Bluejays football returns home Friday hoping to end three-game skid

The Three Lakes/Phelps varsity football team lost to Wausaukee High School 46-0 last Friday on the road, and will close out the regular season this Friday against Niagara at Three Lakes Stadium.

The Jays are now tied with the Badgers for fourth place with each team posting 3-3 records in the Northeast Conference.

The Bluejays have an overall record of 4-5 versus a 3-6 overall record for Niagara.

While the formal playoff picture has not been released by the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic

Association, a postseason game at this point is in question and the game versus the Badgers could be the final game of the season for the Bluejays.

The current three-game skid has been especially impactful because each loss was against conference rivals.

The Bluejays were upbeat going into the game last Friday against the 6-0 conference-leading Wausaukee Rangers. This was partly due to the return of Carter Flannery after missing the last four games due to a hand injury.

Flannery has been the team leader in rushing with more than 400 yards and three touchdowns on the ground coming into the game.

Unfortunately for Flannery, the Bluejays would fall behind 14-0 before he had his first carry in the game. This is because Wausaukee drove the opening possession 85 yards in less than two minutes for a touchdown and two-point conversion score giving them an 8-0 lead.

Then on the ensuing kickoff, the Rangers recovered a surprise onside kick giving them the ball at midfield. Six plays and three minutes later, the Bluejays found themselves trailing 14-0 before they had an offensive drive.

Wausaukee tried another onside kick after their second touchdown but Noah Kincaid jumped on the ball at the Bluejays 40-yard line. After a Rangers penalty, the Bluejays finally had its offensive team on the field at the 50-yard line only to start the possession with a fumble leading to an eventual punt.

Meanwhile, the Rangers tacked on 24 additional first half points and breezed to victory.

Bluejays head coach Justin Szews said he knew this would be a tough challenge for his young team.

“Based on their success in prior games with Laona-Wabeno and Florence earlier in this season, we knew that Wausaukee had a solid football team,” said Szews. “And they were every bit as good as advertised, especially in the team quickness and speed department.”

Regarding the turnovers, specifically on a couple of onside kicks, coach Szews added, “when we play a quality team like this, we cannot give them extra possessions to put points on the board and expect to be on the right side of the score.

“Our guys are young and these are areas where the new team of assistant coaches can make a real difference.”

Szews said coaches Scott LeBuis, Rich Martin, Doug Nelson and Jim Moore have been fantastic additions to the program.

“These coaches bring more than 90 seasons of football coaching experience to the Bluejays

and they are doing a great job helping our young and inexperienced players learn everything from the fundamentals of the game to more specific fine-tuning details,” said Szews.

Szews called out the fine play from two young players in Wausaukee: sophomore Owen Liebscher and freshman Easton Lurvey.

“Owen was all over the field on defense leading the way in solo tackles and passes deflections, while also causing and recovering a Wausaukee fumble,” said Szews. “Offensively, Easton

delivered some precision passes under a lot of pressure as we have come to expect from him.”

Sawyer Szews who has been very productive since the Flannery injury was held in check rushing but he did have 32 yards on four pass receptions from Lurvey, who had 67 yards throwing, and the two combined for 15 defensive tackles.

Liebscher and Doug Koshuta led the team with 10 total tackles each.

The Bluejays return to Three Lakes this Friday, Oct. 18, at 7 p.m. for their final game of the regular season against Niagara.