The Saukville Rebels battled gamely, but the Junior Blue Dukes' one-two punch of speed and toughness helped them surge past their hosts in a satisfying 31-12 road victory Saturday afternoon.
Zach Casey started the scoring by ripping off a 50-yard TD run in the first quarter. Later in the quarter, after the Blue Dukes defensive line pressured the Saukville quarterback, Jake Fisher continued his thieving ways by intercepting a Saukville pass.
In the second quarter, Ryan Hummer threw a TD pass to Carter Heston, and Macklin Kortebein returned a Saukville punt for a touchdown, weaving his way through several would-be tacklers.
The Junior Blue Dukes also had a couple of potential touchdowns brought back due to their own penalties.
The halftime score was 18-0.
Neither team scored in the third quarter. Saukville opened the 4th quarter with a short touchdown run, cutting the margin to 18-6.
But Kortebein answered with a long TD run, and Hummer passed to Bailey Weiland for the extra point, resetting the score at 25-6.
Saukville broke off a long TD run to narrow the gap to 25-12.
The Junior Blue Dukes closed out the scoring when Scott Rojahn caught a Jake Fisher pass in the end zone, making it 31-12.
Coaches of both teams would probably agree that there too many penalties in this game, including face mask, illegal formation and illegal block penalties on the Junior Blue Dukes. After special teams beast Nick Higgins nailed a Saukville kick returner for no gain on one 4th quarter kickoff, a Saukville player actually tackled Higgins on the next Whitefish Bay kickoff. Out came the yellow flag. On the sideline, a Saukville coach could be heard telling his guy, you can't do that son.
The next Junior Blue Dukes game is at noon Oct. 3 at lovely Lubar Stadium in Whitefish Bay, against Grafton. Volunteer assignment reminders will go out early this coming week.
[Just a reminder: If you think I've made an error in any of these stories or blog posts, don't hesitate to email me. I believe in fixing mistakes. Thanks.]
