By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
GREEN BAY- 17 points. That’s all the points that were put up Thursday evening as the Green Bay Preble Hornets defeated the Ashwaubenon Jaguars by a final of 10-7 (Aug. 16).
Sophomore receiver Luke Schroeder scored the lone touchdown for the Jaguars.
Dawson Dembroski led the Jaguars with 128 yards passing.
Schroeder had 53 yards receiving, and Jonathan Maldonado led the ground attack with 39 yards rushing.
The Hornets rushed for 157 yards as a team but needed 44 carries to do so.
Both teams exchanged punts to begin the game.
On Green Bay Preble’s ensuing drive and facing a 4th and 2 from the Ashwaubenon 33-yard line, Quarterback Jack Dessart threw an incomplete pass to Clay Kott. However, the back official called a Jaguars defensive back for targeting to the head area and the drive continued on for the Hornets.
Four plays later, Hornets placekicker Nick Hummel booted a 27-yard field goal through the uprights to give them an early 3-0 lead.
“That was definitely an early momentum changer for them,” said Mark Jonas, Jaguars football coach. “We got flagged for a penalty and it turned out to be a big three points for them.”
The Jaguars next two possessions in the first quarter resulted in punts as they continually were stymied by the Hornets defensive front.
With just seven seconds remaining in the first quarter, and the Hornets driving to take a two- possession lead, Jaguars defensive back Ashton Steinike stepped in front of Kott in the endzone to make the interception and turn the ball over.
The second quarter was almost a mirror image of the first for the Jaguars.
Three more punts left them with no points in the first half, but the defense continually kept Ashwaubenon in the football game.
Midway through the second stanza, Riley Nissen picked Dessart off for a second time preserving the three-point deficit.
“Riley made a great read on their quarterback to make the interception,” said Jonas. “He then had the vision to get downfield with his running ability.”
A weird sequence then occurred just before half.
A 38-yard punt return by Logan Dorner set the Hornets up on the Jaguars half of the field.
Mismanagement of time, though, resulted in no points for Green Bay Preble as the clock ran to zero.
Despite a big disparity in yardage, the Jaguars knew they were fortunate to be only down 3-0 at intermission.
The Hornets put together their best drive of the evening with just over six minutes remaining in the third quarter.
A poor punt by the Jaguars and a 24-yard pitch and catch from Dessart to Kott set the Hornets up deep in Jaguars territory.
Two plays later Kody Joski barreled into the line, kept going, and kept going.
The end result was a 6-yard touchdown run to give the Hornets a 10-0 lead with 6:02 left in the third.
After the ensuing kickoff, the Jaguars put together an impressive 11 play, 73-yard drive that put them at the Hornets 5-yard line.
On 3rd and 5, from the five, Dembroski took the quarterback keeper straight up the middle and was stripped as he approached the goal line.
The Hornets recovered the fumble and the Jaguars remained scoreless on the big board.
The Jaguars defense forced three 4th quarter punts to give them an opportunity late to cut into the 10-point margin.
Dembroski hit Sam Nooyen and Cam Wheeler once, and Schroeder three times.
The last of his completions resulted in a left corner of the endzone touchdown from three yards out.
After the extra point was tacked on by Sam Lokken, the Hornets lead had been trimmed to 10-7 with still 1:50 remaining in the contest.
The ensuing onside kick was recovered by the Hornets and they ran the remainder of the clock out to escape with a three-point win.
“I thought our defense played exceptionally well tonight,” said Jonas. “We forced two big turnovers. We just couldn’t get enough consistency with our offense. We are young. Some people keep forgetting that. We are breaking in new starters at quarterback, running back, receiver, and most of the entire offensive line. We’re only in week one.”
The Jaguars fall to 0-1 and will host the Tritons of Notre Dame Academy next Thursday at Goelz Field.
Box Score:
Ashwaubenon 0,0,0,7 7
Green Bay Preble 3,0,7,0 10
