Early hope, but then little goes right

LADYSMITH 56, RIB LAKE-PRENTICE 0

A couple early first downs and big plays gave Rib Lake-Prentice a little hope Saturday, but three of the Hawks’ first four possessions ended in turnovers and the one that didn’t resulted in a punt return for a touchdown sparking Ladysmith to an easy 56-0 win in the Lumberjacks’ homecoming game.

The Hawks knew they were running into a tough customer in Ladysmith quarterback Brady Ingersoll, who frustrated the Hawks in a monster first half where he hit receiver after receiver, while going nine for 11 for 188 yards and three touchdowns. Most of those completions came after Ingersoll had been flushed out of the pocket.

“He just throws a really nice ball,” Hawks’ co-head coach Jonah Campbell said. “He’s not the biggest guy in the world. He’s not any bigger than (Hawks’ quarterback) Michael (Borchardt). He just has really good downfield vision. When he scrambles, he gets you because he can run so well. He is good. He’s quick, shifty, gets back where he wants to be. He can throw on the run, but quick enough to give himself a little time to plant.”

Ingersoll did have one mistake, fumbling the ball on the first offensive play of the game as he ran toward the left sideline. Hawk defensive back Dominic Quednow kept a knee down in play while scooping up the ball before it went out of bounds to give the Hawks a big turnover and possession on their 44-yard line.

Borchardt hit Kaden Kennedy on a little swing pass to the left for 15 yards. On fourth and six, Borchardt rolled out to his right and connected with Donovan Sutherland at the sticks for another first down at Ladysmith’s 31.

On the next play, Sutherland broke away from his defender and had a touchdown in its sights, but Borchardt’s pass sailed just over his fingertips. Two plays later, Borchardt slipped as he was being sacked by Logan Alberson and fumbled. Ladysmith’s Marcus Hanson recovered back at the 48 and five plays later Ingersoll hit Clayton Roscoe over the middle with a perfectly-placed 26-yard touchdown pass that Sutherland was an inch or two away from breaking up.

“On that first drive if we connect on that touchdown throw, I think that changes the game mentally for the guys,” Campbell said. “We had the head’s up play with Quednow being aware enough to get his feet in bounds and recover the fumble. We get the ball, we go ahead and get a couple of first downs. We had a couple of nice throws right away.

“If we get that ball to Donovan on that breakaway, you’re talking having a lead for the first time this year, you just had a big defensive play. Mentally, it does a lot.”

Unfortunately, the game turned the other way quickly after the Lumberjacks’ first touchdown.

Ingersoll returned Sutherland’s first punt of the game 60 yards for a touchdown, breaking one tackle early and then weaving his way down the left sideline. Two plays later, Alberson stepped in front of a swing pass to the right that had a chance for success and returned it for a touchdown to make it 22-0 with 4:53 left in the first quarter. The Hawks then got what wound up being their last first down of the game before Ingersoll intercepted a deep ball down the right sideline and Ladysmith turned it into a 54-yard touchdown drive that ended with Matthew Roach’s 4-yard run and two-point conversion that made it 30-0 with 1:13 left in the quarter.

Ingersoll hit Alberson for a short 4-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter and then, while rolling to his right, he dropped a perfect pass in stride to Alberson for a 53-yard strike. Roscoe scored on an 8-yard run with 7.3 seconds left for a 50-0 halftime lead.

The Hawks got nothing going offensively in the second half against Ladysmith’s JV defense and a blocked punt inside the 10 in the fourth quarter led to a 9-yard touchdown run for Lumberjack Braeden Little.

Kennedy led Rib Lake-Prentice offensively with 23 rushing yards on eight carries and he caught three passes for 18 yards.

“If we can get small successes running, it’s going to open up the pass, which has been our strength of the season,” Campbell said. “Right away we hit that sprintout to Donovan and he crosses the sticks for a first down. That’s exactly how it’s drawn up. You’re kind of a dual threat at that point. You feel comfortable being able to run or pass on first down, run or pass on second down. There was hope there right away. We were moving the ball and felt like we were in it.”

The Hawks’ next chance to put a notch in the win column comes Friday when they host Kingdom Prep Lutheran of Wauwatosa in Rib Lake for homecoming at 5 p.m. The Wolfpack beat the Hawks 12-0 in last year’s season opener. They got off to a solid 3-1 start this year, including a 20-0 win over Webster in a game played at Merrill on Sept. 2, but they’ve dropped three straight by large margins and are 3-4.