Sauk shutout, shutdown

By Dan Watson and Brady Ambrose/Capital Newspapers

In reality, Sauk Prairie's Badger North football game with Reedsburg Friday night was over almost as quickly as it started.

The Beavers scored on their first two possessions to take a two touchdown lead midway through the first quarter, held Sauk Prairie to 60 first-half yards and forced the Eagles to turn the ball over twice in the half en route to a 27-0 halftime lead.

And Reedsburg tacked on one more touchdown early in the second half for a 34-0 win at Millenium Field. "It was a total team defensive effort and when we achieve the majority of the goals we set for a game usually the outcome is going to be in our favor," said RAHS coach Brian Pottinger. "The defense did that and it showed by the 0 on the scoreboard." Senior quarterback Tyler Mazur scored three times, rushed for 127 yards, and also connected with Ryan Dischler on a 28 yard touchdown strike as the Beavers improved to 3-1 in the conference and 5-2 overall. Mazur scampered 42 yards for a touchdown on Reedsburg's seventh play of the game, and he picked up a 16-yard touchdown on the fifth play of the Beavers' next possession to give Reedsburg an early 14-0 lead. "I think the fast start was important for us, because if we did let them think that they could be in this game, then you're seeing a different team,"  Pottinger said. "I thought if we got them down right away, that might have a little bit of a mental affect on them.  They held Reedsburg (5-2, 3-1) to just 130 second half yards — compared to 241 in the first half — and didn't allow the Beavers to score over the final 19 minutes, 24 seconds of the game.

Eagles' coach Scott Schutt commented, "I said (at halftime), 'I don't care what the scoreboard says, it's about showing that you can play football and playing how you're (capable) of.' And I think we did that in the second half."

Mazur struck again midway through the second quarter with a 28-yard touchdown strike to Ryan Dischler — capitalizing on the first play of the possession after a Sauk Prairie fumble gave the Beavers the ball at the Eagles' 28-yard line — to make it 20-0. Justin Huinker's extra-point try sailed wide right.

Huinker ran 14 yards for a touchdown late in the half to make it 27-0, and Mazur picked up his third rushing touchdown — this one for 24 yards — early in the second half to punctuate the Beavers' scoring.

Sauk Prairie had to play much of the game without starting quarterback and free safety Zach Fiene, who appeared to injure his shoulder on a defensive play early in the first quarter and wasn't able to return. The Reedsburg defense held the Eagles to just 132 total yards of offense, with 128 of them coming on the ground.

The Beavers rushed for 328 yards on 45 carries, with Mazur leading the way. Huinker had 70 on 12 carries, Chad Mazur had 60 on 3 carries, and Lennon had 30 on 2 carries. Pottinger noted "It was obvious they were trying to take away our perimeter game based on our success against Mount Horeb so that opened up the inside option game for Tyler and Justin."

The Beavers will now face their biggest challenge of the year when they travel to Waunakee Friday night to take on the Warriors. Waunakee is currently ranked 35 in the state in the latest associated press poll and are undefeated. "It's a typical Waunakee team that really doesn't have any weaknesses and they don't make many mistakes. It will be a great challenge for us," said Pottinger, "But I know our kids are looking forward to it."