HORICON — Once they saw it, Mayville’s seniors charged and started screaming like banshees Friday night.
The Cardinals, Marsh Bowl in tow, are back on the warpath.
Mayville kept host Horicon to 117 total yards while slamming the door with a 30-0 Flyway football shutout. Junior Nick Hasch carried 24 times for 146 yards and a 41-yard touchdown as Horicon was never really in it.
“They beat us up and down the field,” Horicon coach Jim Trost said. “They beat us in every facet.”
Mayville (3-4, 2-3 Flyway) was 1-4 and practically left for dead two weeks ago but followed up a 10-7 four-overtime win at Kettle Moraine Lutheran Saturday with a dominating performance. After running half the table needed to reach the playoffs, the postseason doesn’t seem far away for the Cardinals anymore.
“We had difficult games on the schedule early,” said senior Teddy Dejno, who scored on a TD run and capped the bagel with an interception. “Every game’s a playoff game now and we’re always pumped to play.”
Horicon (2-5, 1-4) failed with an onside kick to start the game. Mayville trampled the Marshmen with a tone-setting opening drive of seven plays, all runs, capped by Scott Moyle’s 9-yard scamper.
“We tried to make a play to start the game,” Trost said. “We’ve been inexperienced and undersized.”
Horicon drove into Mayville territory but Dejno sniffed out a screen and forced the Marshmen to give up the ball on downs. A chop block penalty put the Cardinals in a 1st-and-25 but two long runs from Hasch, the last of which went 41 yards for a score, deflated the hosts.
Not only did Mayville equal their season-high point output for a game early in the second quarter, but it did so from an unlikely source. Hasch entered the game with only 20 carries to his credit but didn’t look the least bit rusty.
“It’s what he likes to do,” Mayville coach Jason Harder said of Hasch. “He’s really an I-back and he’s good downhill.”
In Harder’s first year, injuries and the process of coaching at a new school led to a lot of offensive tinkering. It turns out the Cardinals have found an identity not unfamiliar to past Mayville teams — stingy defense, physical ground control.
On its next possession, Nick Geiger made a fantastic diving catch for 30 yards from Tyler Salzman. That set up Dejno, who broke a tackle on a fullback trap and bolted 22 yards to paydirt.
Marcus Hofmeister’s sack forced another Horicon punt, leading to Moyle’s 21-yard field goal with 10 seconds left in the half. The Cardinals sealed the game when Hasch pushed in from a yard out with 9:23 to play.
“We’ve done a lot of jelling and we still have more to do,” Harder said. “We’ve got a couple more games to pound out.
“Sometimes, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”
Mayville hosts Laconia next week while Horicon receives a visit from Winnebago Lutheran Academy.
MAYVILLE 30, HORICON 0
Mayville 7 17 0 6 - 30
Horicon 0 0 0 0 - 0
M - Moyle 9 run (Moyle kick) 8:40
M - N. Hasch (kick failed) 10:57
M - Dejno 22 run (Hasch run) 5:32
M - Moyle 21 FG, :10
M - Hasch 1 run (kick failed) 9:23
TEAM STATISTICS
First downs - M 15, H 8. Rushing (Att.-Yds.) - M 48-264, H 24-71. Passing yards - M 86, H 46. Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) - M 5-7-1, H 5-14-2. Fumbles-lost - M 1-0, H 2-1. Penalties-yards - M 3-35, H 4-35.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: M - Hasch 24 146; H - Stern 18-69. Passing: M - Salzman 5-7-1, 86; H - Mueller 5-14-2, 46. Receiving: M - Geiger 3-78; H - Willie 3-39.