By Murray Gleffe, Sports Correspondent
The Ashwaubenon Jaguars came out of the gates early and didn’t let up in defeating the DePere Redbirds by a final of 48-28. Jaguars QB Anthony Guarascio passed for over 350 yards. He threw for 4 touchdowns and ran for another one on the ground. Alex Stanko had 140 yards on the ground (two touchdowns), with 132 of them coming after halftime. Not to be outdone was Will Adair who had 7 catches for 108 yards, and two touchdowns.
The Jaguars started on defense and forced the Redbirds into a punt on their first series of the game. The Jaguars then installed a hurry up offense on their first set from scrimmage. It worked. On 4th and 5 from the Redbirds 21-yard line, Guarascio found Will Adair in the back right corner of the end zone for a pitch and catch. The touchdown and subsequent PAT put the Jaguars up 7-0 with 6:26 left in the 1st Quarter. The Jaguars stingy defense continued to impress through the end of the quarter forcing two more punts, and giving up only 9 yards rushing in the process.
The Jaguars started the first possession of the 2nd stanza at their own 36. Guarascio hit TE Evan Wood for 17, and then connected with Griffin Baierl for 20. Suddenly, the Jaguars were in business. As the drive neared the end zone, the Jaguars once again found themselves facing a 4th down play. This time it was from the Redbird 24-yard line. No problem. Guarascio found WR Will Adair for a touchdown reception. It put the Jaguars up 14-0 with 8:57 left till half. The heartache got worse for the Redbirds on their ensuing possession as Nate Baranek fumbled and Jaguars DT Anthony Boyd recovered. Three plays later, Guarascio found Collin Secor from 35 yards out and just like that the Jaguars jumped out to a 21-0 lead.
The Redbirds marched 79 yards in three minutes to put a score up on the board just before half. The drive was marked by two 30-yard Baranek runs. Gavin Knott was the recipient of the touchdown from QB Christian Bocik. The drive that set the tone for the night was the one engineered by the Jaguars in the final 63 seconds of the half. The Jaguars had to go 79 yards with only one timeout remaining. Guarascio found Adair for 18, a personal foul tacked on another 15. Then, he found Justin Beauleau for 14, Adair for 31, before Guarascio tucked in under center and called his own number from one yard out. It put the Jaguars up 28-6 at halftime. The Jaguars had only two yards rushing, but an impressive 239 yards through the air on 12 completions.
The 3rd Quarter went by with neither team scoring. However, the 4th quarter once again heated up with action. Alex Stanko started the quarter by bulldozing a couple of Redbird secondary players on his way to the end-zone from 15 yards out. It gave the Jaguars a 35-6 lead with 11:46 left in the game. However, the Redbirds fought back with a Max Minor TD reception from Bocik to trim the lead to 35-14 with 9:00 left. The Redbird defense, however, showed more holes on the next series as Alex Stanko padded his rushing total for the evening. During that drive, Stanko ran four times for 59 yards and finished it off with a 15-yard gallop into the north end zone. The Jaguars would give up two more touchdowns with backups in the game, and add one late touchdown themselves to provide the final margin of 48-28. The Jaguars will be back in action next Friday (September 8th) when they host Bay Port in the cross-town rivalry game!
(September 8th..Ashwaubenon vs Bay Port Football Preview 7:00 PM at Goelz Field)
The Jaguars are coming off an impressive 48-28 victory over the DePere Redbirds in which they amassed close to 500 yards of total offense. The front-loaded schedule (which has the likes of Preble, DePere, Bay Port, Pulaski, NDA, SW) features teams that went 37-17 in the FRCC last year. Jaguars QB Anthony Guarascio found his rhythm last week passing for over 350 yards. The young Jaguar receiving core has been impressive early, and no fewer than 6 receivers have caught a ball from Guarascio. Alex Stanko continues to be the primary running threat for the Jaguars. He was held to single digit yards in the first half vs DePere and then exploded for over 130 in the 2nd half. He will have to get good blocking up front from Nolan Reese, Max Nooyen,and Jake Tilkens to open holes up versus an all-state Pirates defense. The Jaguar defense will be tested by the Pirates receiving core of Plumb, Gash, and Tinch. The Pirates have outscored their opponents by a total of 180-20 in their first three victories. In last year’s contest, the Pirates led by a score of 21-14 at halftime in Howard-Suamico before scoring two late touchdowns to capture the contest 35-14 over the Jaguars.
