ELGIN — The Wynot Blue Devils took advantage of Elgin’s size advantage, and scorching heat Friday afternoon to defeat the Wolfpack 36 to 21.
The Blue Devils’ speed and athleticism proved to be too much for the Wolfpack as they dropped their second game of the season.
“We missed so many opportunities, so many missed tackles in the backfield that we should have had, a couple turnovers that we should have had. The guys were there,” Co-Coach Nick Heithoff said after the game. “We thought we could pound away on them, and we did. Then, we just had costly penalties. We had a fumble that resulted in a turnover, a big false start there in the first half, maybe a couple false starts.”
Wynot got on the board in the first quarter when Braxton Oligmueller scored on a six-yard run, then added a second touchdown late in the quarter on another run by Oligmueller to lead 14 to 0.
In the second quarter the Wolfpack got on the scoreboard when senior signal-caller Michael Selting found junior tight end Max Henn midway through the second quarter. Jayvin Erickson’s PAT kick made it a one-score game with plenty of time on the clock before halftime.
Wynot answered the Wolfpack’s second quarter touchdown with one of their own. With just 35 seconds left before halftime, Wyatt Nelson burned through Wolfpack tacklers for a 35-yard touchdown run.
The late score made it a two-possession game as the Blue Devils seized momentum going into halftime.
“It was huge,” Heithoff said about Wynot’s touchdown right before halftime. The score came on fourth down. “We had them in fourth and five or longer multiple times. We just couldn’t make stops.”
The second half saw the Wolfpack take the kickoff and run the ball right at the Blue Devils picking up several first downs but couldn’t get the ball in the endzone. As the half played out, both teams would trade touchdowns twice.
Kameron Koch scored on a two-yard run, then added the two-point conversion for a 30 to 7 lead just past the halfway point in the third quarter.
The Wolfpack got a break early in the fourth quarter when linebacker Gavin Kallhoff recovered a Wynot fumble on the Wynot 19-yard line. EPPJ was in the endzone just a few plays later when Selting again hooked up with Henn. Selting connected with Joseph McNally for the two-point conversion to make the score 30 to 15.
Then, in the game’s final two minutes, two touchdowns were scored. For Wynot, Braylon Hans caught a touchdown pass with 1:28 left on the clock.
On the Wolfpack’s final play of the game, freshman Sawyer Veik scorched the Blue Devils’ defense with a 50-yard run.
The loss dropped EPPJ’s record to 0-2.
Wynot 36, EPPJ 21
Blue Devils………..14 8 8 6 — 36
Wolfpack……………0 7 0 14 — 21
Wyn — Braxton Oligmueller 6 run (PAT failed)
Wyn — Oligmueller 3 run (Oligmueller run)
EPPJ — Michael Selting 14 pass to Max Henn (Jayvin Erickson kick)
Wyn — Wyatt Nelson 35 run (Oligmueller run)
Wyn — Kameron Koch 2 run (Koch run)
EPPJ — Selting 20 pass to Henn (Selting pass to Joseph McNally)
Wyn — Koch 11 pass to Braylon Hans (PAT failed)
EPPJ — Sawyer Veik 50 run (no PAT attempt)
Team Statistics Wynot EPPJ
Rushing 35/268 38/144
Passing 5/9/0 6/14/0
Passing Yds 31 77
Total Offense 299 221
…..see more at this week’s Elgin Review.
