The opportunistic Junior Blue Dukes rode big plays on offense and defense to a 41-0 victory over the Grafton Gladiators Saturday afternoon at Lubar Stadium in Whitefish Bay.
A long pass to Chris Siebert set up the first of three Van Bassindale runs in the first half. Andrew James threw a big wipeout block on the second of those TDs. Also in the first half, Carter Heston made a beautiful sliding catch of a pass. Using mental trigonometry, Carter calculated where the ball would end up, and started his slide well before the pass reached him.
In the second half, Zach Casey read the Grafton QB's intentions, picked off a pass and took it back for a touchdown. Later in the game, Zach also stopped a Grafton wideout from scoring by punching the ball out of his grasp.
A Nick Higgins fumble recovery deep in Grafton territory set up a short Will Alt TD run (a Jack Friesch block sealed off a defender, allowing Will to reach the end zone).
Kicker Sam Horn converted two extra-point tries; a kicked try in this league earns 2 points, so that's 4 points for Sam. Those are firsts for this team.
In the 4th quarter, Macklin Kortebein scooted half the field for a TD. Jake Fisher ran the extra point in to make the final score 41-0.
Many different Junior Blue Dukes made this game's tackle sheet. Josiah Erving, Paul Wilson, Cullen Keiper and Paul Presberg, among others, made multiple tackles. Scott Rojahn recovered a fumble, and Charlie Cohen added a quarterback sack and a hurry.
The next game will be an epic road tilt Oct. 10 at Cedarburg.
