Chiefs sting Hornets in opener
Sophomore quarterback Skylar Liebzeit (right #11) was calling the shots in the huddle for the Chiefs in their season opener at Richland Center Friday night. He handled the job like a veteran and led the Chiefs to a 26-6 win.
By Jim den Hollander
It's hard to imagine a better start to the 2008 for the Wisconsin Dells High School varsity football team. The Chiefs made the trip to Richland Center for its first game against the Hornets in ages and showed quickly they are not about to continue a good year-bad year trend that has been the norm through the past half-dozen seasons. In fact, in an opener that saw two 6-4 teams from last season opening the season against each other, the Chiefs as a squad showed off a ton of speed, strength and flat out talent in a 26-6 season opening victory. The Chiefs knew they had a tough job ahead of them and it got tougher when it was discovered just hours before the game that Kyle Theiler would not be able to play. Out for a brief stretch during the pre-season with what he thought was an allergic reaction, Theiler had returned to practice on the week of the season opener. However, an internal injury has him back on the sidelines likely until at least after this Friday's home opener. Sophomore Skylar Liebzeit, who took a majority of the snaps at the team's scrimmage a week earlier was behind center again and showed the confidence, maturity and poise of a veteran in leading his team to the victory. Offensive Coordinator, Jeff Buss, a practice casualty himself through the week was more than impressed with what he saw from Liebzeit. "He had a great week of practice," said the coach. "I said you're going to have to step up - We will not give you something you haven't worked on - he handled himself well, he played tremendous." Senior Michael Morse, the team's leading rusher since he was a freshman picked up right where he left off as a junior, carrying the ball 25 times and racking up 129 yards. When the Hornets were forced to adjust for Morse, it opened the door for the passing game and Liebzeit came through in a big way, connecting on eight of 11 attempts for 156 passing yards, including a couple of touchdown passes. Defenses dominated the early going, but the Chiefs put a nice drive together to end the opening quarter, moving the ball 67 yards on 12 plays, capped off by a Michael Morse plunge into the Hornets' end zone from two yards out, 68 seconds from the end of the opening period. A bad snap on a two point conversion held the Chiefs to a 6-0 cushion and it was another final minute strike that gave the locals a 14-0 halftime cushion. This time Liebzeit found Jake Williams from seven yards out and followed it up with a pass to Jimmy Alvin for the two-point conversion, the Chiefs kicking off with just 31 seconds to play in the half. However, the locals threatened to steal even more half time momentum when Morse picked off a pass by Hornets' quarterback David Hanold and dashed down the sidelines to within a step of the end zone. Unfortunately, all the Chiefs added with the play was momentum as Morse was brought down within a half-yard of the end zone as time ran out in the first half. However, that proved to be a huge play and while the opening half seemed relatively close, the second half was all Chiefs. After making up for its misfortune on the half ending play, the Chiefs made up for it with a second half opening drive to the Hornets' end zone, Morse capping it off from 10 yards out for his second touchdown of the night. Then less than a minute later, Morse was in the right place at the right time again, grabbing a Hanold fumble at the Richland Center 40 and giving the Chiefs possession again at the 30. On the next play, Liebzeit passed to Alvin who made a spectacular over the shoulder catch and continued on to the Richland Center end zone. The Chiefs failed on another two-point conversion but owned a comfortable 26-0 cushion. Head coach Bob Johnson began sprinkling in bench players before the end of the third quarter so everyone got a chance to stoke their competitive fires early in the season. The hosts did salvage some consolation out of the opening game defeat, putting together a drive in the final three minutes that culminated with a five yard run to the end zone by David Dobbs, robbing the Chiefs of a shutout with just 16 seconds left on the clock. Upcoming Games The Chiefs will meet former South Central Conference rival Poynette Indians in its home opener on Friday night. Originally, that game began a stretch of four straight at home, but an announced change in the schedule will see the team traveling to play at Mayville Sept. 12 rather than a home game with the Wisconsin Home School Saints. WISCONSIN DELLS 26, RICHLAND CENTER 6 Wisconsin Dells 6 8 12 0 — 26 Richland Center 0 0 0 6 — 6 Wisconsin Dells — Wisconsin Dells — Wisconsin Dells — Wisconsin Dells — Richland Center — TEAM STATISTICS First downs — INDIVIDUAL LEADERS Rushing: