LAKE MILLS — If it weren’t for the final seven minutes in the second quarter, Lake Mills may have came out on top Friday against Newman Catholic instead of a 34-14 loss.

The Bulldogs’ Nathan Banwart made a 4-yard run for the lone touchdown in the first quarter with 3 minutes, 53 seconds remaining.

In the second quarter, the Knights kept the Bulldogs on defense down to the final 16 seconds.

Newman Catholic tied the game as Trystan Mariner ran 2 yards with 6:23 left on the clock to score the Knights first touchdown. Jasson Woods kicked the extra point.

Three minutes later, Mariner proceeded to run a 30-yard touchdown. Woods’ kicked in the extra point.

The Knights took a 14-7 lead with 3:25 left in the half.

At 3:11 Bulldogs’ Hunter Kingland made a completed pass to Taylor Nelson. Holding was called on Lake Mills and after a 10-yard penalty, play resumed at the 15-yard line.

Just seconds later, a pass by a Lake Mills’ player was intercepted by Newman Catholic’s Carter Neidermayer who made a 29-yard return for a touchdown. Once again, Woods kicked the extra point.

The Knights weren’t done. They closed out the half with a touchdown by Mariner with 16.3 seconds on the clock. Woods’ kick was good.

“Newman Catholic was a state finalist last year,” Bulldogs head coach Bill Byrnes said. “You can’t make too many mistakes against them. And, obviously we were doing everything we could, but we just didn’t execute on special teams.”

After scoring three touchdowns for the Knights, Mariner was taken out of the game with seven minutes remaining in the third quarter with an injury.

The Bulldogs played better defense in the second half, allowing just one more touchdown with 4:32 left in the third quarter.

“We did a better job of tackling,” Byrnes said. “It was a physical game and we kept battling.”

The fourth quarter was even better for the Bulldogs as they kept Newman Catholic from scoring and picked up a touchdown of their own with two minutes left in the game. Banwart made his, and the Bulldogs’, second touchdown of the game with a 10-yard run. Byron McDougall’s kick was good.

Even though Lake Mills lost by 20 points, Byrnes tried to keep his team positive.

“There’s a lot of football left.” Byrnes said. “We’ve just got to recover from it and move on to the next game.”

Lake Mills falls to 1-1 in district play and 2-2 overall. The team’s next game will be its homecoming game on Sept. 21 at 7 p.m.

 

First Quarter

LM — Banwart 4 run (McDougall kick)

Second Quarter

NC — Mariner 2 run (Woods kick)

NC —Mariner 30 run (Woods kick)

NC — Neidermayer 29 interception return (Woods kick)

NC — Mariner 3 run (Woods kick)

Third Quarter

NC — Burgmeier 2 run (no good)

Fourth Quarter

LM — Banwart 10 run (McDougall kick)

 

Individual Statistics

RUSHING — Lake Mills, Banwart 14-33, Erickson 4-21

PASSING — Lake Mills, Kingland 8-17-1-87, Dahle 21, Erickson 11

RECEIVING — Lake Mills, Hagenson 3-52, Scholbrock 2-24, Erickson 1-1, Pins 2-8

Team Statistics

Lake Mills: 8 first downs, 44 rushing yards, 87 passing yards, 8-17 passing, 1 interception, 7 punts, 3 penalties

Newman Catholic: 18 first downs, 312 rushing yards, 31 passing yards, 4-8 passing, 1 interception, 2 punts, 2 penalties