Poynette squad hands Chiefs defeat
By Jim den Hollander
The nickname may be changed, but the result is basically the same in Poynette. The Wisconsin Dells High School varsity football team snapped a 94-minute funk when junior Ryan Stroede hit the end zone with under two minutes left Friday night, but that was not enough to avoid a 16-6 defeat and an 0-2 start to the 2009 football season. During a five year stretch from 2001-05, the Poynette team was a South Central Conference rival for the Chiefs and their record against the locals was a perfect 5-0. Last season the Chiefs earned an 18-0 win over Poynette, but they still haven’t found a way to win on the Poynette field. The Chiefs certainly looked more comfortable on the field with Poynette, but some missed early opportunities and some big plays for Poynette allowed the team to build up a 16-0 lead early in the third quarter. Head coach Bob Johnson said in a telephone interview later, he expected more, but added he absolutely hasn’t given up on the Chiefs’ chances for this season. "I think that maybe Poynette made fewer errors than we did in this one," said the coach. "Actually, I expected a little bit better showing from us. I thought we had a really good chance of winning this one...so, I was a little disappointed." Like the earlier game against Kingsford, the Chiefs looked good in the first quarter and actually was taking the game to Poynette. The Chiefs appeared on its way to opening the scoring but had a pair of early drives stopped suddenly by interceptions, both inside of the Poynette 20-yard line. The Poynette squad used the interceptions to change momentum and collected 10 points in the final five minutes of the first half to break a scoreless deadlock. Poynette added another three points with a field goal in the final minute, then scored with its first possession of the second half as well. Meanwhile, despite some sparkling moments – many provided by senior Bobby Blaschke who collected 100 yards on 18 carries – the Chiefs found most of their drives stalled out of field goal range. Poynette kept junior quarterback Skylar Liebzeit under pressure and when he was able to get the ball away, the young receiving corps had a hard time keeping it. Poynette limited the Chiefs to 43 yards passing, 35 of them coming on a slant pass that Ryan Stroede carried 35 yards to the Poynette end zone with 1:45 to play. Ironically, the first successful drive of the season for the team was just two plays. Skylar Liebzeit took the ball on the first play and scampered 48 yards to the Poynette 35, setting up Stroede’s score. The score gives the Chiefs a little momentum as they move on to prepare for River Valley on Friday. "We showed we can move the ball," said coach Johnson. "Our passing game struggled a bit," said the coach, but, (the touchdown) gave us a boost." Johnson said the solid finish carried over into a good practice on Monday. For details see the notes on Page A9. POYNETTE 16, WISCONSIN DELLS 6 Wisconsin Dells 0 0 0 6 — 6 Poynette 0 10 6 0 — 16 P - Odegaard 31 run (Odegaard kick), 2nd 02:29 P - FG Odegaard 28, 2nd 00:29 P - Wood 4 run (Kick failed), 3rd 06:01 WD - Stroede 35 pass from Liebzeit (pass failed), 4th 01:45 TEAM STATS WD PO First downs 8 15 Total Net Yards 200 359 Rushes-yards 28-157 49-258 Passing 43 101 Comp-Att-Int 2-14-2 11-17-0 Penalties-Yards 3-25 5-30 Fumbles-Lost 3-0 1-0