MADISON — The Aquinas High School football team’s amazing string of postseason success came to an end on Friday.
The Blugolds, who won 20 straight WIAA playoff games and three straight Division 5 championships, couldn’t get anything going offensively after a great opening drive in a 12-6 loss to Racine St. Catherine’s in a Division 4 semifinal hosted by Madison La Follette.
Aquinas (11-2) had the ball late after the Angels (13-0) broke a 6-6 tie in the fourth quarter, but a flag for intentional grounding and a sack stopped a drive that had them as close at the St. Cat’s 38-yard line with just under 2 minutes remaining.
St. Catherine’s didn’t score until the third quarter and took a 12-6 lead when Lamont Hamilton took a direct snap and scored with 7:35 left. The Blugolds stopped the two-point conversion to give themselves a chance to at least tie the game before it ended.
Aquinas had the ball twice after that but couldn’t convert. The first drive went nowhere and the second began with 3:46 on the clock.
It began with an incomplete pass and 2-yard loss before senior Jacob Thornton connected with junior Logan Becker for a 10-yard pass that set up fourth-and-2 from the St. Cat’s 47 and a 6-yarder to move the ball to the 41.
Marcus Klar picked up 3 yards on first down, but Thornton was chased from the pocket on the next snap, but his throw to evade pressure didn’t reach the line of scrimmage, and the flag resulted in a loss of down and 24 yards.
Aquinas couldn’t have begun the game in a better fashion. The Blugolds took the opening kickoff and held the ball for 15 plays that took 7:25 off the clock. Trey Bahr capped the possession by scoring from the 7 on a fourth-and-2 snap.
Both teams had a scoring play called back — Hamilton returned a kickoff 95 yards, but an illegal block nullified it, and Klar caught a 55-yard touchdown pass that was wiped out due to a lineman down the field.
Leave a Reply