By Greg Bates
Correspondent
DE PERE – Luca Gemignani was joking around with his teammates in practice saying the next night he was going to score a touchdown.
The senior on the De Pere football team had never scored a touchdown in his career, at any level, which isn’t surprising because he’s a defensive lineman.
Gemignani lived out every big man’s dream by delivering a scoop-and-score in the second quarter against Sheboygan North April 30.
“It was cool,” Gemignani said. “I didn’t think it was going to happen, but I called it (in practice), and it happened.”
Gemignani’s big moment was part of another defensive masterpiece in the Redbirds’ 42-7 Fox Valley Classic Conference crossover victory.
“I’m proud of him,” said De Pere head coach Chad Michalkiewicz about Gemignani. “He’s an interesting story. He didn’t play as much as a kid would like as a junior, but we talked to him about how big of a prospect he is for us and trust the program and you’ll get what you want out of it. He got more out of this season than that moment, but it was a great kind of exclamation point for him.”
De Pere’s (6-0) defense – which is surrendering only 6.83 points per game – again rose to the occasion.
Sheboygan North’s lone touchdown came midway through the fourth quarter when De Pere was playing its reserves against the Raiders’ first-team offense.
De Pere gave up a paltry 108 yards of total offense.
“It’s everyone giving 100 percent and playing their part – completely a team effort,” said Gemignani. “And I score touchdowns, too, so that helps. Nah, I’m only kidding.”
De Pere forced six turnovers – four fumbles, two on kickoff returns, and two interceptions – to put the offense in plus field position on most of its drives.
“Our defense has been dominant all year, but we have not taken the ball away,” Michalkiewicz said. “We’ve forced lots of punts, which I’m not going to complain about, but for them to tip the scales on the turnover ratio tonight was good.”
An 18-yard touchdown run by quarterback Gabe Herman and a 2-yard touchdown pass from Herman to wide receiver Bennett Spaeth put De Pere up 14-0 in the second quarter.
On the next North drive, there was a pitch to Sir Willie Robinson, who coughed up the ball.
That’s when Gemignani raced to the ball, picked it up and went 8 yards for a touchdown.
With a 22-0 lead at halftime, the De Pere coaches and players didn’t seem satisfied.
“We came out a little slow on senior night,” said senior Bennett Spaeth. “We got together at halftime under the bleachers, and we rallied our troops together. Creds to the defense and special teams getting turnovers and getting us the ball back.”
What happened next was a sequence to behold for De Pere fans.
Herman hit Maddax Shinners for a 21-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal and Adam Timbrook added his second 2-point run of the game.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Raiders fumbled, and Mason Stecker recovered for De Pere.
On the next play, Herman hit tight end Noah Gehin over the middle for a 22-yard touchdown.
Déjà vu happened again on the ensuing kickoff as North fumbled and Blaise Smits jumped on it for the Redbirds.
With backup quarterback Patrick Rotherham in the game, De Pere needed four plays to score, as Rotherham hit Spaeth for a 10-yard touchdown.
That capped off a 20-point run by De Pere in a matter of 3 minutes, 16 minutes.
And just like that, the game was over.
De Pere’s offense put up big numbers on the night with 340 yards – 190 of those coming on the ground.
Timbrook led the way with 14 carries for 127 yards (9.1 yards per attempt).
Through the air, Herman was 11-for-20 for 140 yards and three touchdowns and one interception.
The sophomore has now thrown 14 touchdown passes this season and only two picks.
“You can put them both on Coach for throwing one up,” Michalkiewicz said. “That’s the end of a half situation. That’s a coach’s call – you’re throwing it no matter what. You can put that one on me.”
Spaeth had a team-leading six catches for 51 yards, two touchdowns and intercepted one pass on defense.
Shinners hauled in five catches for 77 and a score.
De Pere’s offense should again how lethal it is.
“To be completely honest, I don’t think there’s a single defense that can completely guard any of our receivers,” Spaeth said. “It’s always going to be a tough matchup for whoever we play.”
De Pere will have a chance to cap off an undefeated season May 7.
It will play at Oshkosh West (4-2) in a crossover championship game.
Spaeth said he’s looking forward to ending his last high school football game in style.
“Being able to play is amazing, and then being able to go 6-0 with another game and being able to play in the championship is awesome,” he said. “This team has come together perfectly and been lots of fun together.”