The Three Lakes-Phelps varsity football team bounced back from a tough loss last week to completely dominate the Screaming Eagles of Chequamegon High School, winning 64-0 in front of a large parent night crowd in Three Lakes. The Jays controlled this game from the opening kickoff, largely ignited by the tough physical play of senior Zach Weavers, who not only provided offensive line protection but also led the team with 12 solo tackles, added an 18-yard sack, a forced fumble, a successful on-side kick and had a 25-yard pass reception for a touchdown.
Bluejays Head Coach Pat George was pleased with the team’s performance and said Weavers did a great job getting them fired up.
“Zach had a great game tonight, and he really led by example in the trenches,” George said after the game. “While he had a nice statistical night, he also gave us invisible yardage through his work on the offensive line where there are no checkboxes on the stat sheet.”
On the opening kickoff, instead of one of his traditional high-flying missiles, Weavers kicked a squibbler just a few yards upfield that was mishandled by the Screaming Eagles and recovered by Peter Cruckson, giving the Bluejays possession of the ball midfield. Then, after a couple of quick runs by Jack Westfall to get the team in better field position, quarterback Sam Koshuta hit one of his frequent air targets, Owen Liebscher, for a 43-yard touchdown.
The game clock was still cold when the Bluejays already had a turnover and an 8-0 lead. Three minutes later, they put up another eight points as Westfall sprinted for an 11-yard rushing touchdown before adding the 2-point conversion to give the Jays a 16-0 lead. Westfall had 72 yards on the ground and scored 10 points in the game.
One of the loudest crowd moments of the night came in the second quarter when Koshuta hit Cruckson for a 58-yard touchdown catch.
“I knew we needed to get Peter the ball today,” Coach George said of the catch, “and it paid off.”
The crowd came alive again just moments later when Liebscher made an interception mid-field and ran it in for his seventh touchdown of the short season.
“Owen is a great contributor for this team,” George said, “and tonight he put together another full stat line.”
Liebscher added two additional touchdowns in the game through his 142 yards of receiving. He also had three solo tackles and tipped two balls on defense for a well-rounded night. Koshuta also had a good night, especially in the first half when he went six of eight for 225 yards and two touchdown passes. He also scored another touchdown on his own with a 71-yard second-quarter rush as part of 131 total yards on the ground with three rushing touchdowns. Defensively, Koshuta was as physical as anyone in the game with seven hard-hitting solo tackles, a sack and a pass deflection.
Bentley Bills was another hard-hitter on defense as he made six solo tackles, and as coach George pointed out, made significant offensive line contributions that are not recorded on stat lines.
“The entire line did another great job tonight,” George said, “and we need this type of performance moving deeper into the season.”
On defense, senior Garrett Mandli made two total tackles, including one for loss, and he also had two pass deflections.
The Bluejays closed out the first quarter with a 30-0 lead and then extended it to 50-0 by halftime and breezed through the game to the eventual 64-0 score. This is the first shutout in a year for the Bluejays and the first for George as head coach.
“This was a great win for the team,” he said. “I told the boys at halftime to keep the pressure going and think of it as a 0-0 game where we have to defend every blade of grass on the field. They came through, and we never took the foot off the pedal.”
George said he was also happy with the development of the freshmen and other younger players on the team.
“Wyatt (Gentile-Donner), Dylan (Wallschlaeger), Charles (Olkowski), and Rayden (Anderson) all did their part tonight. These kids are starting to understand the game, and each has great potential.”
Next up for the Bluejays will be a road game against another conference rival, the Rebels of Laona-Wabeno, this Friday, September 11, at 7:00 p.m.
“This should be quite a game,” said coach George, “and the boys should be ready to play their best football.”
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