By Greg Bates
Correspondent
DE PERE – All game long, the De Pere defense was having a tough time slowing down Notre Dame Academy running back James Arett.
But when it needed to make a stop on the most critical play of the game, the Redbirds’ defense stood strong.
With De Pere clinging to a 10-7 lead late in the fourth quarter, Notre Dame faced a third-and-goal from the Redbirds’ 2-yard line.
Arett had already carried the ball over 30 times for 200 yards.
He took a pitch and was driven back for a 3-yard loss.
“Ethan Hohol, he’s a beast tight end, but he’s pretty darn good on defense, too,” said De Pere Head coach Chad Michalkiewicz. “He pinched it down, and their running back had to bounce it flat. Anytime they’re on the goal line and you make the running back go lateral, that’s a good thing. We chased and tackled. It was a good play by our defense.”
Notre Dame head coach Mike Rader optioned for a 22-yard field attempt by junior kicker Aiden Wolfram.
Spotted on the right hash mark, Wolfram pushed the ball wide right.
De Pere’s offense then ran out the clock for a much-needed 10-7 Fox River Classic Conference victory over the Tritons at De Pere High School Sept. 13.
It was the first time since 2015 De Pere beat Notre Dame.
“This is amazing,” De Pere senior quarterback Christian Bocik said. “I know we struggled in the past against Notre Dame, but we all came as a group. We shot ourselves in the foot a few times, but we came out with a big win.”
The loss was Notre Dame’s third in a row.
The Tritons haven’t dropped three consecutive games since the ’12 season.
“We needed this win to get back on track,” Rader said. “I thought there were long stretches of very good effort and a couple of stretches that burned us.”
The De Pere offense was slow out of the start but pieced together a nice second-quarter drive.
Adam Fitzgerald had a 7-yard run down to the Notre Dame 4.
On third-and-goal from the 3, Bocik rolled out of the pocket and hit Hohol in the back of the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown.
“A cornerback fell for the fake, so there was only one corner covering two guys, and I lobbed it up to my favorite tight end,” Bocik said. “Ethan Hohol is awesome.”
Notre Dame didn’t need much time to answer.
Arett took a pitch and raced 69 yards down the Tritons’ sideline to tie it at 7-7 with 5:03 remaining in the opening half.
The Redbirds got the ball late in the second quarter.
Bocik connected with Maddax Shinners for a 37-yard gain down to the Notre Dame 14-yard line.
A 13-yard pass to Payton VanLaarhoven set De Pere up at the 1 with less than 40 seconds before halftime.
Three straight incomplete passes mixed in with a false start made De Pere attempt a field goal with Mulu Joyce.
The senior was perfect from 22 yards out to give De Pere a 10-7 lead at halftime.
“That was a situation where some people in the stands were barking about clock management, but we knew what we were doing,” Michalkiewicz said. “We knew the down situation; we knew we have a field goal kicker. It was disappointing around the 1-inch line with a false start, now we’ve got to put the ball in the air to save the timeout for the field goal. But we’ve got a good kicker and we were confident we would at least get three.”
When Notre Dame was on the doorstep of scoring late in the fourth quarter, Rader entertained the notion of going for touchdown, which could have meant a victory on the road.
However, he played it safe with his kicker.
“Fourth-and-goal at the 5 when you’re down three, of course, you think about it,” Rader said. “We made the decision to go for the points and we didn’t hit it.”
The win puts De Pere at 2-2 overall after starting the season by losing its first two games.
“It gives us a lot of confidence,” Bocik said. “2-2 sounds a lot better than 1-3. We’re on a roll right now – two wins in a row, and we’re feeling really good.”