Morgan Rode sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader photo by Morgan Rode Shawano’s Brayden Dickelman stiff arms a West De Pere defender during Friday’s game in De Pere.
The Shawano Community High School football team knew the challenge that awaited in its week one road matchup against West De Pere.
A year ago, the same two teams met in Shawano to open the season, with the Phantoms claiming a 42-0 win over the Hawks.
Almost a year to the date, the teams faced off again, but this time at West De Pere High School. Despite having different teams, the result was the exact same, as West De Pere claimed a 42-0 Bay Conference win over Shawano on Friday to open the regular season.
Shawano had the ball first in the contest, and was moving the ball well before the drive stalled near midfield.
“We came out a lot faster and more aggressive than in previous years against West De Pere,” Brayden Dickelman said.
“At the beginning of the game, we were obviously the underdogs,” Kobe Schreiber said. “We could have took the lead on our opening drive, but when we got in the red zone (later in the game) we fell apart and didn’t finish.”
After pinning West De Pere at its own 15-yard line after a punt, the Phantoms put together a long scoring drive, culminating with a 21-yard rushing touchdown by Cody Cavil.
Each team’s opening drive was a preview of things to come in the contest.
Dickelman returned the ensuing kickoff deep into West De Pere territory but the Hawks were unable to pick up a first down and ultimately turned the ball over on downs.
The Phantoms drove the ball near midfield before needing to punt. A fumble on the snap set the Hawks up in enemy territory again early in the second quarter.
Shawano was unable to pick up a first down, with the drive stalling at the West De Pere 25-yard line.
This time, the Phantoms took advantage, as Cavil took a handoff and galloped 75 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the drive.
After forcing Shawano to punt near midfield on the ensuing drive, West De Pere again gashed the visitor’s defense on the ground. After starting the drive on its own 10 and moving up to the 50 in just a couple plays, David Vanderlogt broke through the line and took it 50 yards to the house to increase the host’s lead to 21.
Shawano saw its next drive reach midfield before stalling out again. West De Pere then increased its lead to 28 when Josh Blount found tight end Billy Wyatt open for a 40-yard passing score.
After forcing the Hawks into a three-and-out, the Phantoms put an exclamation point on the first half when Cavil found the end zone for a third time with just under a minute remaining in the half.
With a running clock to start the second half, West De Pere was content to milk the clock on offense. The Phantoms cashed in on a short field after a Shawano turnover for the final points of the contest.
While the outcome on the scoreboard was not what Shawano hoped for, coach Alan Tomow was content with how his team came out and competed for the first portion of the game.
“West De Pere is going to win a lot of football games this year and probably go deep into the playoffs so for us to come out and match the intensity to start the game and be excited, fly around and make plays in all three areas was huge,” Tomow said. “It was fun to watch, our kids had a nice learning experience to be able to compete with a team this good.”
Shawano will now take a look back at the tape, try and highlight some of the positives and learn from some of its mistakes as it gears up for its week two matchup. The Hawks will host Waupaca in another Bay Conference clash. The Comets suffered a 33-7 loss to conference foe Menasha on Friday.
Tomow said the team would be putting an emphasis on consistency on both sides of the ball this week at practice. Hawks’ players already had their minds in the right place as they left the field.
“We have to be able to finish,” Schreiber said. “It all starts at practice, every rep you have to go 100 percent because on Friday nights, that’s what it takes.”
“We got tired. We need to pick it up in practice, show more intensity in everything we do and play a full game,” Dickelman said.
Shawano 0 0 0 0
West De Pere 7 28 7 0
First quarter
WDP: Cody Cavil 21-yard run (Sawyer Grovogel kick), 3:24
Second quarter
WDP: Cavil 75-yard run (Grovogel kick), 9:18
WDP: David Vanderlogt 50-yard run (Grovogel kick), 6:03
WDP: Billy Wyatt 40-yard pass from Josh Blount (Grovogel kick), 3:22
WDP: Cavil 2-yard run (Grovogel kick), 0:48
Third quarter
WDP: Sam Mommaerts 4-yard run (Grovogel kick), 4:42
Records: West De Pere 1-0, 1-0 Bay; Shawano 0-1, 0-1 Bay.