By Murray Gleffe,
Correspondent
DE PERE- The West De Pere Phantoms football team scored 21 unanswered points the final five minutes of the second quarter to propel them to a 49-7 victory over the Appleton Xavier Hawks. (Sept. 14)
David Vanderlogt rushed for 99 yards and two touchdowns, and Josh Blount threw for 74 yards and accounted for four touchdowns.
“David had some explosive plays tonight,” said Jack Batten, West De Pere football coach. “He was pressing A-Gap for us real well. He held onto the ball. Some people forget he’s only a sophomore.”
The Phantoms defense held the Hawks to just one yard of rushing, and 152 yards of total offense.
West De Pere jumped out on the first series behind the powerful running of Cody Cavil.
Cavil carried the ball five times on the opening drive, and it was capped off after Blount scampered in from a yard out to give the Phantoms an early 7-0 lead.
Unfortunately for the Phantoms, Cavil came out of the game with what appeared to be a lower leg injury and did not return.
A Hawks punt on their first drive set the Phantoms up 74 yards from another score.
They wasted no time.
Behind quarterback keepers, and a Vanderlogt 38-yard dash around the corner, the Phantoms set up shop deep in Hawks territory.
Blount then found Aaron Wagner in the back of the end zone to give West De Pere a 14-0 lead with 3:45 left in the first quarter.
Midway through the second, the Hawks went to a more wide-open west coast attack and it worked.
Hawks quarterback TJ Van Eperen completed six passes on a drive that went 56 yards and lasted almost five minutes.
Van Eperen found Chris VandenHeuvel from 11 yards out in the right corner of the end zone.
Suddenly the early two touchdown margin had been cut to a seven-point game with 5:29 left in the first half.
The final five minutes of the first half showcased how explosive West De Pere has been in 2018.
They ran 11 offensive plays, accounted for 121 yards, and scored three touchdowns!
Sandwiched in was a fumble recovery by West De Pere’s Owen Neuman and a shank punt that was created by the Phantoms special team’s squad.
With the Hawks trailing 35-7 with just seconds remaining till half, they took a knee in their backfield appearing to be shocked at what just happened the latter part of the second quarter.
“I was really proud of the way we finished those three series off in the second quarter,” said Batten. “Give Xavier credit, they hit some passes and scored to make it a game.”
The Phantoms came out of the locker room and didn’t let up a bit.
Blount’s keeper from a yard out put the Phantoms up 42-7 with 8:08 left in the third quarter and amazingly a running clock was enacted for the rest of the contest.
The Phantoms added one last touchdown on a jet sweep by Wagner to account for the game’s final points.
The Phantoms improve to 5-0 on the year and will travel to Seymour next week to take on the Thunder.
“It’s going to sound like a cliché, but our defense held their rushing attack in check,” Batten said. “Their a good young football team, and our 11 players made the plays they needed to get us the win. We have a big one next week on the road with Seymour. In the past, their 33-stack defense has given us fits. We have to be ready to play and take it one week at a time.”
Note: West De Pere High School put on a post-game fireworks display in which the students all gathered on the field to enjoy.
Box Score:
West De Pere 14, 21,14, 0 49
Xavier 0, 7, 0, 0 7
