Things weren’t going well for the Central High School football team when players left practice on Tuesday.
Losses in the first two weeks and a road game coming up against what many people deemed the MVC favorite — Reedsburg — may have made the task of turning the corner as a little insurmountable in their eyes.
But, as coach Mitch Olson says, it sometimes just takes one person to rally the troops. Senior Karon Carter then took charge.
“We had our worst practice ever on Tuesday, and I think some of the leaders finally had enough,” Olson said. “There was a definite shift in our team from Tuesday to Wednesday. Sometimes it just takes one guy to initiate that, and on Wednesday that was Karon Carter.
“It can be infectious when you have someone with that energy and personality. That can carry over to other people, and it did.”
So with a renewed confidence and intensity surrounding everything it did, Central (1-2, 1-0) took its trip and played its best game of the season in a 35-28 MVC victory over the Beavers (2-1, 0-1), who are ranked eighth in the Medium Division of the ESPN Wisconsin Media Poll this week.
The RiverHawks buckled up defensively against a team they knew would run the ball from the first snap to the last and limited big plays with solid tackling.
Sophomore Oliver Walker forced two fumbles, and Central recovered one of them. Safeties Gabe Servais and Aaron Bruley also helped against a running attack that gained 883 yards the first two games and 285 against the RiverHawks.
“It’s no secret about what’s coming at you,” Olson said of Reedsburg’s run game. “And when you play against that, it only takes one kid to not execute, and that’s where you have your big plays.
“Our safeties were so good. Gabe and Aaron did such a good job of reading their keys.”
Senior linebacker Christian Rudrud also brought an intensity and physicality to the field that helped limit those big plays.
The RiverHawks broke a 28-28 tie when Rudrud completed a 5-yard touchdown pass to senior Connor Groth with 8 minutes, 18 seconds remaining. Central got a defensive stop, then moved the ball effectively to get inside the Reedsburg 10-yard line.
Rudrud ran around the backfield on a fourth-down snap with 4.4 seconds left to kill the clock and give Central its first victory of the season.
Rudrud rushed for a team-high 96 yards and two touchdowns to go with the TD pass. Servais completed 4 of 6 passes for 120 yards with a 40-yard TD pass to Groth and a touchdown run.
“Anytime you have two very talented and capable kids, it’s a good problem to have, but it takes a bit to find the right mix and balance for what you want,” Olson said. “If you only run this play with Gabe in the game or only this play with Christian in the game, that’s telling for a defense.
“I’m not sure if we are totally there yet, but it went well in this game.”
The challenge now is to keep the momentum going, and the RiverHawks host Baraboo (0-3, 0-1) at the Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex on Friday.
