Leader Staff
The Menasha High School football team proved to be worthy of its No. 4 ranking among large schools in the Associated Press Wisconsin Prep Poll, beating Shawano 48-8 in a Bay Conference game Friday in Menasha.
“Playing against Menasha, they’re about as complete of a football team as we’re going to see,” Shawano coach Al Tomow said. “They looked every bit the part tonight.”
The loss to Menasha (8-0, 7-0 Bay) put the Hawks (3-5, 2-5 Bay) officially out of the playoffs.
Chase Henning saved Shawano from the shutout when he scored on a 40-yard run in the third quarter.
“Chase ran hard tonight,” Tomow said. “We did some good things on offense to start the game. We did some good things as a team tonight that people don’t usually do against Menasha. We moved the football in the first quarter. We made some small mistakes, and you can’t do that against Menasha.”
Henning finished with 63 yards on 11 carries. Zack Sousek added 20 yards on five carries. Jack Hanauer was 5 of 20 passing for 21 yards. Adam Bartz finished with two catches for 17 yards.
Menasha quarterback Tyler Johnson had four touchdown passes in the first half.
“Tonight they went to the air against us to get the lead,” Tomow said. “Then they ran the football to end the game. They have really nice balance. It’s a pro-style offense.”
Shawano will play at home Friday against Denmark (4-4, 3-4 Bay) on senior night.
“We want to make sure we fulfill our promise to give these seniors the best experience possible,” Tomow said. “We owe it to them to finish this season strong and give everything we have for what they have given our program over the years.”
With a win, Shawano would improve on last year’s record of 3-6 overall, but finish the same 3-5 in the Bay Conference.
Shawano has also added a game Oct. 23 against Wausau East. Both programs have agreed to not play any seniors in that game, giving them a chance to evaluate talent for next season.
“That will be a fun one for us,” Tomow said. “It’s a futures game to see what we have with our underclassmen going forward. It’ll be a lot of fun.”