Bears rushers too much for Colby

Senior Hunter VanDerLinden broke the school’s rushing record, fellow senior running backs Hunter Berry and Dan Tauchen eclipsed 100 yards, and the Bonduel High School football team punched its ticket to the Level 2 playoffs for the second year in a row Friday with a 26-7 win over Colby in Bonduel.

Bonduel, the No. 2 seed in its WIAA Division 5 bracket, had plenty of offense. VanDerLinden (5-foot-11, 215 pounds) led the way with 161 yards rushing, Tauchen finished with 150, and Berry added 100.

“When one back gets going, the defense keys off them, and then we can give it to another back,” VanDerLinden said. “It’s just our offense. Danny, he can do everything. Berry, he’s a fast little guy. He can hit the hole whenever he wants. I guess I just do what I can.”

After Bonduel (8-2, 5-2 Central Wisconsin Conference-8) stalled on its first drive of the game, Tauchen (6-2, 165 pounds) was the one to give the Bears an early lead with a 49-yard touchdown run.

“They all over-pursued, and I just saw a cutback lane,” Tauchen said.

Colton Dobratz, a 6-foot, 160-pound senior quarterback, expanded the lead to 12-0 in the second quarter with throw to 6-foot-2 senior tight end Connor Rosin, who ran for the 61-yard touchdown.

Red zone miscues, though, kept the score close.

While the Bears’ defense stymied the Colby offense, forcing four first-half punts and a 34-yard field goal attempt that was wide, the Bonduel offense started to struggle.

“They weren’t beating us; we were beating ourselves,” Tauchen said.

Bonduel punted on its next possession. Dobratz, who finished with eight completions on 11 attempts for 106 yards and the touchdown, threw an interception to end another Bears drive.

“Our defense played well all game,” VanDerLinden said. “We just made mistakes on offense. That killed us on some drives. We stuck to it and pulled it out.

After halftime, the Bears took the opening possession of the second half into the red zone, but Rosin missed a 30-yard field goal attempt.

“You can’t make mistakes inside the red zone line like that,” Bonduel coach James Westrich said. “That kind of hurt us, kept it closer than it needed to be. Our kids are resilient. Our kids are tough. I’m really happy with the way they finished the game.”

Colby (4-6, 4-4 Cloverbelt Conference) threatened to make a game of it when senior running back McCoy Soppa scored on a 16-yard run.

Bonduel once again drove deep into Colby territory, but turned the ball over on downs on the Colby 20-yard line.

Berry, playing cornerback on defense, turned the tide when he picked off Colby quarterback Nolan Derrico on the ensuing drive early in the fourth quarter.

Bonduel then began to assert its will, as the toll of defending the trio of running backs added up. VanDerLinden broke the Bonduel rushing record when he crossed the 3,309 mark on a 1-yard touchdown run.

Berry added another score on a 2-yard dive that put the Bears’ up 26-7.

“I had to end the game with nothing left in my tank,” Berry said. “I knew it was going to physical and hard. I knew I had to do stuff to help our team.”

VanDerLinden has 3,930 total yards — 191 carries for 1,336 and 16 touchdown this season — in his career.

“It feels good,” VanDerLinden said of breaking the record held by Zach Reinke. “There’s a lot of backs that have a lot of yards in this school. I’m pretty proud of myself and the linemen I’ve had through the years.”

VanDerLinden will get a chance to add to that mark Friday when the Bears host CWC-8 foe Iola-Scandinavia (7-3, 4-3 CWC-8), which as a No. 6 seed upset No. 3 Kewaunee, 28-21.

Bonduel beat Iola-Scandinavia 44-29 Sept. 19 in Bonduel.

The CWC-8 has three teams still in the bracket, with top-seeded Amherst (10-0, 7-0 CWC-8) cruising to a 49-0 win over No. 8 Niagara/Goodman/Pembine.