BY RICH PALZEWIC
CORRESPONDENT
SUAMICO – Bay Port outside linebacker Matt Barnard had the game of his life when his team needed it most.
The senior Barnard recorded a sack, fumble recovery and returned an interception for a touchdown in the Pirates 48-27 Fox River Classic Conference win over Pulaski on September 15 at Bay Port High School.
Barnard’s big night helped Bay Port (5-0) become WIAA playoff eligible and remain undefeated heading into Friday’s showdown at Green Bay Notre Dame, who is also perfect after five weeks.
With the Pirates up 27-14 beginning the third quarter, a bad snap on the first play of the half for Pulaski led to Barnard’s fumble recovery at the 5-yard line. One play later, Jacob Calawerts scored to bump the lead to 34-14. Then with under a minute remaining in the game, Barnard picked off a Dustin Graf pass and scampered 56 yards for a TD down the right sidelines to end the scoring.
In a game that was much closer than the score indicated, mistakes by Pulaski were problematic all night. Graf threw another interception to Carson Schroeder in the first half, the Red Raiders had a 91-yard pass play called back due to a penalty on their first offensive play of the game and gave Bay Port another chance to score after a missed 28-yard field goal late in the first half.
The Raiders had almost as many total yards (340-385) and first downs (14-16) as the Pirates, but three turnovers spelled doom.
Bay Port quarterback Isaac Krause had 144 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 16 attempts; and now has 297 yards rushing and five TDs combined in the last two weeks.
Isaiah Gash added two rushing touchdowns and 85 yards on 12 carries, while Calawerts chipped in with 56 on 15 attempts.
FRCC leading rusher Dylan Hendricks came into the game averaging 188 yards an outing, but was held to 99 yards on 20 carries by the Bay Port defense.
Krause was also 11-of-15 passing for 91 yards and receiver Cordell Tinch had nine receptions for 75 yards.
Defensively, Monty Wendricks added a sack.
Pulaski – 7, 7, 6, 7 – 27
Bay Port – 14, 14, 13, 7 – 48
First quarter
BP: Isaac Krause 10 run (Owen Miller kick)
BP: Krause 43 run (Miller kick)
PUL: Kendall Karcz 90 run (Karcz kick)
Second quarter
PUL: Dustin Graf 3 pass to Karcz (Karcz kick)
BP: Isaiah Gash 40 run (Miller kick)
BP: Jacob Calawerts 2 run (kick failed)
Third quarter
BP: Calawerts 4 run (Miller kick)
PUL: Lucas Gracyalny 3 rush (kick failed)
BP: Gash 5 run (Miller kick)
Fourth quarter
PUL: Graf 4 run (Karcz kick)
BP: Matt Barnard 56 interception return (Miller kick)
Individual leaders
Rushing – PUL: Dylan Hendricks, 20-99; BP: Isaac Krause, 16-144.
Passing – PUL: Dustin Graf, 3-15-84-2; BP: Krause, 11-15-91-1.
Receiving – PUL: Kendall Karcz, 2-79; BP: Cordell Tinch, 9-75.
Notre Dame preview: the Pirates will travel to Notre Dame (5-0) Friday night… the Tritons were a 38-22 winner in week four over Manitowoc Lincoln… Michael Gregoire leads the league with 14 touchdowns… Bay Port scored a go-ahead TD with 1:03 remaining a season ago to beat the Tritons, 20-17… it was estimated that a crowd of 5,000 watched the game at Bay Port High School… Notre Dame is ranked No. 1 in the state in the most recent D3 state poll.
Notes: for the full Pulaski game story, pics and video, CLICK HERE… Bay Port has now won 14 FRCC games in a row, just three shy of Ashwaubenon’s league-best 17-game streak… the Pirates are averaging 55.2 points per game and giving up just 13.6.