a season-ending injury last week, according to Head Coach Rob Heller.

“Griff unfortunately will be out the rest of the season with a torn ACL. It is his second injury like this in three years, and he has now torn both ACLs in high school,” Heller said. “It’s a tough break for Griffin as well as our team going down a captain and significant leader.”

The Panthers’ offense just was not clicking on Friday in sophomore quarterback Jack Stoltenburg’s first career start. They were inefficient on 3^rd downs converting on just 6-14 and were only marginally better on 4^th downs going 2-4. On the whole, the offense only had 172 yards of total offense, 33 passing and 139 rushing.

Heller said they saw growth as the game went on, though.

“Friday was a tale of two halves. The first half was filled with mistakes, and we found ourselves down 28-0. That is on us as coaches to have our guys ready to go,” Heller said. “Second half was improved. We were able to move the ball on offense, and the defense played much better. We will have to play much better in the coming weeks if we want to finish our season in a successful manner and to compete in a very tough conference.”

The 3-3 Panthers will look to stop the three-game skid Friday night when they travel to Osceola to play the 1-5 Chieftains. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.