Brian Roebke photos
Isaac Hendricks and Sawyer Vande Hey make a tackle in the road playoff win for Wrightstown.
By Brian Roebke
Editor
OCONTO FALLS – The Wrightstown football team played the role of underdog quite well Friday night at Oconto Falls, beating the Panthers 27-12 in a WIAA Division 4 playoff opener.
The 6-3 Tigers earned a No. 6 seed for the playoff quadrant, and had to travel to 8-1 Oconto Falls because they were the higher No. 3 seed.
However, since Wrightstown had won its previous six games against Oconto Falls but have not played the Panthers for the past few years because the Panthers had not been competitive in the North Eastern Conference, Tigers fans were confident of a victory and the team proved them to be correct.
Wrightstown, now 7-3, makes a much shorter trip this week for the Level 2 playoff game at Freedom (9-1). The Irish beat the Tigers 16-6 on Oct. 3.
Coach Steve Klister thought Oconto Falls was a good team.
“It took us a little bit to figure out and we had some motion penalties early on but they’re a tough team and we figured things out in the second half,” he said.
It was a different kind of Oconto Falls team than Wrightstown faced in the past because they have had some success while playing smaller schools and having a lot more confidence and a winning mentality.
“Nothing against the teams they played but I know that the competition we play week-in and week-out prepares us for these type of games,” Klister said.
Nathaniel White opened the scoring in the game with a 26-yard pass to Alec Krejcarek and the Panthers took a 6-0 after the Tigers blocked the extra point.
Wrightstown had a slow start, with too many mistakes in the first half when they could have scored more than the 14 points they had on the board at the break but they did have the momentum.
“That’s what I told the guys at halftime,” Klister said. “It was huge to get a score and get the lead back and get the momentum going into halftime. I think we carried it over to the second half.”
On Wrightstown’s second possession, Daniel Buntin ran the ball for a 12-yard touchdown and kicked the PAT for a 7-6 lead.
The next drive included a thrilling 57-yard fullback screen to Ryan Leahy that got the Tigers to the 35-yard line but two plays later Greyson Bosma got a hand on a Buntin pass but it landed in the hands of an Oconto Falls defender.
Ethan Hill then ripped off a 68-yard run on the very next play and then the Panthers regained the lead at 12-6 after White threw a five-yard TD pass to JJ Pytleski.
Ryan Leahy stopped the PAT with a tackle for a 12-yard loss on the two-point conversion.
Wrightstown then took over the ball with less than a minute to play in the half but quickly got into scoring range with a 59-yard run by Brody Wilson after catching a Buntin pass.
The touchdown was negated by a penalty but the Tigers still had the ball at the 25-yard line. An 11-yard run by Buntin was followed by a 12-yard run by the senior quarterback.
Buntin and Bosma then made up for the previous fluke interception with a two-yard connection.
Buntin then kicked the extra point for a 14-12 lead at the break, capping a 64-yard drive in less than a minute.
“We started off with a motion penalty on the first drive, we had the (fumbled) punt, we’re moving the ball and a motion penalty on the second drive,” Klister said. “Luckily we overcame that and got a score but we definitely can’t do that against Freedom next week.”
In the third quarter, Oconto Falls received the second half kickoff and went three-and-out, a huge stop for Wrightstown to keep momentum on its side. If the Panthers could have scored on that drive, it could have been a much closer final score.
Wilson later had a 56-yard touchdown run and Buntin’s kick put the Tigers in the drivers seat with a 21-12 lead.
“That was electric,” Wilson said of his run.
The Panthers then drove 39 yards and had second and goal at the one-yard line but went backward from there, including a big sack by Jack Nelson, and turned the ball over at the 13-yard line.
Wrightstown capped the scoring with a 12-yard run by Buntin and the kick was blocked but Wrightstown’s lead increased to 27-12
There’s no such thing as a one-man team, but for Wrightstown, nobody has near the impact that Daniel Buntin has as the quarterback, playing linebacker, kicker, and sometimes punter.
Buntin finished with 155 yards on the ground and 113 through the air.
“A four-year starter, we expect a lot from him, and he gives us a lot,” Klister said. “He makes plays defensively, he’s running the ball, running the ball hard, making great passes, and he’s just a great leader.”
Buntin also expects a lot of himself.
Wilson said the team got a nice speech going into halftime that got them locked in mentally.
“We needed that,” he said.
Wilson, who finished the game with 104 yards rushing, said he came into the game knowing the Tigers could win and was happy they did so.
Preston Nowak did a lot of defending passes during the game, ending the game with an interception with 1:39 left in the game.
“Those wheel routes have always been getting me and it felt good to turn around and it was right in my hands,” he said. “We knew they were going to have to pass and all we have to do is keep them with you and it works out well.”
Ending the game with a win made him happy.
“It felt good because I get one more week of high school football,” he said.
Buntin acknowledged the mistakes at the start of the game, including a couple false starts that are killers.
“It’s just simple mistakes that we’re shooting ourselves in the foot for,” he said. “We’ve got to get that stuff cleaned up for Freedom. This team was good but Freedom’s a really solid team and you can’t make mistakes against Freedom like that.”
Now it’s on to Freedom, who has only lost to Little Chute, which won the NEC title under first-year coach Mark Krommenacker.
Freedom earned a 28-0 victory over Kettle Moraine Lutheran last week.
“We know what they’re going to bring and they know what we’re going to try to do, so we’ve got to strap it up and go after it,” Klister said.
“We need to come back and beat them and hit them hard this time,” Wilson said.
Nowak knows Freedom is pretty big and Wrightstown needs to slow down their running game, something they did not do the first time they played.
Buntin has a lot of respect for Freedom and knows Wrightstown needs to play solid, limit mistakes, and they have a shot to win.
“Freedom is one of the toughest teams probably in the state mentally and physically,” he said. “They play super hard. They’re just competitors, a bunch of athletes that just love to compete is what Freedom is.”