Wildcats stumble in playoff loss to Cardinals

The Blair-Taylor football team couldn’t get its offense going in a 34-12 loss to Eleva-Strum in Level One of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association playoffs in Blair on Friday night.

B-T’s offense had been a strength all season, but the Wildcats managed just one offensive touchdown. B-T’s defense kept the game close in the first half, but E-S broke through in the second to take control.

The Wildcats finish the season with a 6-4 record and will graduate nine seniors, most of whom started for the team this year. 

E-S 34 B-T 12

Just when it seemed like the game might turn into a shootout, B-T’s offense stalled and E-S pulled away.

After a low-scoring first half, the teams scored touchdowns on their first drives of the second half. E-S scored again and it looked like B-T was going to answer, but the team started losing yards.

E-S scored on the first play of the fourth quarter as Bo Windjue went untouched for a 30-yard touchdown run. Windjue ran in the two-point conversion to give E-S a 28-12 lead, six seconds into the final quarter.

B-T came right back. A personal foul penalty early in the drive gave B-T a first down near midfield before quarterback Kole Trapp hit Connor Kruse on a deep pass that was batted in the air. That gave B-T a first-and-goal at the 5-yard line, but that’s as close as the team would get to scoring the rest of the game.

Two straight errant shotgun snaps backed B-T up to a fourth down from the 21 before Trapp threw incomplete, giving the ball back to E-S.

B-T’s defense forced a three-and-out so B-T still had a chance, but had more issues with snaps. 

The Wildcats had a first down near midfield before a snap got away from Trapp, who kicked the ball out of bounds to prevent E-S from recovering the fumble. Trapp was penalized, and B-T faced a second-and-25. After an incomplete pass, the third down snap went over Trapp’s head and he jumped on it to lose more yardage. 

B-T lined up to punt, but the snap was low. Punter Payton Kelly picked the ball up and threw it to Trapp. Trapp caught the forward pass, then turned and threw it deep — but incomplete. Had it been completed, the second pass wouldn’t have counted because Trapp was flagged for an illegal forward pass. The Cardinals declined the penalty and took over at the B-T 15. 

A few plays later, Luis Kinser scored from inside the 5 to put E-S ahead 34-12 with about four minutes left in the game.

E-S got an interception on B-T’s next drive and ran the clock out.

The Cardinals also struggled offensively in the first half. Kinser fumbled on their first play from scrimmage, giving the ball to B-T at the E-S 29. B-T’s next drive, its second of the game, ended when Trapp was stuffed on a fourth down run. 

E-S used a trick play to get on the board as quarterback Reede Brown threw a lateral to Elliot Walsh, who chucked a deep bomb to Windjue for a 59-yard touchdown pass.

B-T’s next drive included three penalties and ended with a sack, but the Wildcats would tie the game shortly after.

E-S was looking to go ahead by two scores, but Kelly jumped in front of a Brown pass and hauled the ball in with one hand. The B-T senior had nothing but green grass in front of him as he returned the interception for a touchdown. The two-point conversion was no good.

The Cardinals responded as Kinser had a long return that gave E-S the ball near midfield. Kinser then converted a fourth-down play by picking up five yards when he needed four. Brock Stendahl finished the drive with a short touchdown run. The two-point try was stopped, but E-S had a 12-6 lead with 4:39 remaining in the first half.

B-T picked up one first down on its next drive, but an incomplete pass on fourth down gave the ball back to E-S. The B-T defense came through with another stop and the offense took over at midfield after a fake punt pass fell incomplete. However, a deep pass by Trapp was intercepted on B-T’s second play. 

E-S went to the same trick play that worked earlier and it nearly worked again as Walsh hit Windjue for 68 yards, but the Wildcats got him down as time expired. 

The Cardinals turned to Stendahl to carry the offensive load in the second half. He helped carry the team down the field before Kinser finished their first drive with a 15-yard touchdown. Brown ran in the two-point conversion.

B-T’s only offensive touchdown drive came early in the second half. Trapp hit Kelly with a deep pass, then connected with CJ Dummer for a first down at the E-S 17. Trapp ran for one first down then finished the drive with a four-yard touchdown, making the score 20-12.

Stendahl and Kinser each topped 100 yards rushing for E-S as the former ran for 128 yards on 25 attempts and the latter finished with 103 yards on 11 rushes. The team managed 327 yards on the ground with Windjue adding 40, Brown finishing with 31 and Walsh added 25.

The two trick plays to Walsh were the only two pass completions E-S had in the game. 

The fifth-seeded Cardinals will play top-seeded Oshkosh Lourdes Academy in Level Two this Friday. 

Blair-Taylor

Rushing (att./yds) — Johnson 6/11 Trapp 9/-3

Receiving (rec./yds.) — Dummer 3/81 Kelly 4/59 Kruse 1/44 Johnson 1/4

Passing (comp./att./yds.) — Trapp 9/24/188