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Quick-striking West De Pere wins again

By Greg Bates
Sports Editor
DE PERE – West De Pere football coach Chris Greisen doesn’t mind throwing a little razzle-dazzle into his
offense’s arsenal.
And his players certainly love to have fun and execute what’s drawn up.
With his team up 22-0 against rival Ashwaubenon on Friday, Greisen dialed up a beauty called, “Jaguar.”
Ryder LeSage came in motion to take a pitch and he then pitched it to fellow wide receiver Langdon
Nordgaard, who then dished it back to quarterback Duke Shovald. Looking to the end zone, Shovald hit
tight end Sutter Deschane for a 29-yard touchdown.
“We called it once before and then it was a false start, so we called it and we were like, ‘Oh, yeah. This is
the time we’re going to get it.’ And he was wide open,” Shovald said. “It makes my job easy.”
The guys were all smiles after the big touchdown put the Phantoms up four scores. West De Pere rolled
from there, scoring a 43-20 victory over Ashwaubenon in Fox River Classic Conference (FRCC) action.
That play is the epitome of how much fun the West De Pere players and coaches are having early this
season.
“Our kids played really well,” Greisen said. “I don’t care what Ashwaubenon’s record is, Brian
Ryczkowski’s a good coach, I’ve coached against him for a long time. We knew they were going to try
and be physical with us, and we knew we had to bring that physicality ourselves. We really executed
well, especially in the first half. We had a lot of different wrinkles that we put in and our guys just did a
great job.
“Our defense getting six turnovers, that’s huge. It’s not only getting the turnovers, but capitalizing on
them and I thought we did a phenomenal job.”
West De Pere, ranked No. 7 in Division 2 in the latest WisSports.net Football Coaches Poll, forced
Ashwaubenon gunslinging quarterback Boone Kirst into a career-high five interceptions.
Kirst threw five
interceptions all of last season.
The Phantoms scored 22 points off those turnovers. Defensive back Carter Schmitt finished with four
interceptions.
“We thought we could have played them a little more competitively,” Ashwaubenon coach Brian
Ryczkowski said. “We knew they had some talent on offense and they had a good defense, and I thought
it would have been closer than it was. But anytime a team puts a couple up on you quick, it’s like putting
gas on the fire.”

West De Pere (4-0, 2-0 FRCC) scored its first points just 1 minute, 35 seconds into the game. Shovald hit
Benjamin Lemirand on a 54-yard strike to make it 7-0.
After Schmitt’s first interception of the game, West De Pere’s quick-striking offense needed just three
points. Star running back Najeh Mitchell took a handoff and raced 54 yards for a touchdown just 18
seconds into the second quarter.
Nolan Mathews stepped in front of a Kirst pass for an interception deep in Ashwaubenon territory.
Shovald called his own number on the first play and resulted in a 45-yard touchdown run.
Ashwaubenon (1-3, 1-1 FRCC) had to punt on its fifth drive of the opening half, again setting up West De
Pere with great field position.
That set up the fun trickery play where Shovald hit Deschane for a 29-yard touchdown.
The “Jaguar” was a special wrinkle for the game.
“We put it in and then we didn’t practice it much and then we kind of just got it down right before in our
walk-through,” Shovald said. “Lang had a good flip, Ryder had a good flip and Sutter with a good catch,
wide open.”
“We knew that they have some real aggressive safeties, so we knew that we could take advantage of it,”
Greisen said. “The kids executed, it was awesome. And they like plays like that. It’s kind of like you’re in
the backyard a little bit. We just know we’re going to have some bullets in our holsters that we can pull
out and take our shots.”
Ashwaubenon got on the board on a Jacob McVane 6-yard run for a touchdown to make it 29-7.
After a fumble recovery, the Jaguars drove inside in the 20-yard line. Trying to take a shot at the end
zone with 2 seconds remaining in the half, Kirst was sacked by Easton Deschane and Andrew Baumgart.
Lemirand scored his second of the touchdown as he took a reserve and raced 35 yards for a touchdown
to put the Phantoms up comfortably, 36-7.
Gus Newel had a 98-yard touchdown run to give Ashwaubenon a shot. However, Mitchell raced 54 yards
with a touchdown to make it 43-14.
“Najeh’s a game-breaker,” Greisen said. “You just run a simple gap play and he takes it to the house.
That’s pretty special when you can call a simple play like that and he takes it all the way. I look like a
genius.”
Nathan Barlament scored on a 1-yard run.
Kirst finished 16-for-29 for 159 yards and five interceptions. His top receivers were Jayden Schoen and
Caden Van Duyse. Newel racked up 124 yards rushing and McVane added 120.
West De Pere stats following the game weren’t available.

Up next, West De Pere travels to Pulaski for a big conference matchup on Sept. 16.
Pulaski, ranked No. 3 in Division 2 in the latest WisSports.net Football Coaches Poll, is coming off its first
loss of the season, falling 23-7 to Bay Port.
“They’re good and Jared does such a great job out there,” said Greisen and Pulaski. “We’re excited. We
feel this is a pretty special team and we’re excited.

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