MAYVILLE — Mike Gionet put it all together Friday night.
Mayville's senior quarterback had to change his jersey but there was no disguising his impressive play.
He completed 9 of 13 passes for 138 yards, including a huge 30-yard scoring pass to Scott Moyle, as the Cardinals drilled seventh-ranked Kettle Moraine Lutheran, 31-14, at Ray Dunn Field.
"That's our potential and we have even more," Gionet said. "If we don't make mistakes we can play even better.
"I made some mistakes earlier in the year but I just improved every day. It's all about our offensive line."
If Winnebago Lutheran Academy beats St. Mary's Springs today, Mayville (5-1, 4-0 Flyway) will have first place to themselves. KML, a Division 4 finalist a year ago, looked like a team coming off a bye week.
"We can't use that as an excuse," KML coach Mark Otte said. "We're going to learn from this and get better.
"I'm disappointed in our effort and I'm not sure if we didn't think they were this good, but this proved us wrong."
Mayville struggled past Horicon in last week's Marsh Bowl but jumped all over the Chargers. The Cardinals turned two interceptions and a muffed punt into 21 points.
"This is one of the best overall games we've had in some time," Mayville coach Tom Noennig said. "'Gio' played great and our line blocked well.
"We've always been able to move the ball against them but I'd be lying if I thought we'd be up 17-0 at halftime and up 31-0."
Mayville took the opening drive to the KML 11 but settled for Scott Moyle's 29-yard field goal. Four plays later, Nick Weiss picked off Taylor Koth and returned it 24 yards to the Charger 36, setting up Kevin Goard's 1-yard TD run for a 10-0 edge.
Midway through the second quarter, Ben Steinbrenner dove to field a punt with Weiss recovering at the Charger 31. On 4th-and-10, Gionet threw across his body and over three KML defensive backs to find Moyle for the backbreaker.
"Mike threw some great passes," said Jared Nehls, who carried nine times for 89 yards. "They're one of the top teams and our whole team stepped up and played great."
Nehls picked off Koth on the first drive of the second half and set Mayville up at the KML 36 with a 24-yard return. Six plays later, Nick Hasch took a pitch out and slipped a tackle on his way to a 21-yard run and a 24-0 lead.
"That's huge," Noennig said. "We preach all the time about playing error-free and winning the turnover battle.
"We have to play error-free because we're not that explosive."
A host of Cardinals sacked Koth on third down to stall the next KML drive. Nehls made it two scores in 3:16 when he took a trap untouched 38 yards to cap Mayville's scoring.
"That's our identity," Gionet said. "We want to run the ball first and then throw when we want to."
KML got two scores in the fourth quarter but a hard count by Gionet and a sneak for 10 yards helped drain the clock. Mayville visits North Fond du Lac next week.
MAYVILLE 31, KML 14
KML 0 0 0 14 - 14
Mayville 10 7 14 0 - 31
M - FG Moyle 29, 1st 09:14
M - Goard 1 run (Moyle kick), 1st 05:00
M - Moyle 30 pass from Gionet (Moyle kick), 2nd 03:46
M - Hasch 21 run (Moyle kick), 3rd 07:46
M - Nehls 38 run (Moyle kick), 3rd 03:30
KM L - Eastman 3 run (Martin from Koth), 4th 11:47
KML - Koth 13 run (pass failed), 4th 06:35
KML M
First downs 13 12
Total Net Yards 268 313
Rushes-yards 33-164 40-175
Passing 104 138
Comp-Att-Int 9-23-2 9-14-0
Penalties-Yards 3-20 3-25
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 0-0
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS: RUSHING - KML, Eastman 22-97. M, Nehls 9-89. PASSING - KML, Koth 9-23-2-104. M, Gionet 9-13-0-138. RECEIVING - KML, Kriege 5-68. M, Moyle 4-65.