By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
DE PERE — The West De Pere football team gave up 42 points in week six against Menasha – a game head coach Jack Batten vows to never repeat.
“We had a terrible defensive performance in that first game against Menasha,” said Batten. “It’s on me and the scheme we brought that night. Give Menasha credit – they watched our [2018] state film game with Catholic Memorial for two or three months and then turned it loose on us. We were not well prepared for the flex look they gave us.”
The two squads square off again Nov. 8 at West De Pere at 7 p.m.
Like last season, the Phantoms enter the third round of the playoffs with an 11-0 record.
West De Pere perhaps had its best win of the season in Level 2 with a 56-17 victory over Grafton.
As staggering as the numbers were last year, this year’s performance might be more impressive.
Eight of the Phantoms’ 11 games have had a running clock, and many of the starters have only played full games in about half of the contests.
Offensively, West De Pere is averaging 51.3 points per game and has accumulated 5,070 total yards.
Junior quarterback Josh Blount has rushed for 1,309 yards and thrown for 1,090 yards.
He has accounted for 30 touchdowns.
In the backfield, the Phantoms have a two-headed monster with David Vanderlogt and Sam Mommaerts.
The duo has combined for more than 2,000 yards and 34 touchdowns.
Despite being a running team 90 percent of the time, opposing teams can’t sleep on Blount’s underrated passing.
The receiving duo of Aaron Wagner and Marcus VanVreede has caught 38 balls for 669 yards.
The Bluejays enter the game with a 10-1 record and counter with multi-dimensional quarterback Cole Popp, who has rushed for 552 yards and thrown for 1,292 yards.
However, the majority of the offense goes through all-conference running back Tyler Roehl, who has rushed for more than 1,600 yards and scored 18 total touchdowns.