Blocked punt fuels Wolves past Spartans

Leading 28-12 late in the second quarter with Spalding Catholic backed up deep in their own territory, Cody Bursing blocked a punt that Brady Nissen fell on in the end zone, which helped fuel Harris-Lake Park to a 50-12 victory over Spalding Catholic Friday, Aug. 27 in non-district play in Alton.

"That blocked kick was a big play right before the half. They were still hanging with us until that play," said Harris-Lake Park coach Lane Gunderson. "They played hard and had some big boys, they were improved quite a bit from last year."

A potent rushing attack paved the way for the Wolves, although the backfield took quite a hit with fullback Brennan Krogman and tailback Ryan Mann each suffering knee injuries.

Mann rushed for 46 yards and a touchdown before getting hurt, while Mychal Sheridan toted the ball 27 times for 188 yards and four scores and Kayne Feldick added 44 yards and a touchdown on two carries.

"Brennan Krogman started at fullback and would have played a lot at center and nose guard. Some guy took him out at the knees on a toss sweep," said Gunderson. "Ryan Mann was playing a great half for us, he was flying around on special teams and made a great run. He almost made the corner on a great run again, but got pulled down on the sideline and heard a pop. It sounds like it might be an ACL and an MCL."

Early in the first quarter, Sheridan burst free for a 50-yard score on third-and-6 to put H-LP on top for the first time. The point after attempt failed to keep the score at 6-0.

The Spartans tied the game back up with a 76-yard pass play, but Sheridan put the Wolves ahead to stay with a 1-yard touchdown run later in the quarter. Ryan Mann caught the 2-point pass to push the lead to 14-6.

Sheridan busted out a 5-yard scoring run in the second to extend the lead to 20-6.

Spalding rallied back to within 16 points on a 22-yard run and looked poised to get even closer after coming away with an interception at their own 1 on the following drive. Although, the Wolves made a defensive stand and used all of their timeouts to force a punt. Bursing broke free to block the punt and Nissen recovered the ball in the end zone to build the halftime score to 36-12.

On the first drive on the second half, Harris-Lake Park kept the momentum in their favor and marched 70 yards for a score. Sheridan culminated the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run. Jake Ihnen converted the 2-point run.

Some trickery fooled the Spartans in the final stanza. Quarterback Austin Jacobsen faked a lead to Sheridan and Kayne Feldick took the reverse 30 yards to paydirt. Nathan Kyle booted the point after kick to put up the final points of the game.

"Kayne got by the end and he was gone," said Gunderson. "We ran a couple reverses to Kayne, which is out of the ordinary. We probably wouldn't have done that, but they were really overloading the side and Kayne has been there everyday of practice the last two years and Kayne is a threat to go every time he touches the ball. I need to get him more touches, especially with Ryan (Mann) out."

With Nissen being slightly banged up, Austin Jacobsen filled in nicely a quarterback, going 8-of-15 for 90 yards. Sheridan finished with 258 all-purpose yards after pulling in six receptions for 70 yards. Jake Ihnen also caught one pass for 17 yards.

H-LP amassed 397 total yards, including 307 yards and an average of 5.9 yards per carry on the ground. The Wolves picked up 19 first downs (15 rushing, 4 passing).

"I thought our offensive lines play was a key," said Gunderson. "I thought they did a great job of getting off the ball and staying with their blocks. Mychal definitely played like a man the whole game, he was dragging guys around the whole night. He played at fullback when Brennan went down and was running right through the A gap the whole time. The line did a great job of blocking, they stayed with their blocks and worked hard."

Nissen recovered a critical fumble for a touchdown and had an interception defensively, while Bursing blocked a punt and had nine tackles. Ihnen added 10 tackles and Tanner Hiveley finished with nine stops.

"On defense, the whole team played well. We had a couple of plays that we weren't sure what to do, but we did a great job on run defense and we pretty much kept them in front of us on pass defense except for that one big play," Gunderson said. "They were flying in there (to the football) and working hard. I was happy with how guys could adjust because when Ryan and Brennan went down, especially on offense, we had to switch some things around, but the guys did a good job of adjusting and were doing things that we didn't practice."

Gunderson couldn't say enough about the play of team in the trenches.

"It was a nice way to start the season. I think I was most happy with controlling the line of scrimmage. Anytime you can run the ball really well and defense the run pretty well, you can open up a lot of things," he said. "I thought the guys played hard from the start to the finish. It was a good win and I was proud of the guys."

Harris-Lake Park (1-0 overall) stays on the road for the second straight week this Friday with a contest at 10th-ranked Remsen St. Mary's, who is coming off a 42-26 loss to defending state champion Armstrong-Ringsted.

"They're always well balanced. I think they'd rather run like most teams would, but when they open it up they have a variety of formations you have to prepare for," said Gunderson. "They've done just about everything to us in the past. Their main strong point is that they really play to their strengths. If they have a mobile quarterback, they'll take advantage of that. Year in and year out they're really good and well coached. We really need to prepare because we can't have lapses and give up any big plays. It's definitely going to be a big challenge, but we're looking forward to it."