LA CROSSE — Central High School football coach Mitch Olson will remember how long it took for quarterback Christian Rudrud’s pass took to hit the hands of Connor Groth for the game-tying touchdown.
Rudrud will remember how long it took for kicker Charlie Buxton’s winning extra point took to come down and land on the far side of the crossbar to break that tie.
Groth will remember those plays and many more after the RiverHawks put together a three-play, 84-yard touchdown drive that resulted in his 34-yard catch and Buxton’s extra point giving them a 13-12 win over Logan on Saturday and possession of the Ark of Victory in its 100th edition.
“I’m gonna remember everything about this,” said Groth, who had two touchdown catches and put the game away with an interception on Logan’s final play with 28.1 seconds on the clock. “Every snap we had.”
The Rangers (4-1, 2-1) appeared to give themselves a chance to put the game away when a Rudrud fourth-down pass to Ruben Smith left Central 1 yard short of the first down with 4:07 left at Swanson Field.
Logan took over at its own 47-yard line and moved the ball to the ball to the Central 45, where it faced a fourth-and-2 with 1:45 left. A false start pushed the ball back 5 yards and forced the Rangers to punt instead of go for the first down and chance to run out the clock.
“That was a big penalty there,” Logan coach Casey Knoble said. “We felt pretty good about our call, and you make a jump like that. You can’t make those mistakes in big situations.”
Groth received the punt with a fair catch at the 16, and Rudrud followed that up with a 34 pass to Groth to get the ball to midfield.
Pass coverage forced Rudrud to run with the ball on the next snap, and the Rangers were flagged for a face mask penalty on the tackle. That moved the ball to the Logan 34, and the RiverHawks (3-2, 3-0) sent Groth down the left sideline on the next play.
“I dropped back and saw the best receiver in the area wide open,” Rudrud said. “I just hocked it up there.
“We ran flood, and originally, I was just looking to move the sticks. But he leaked out the back, and great players make great plays.”
Rudrud completed 11 of 15 passes for 187 yards. Eight of those completions went to Groth, who had 135 receiving yards and started his day with a 12-yard touchdown catch to tie the game at 6 in the second quarter.
Senior Maxim Roberts carried 18 times for 85 yards and two touchdowns for Logan, which held 6-0 and 12-6 leads on his respective scoring runs of 12 and 9 yards.
Sophomore quarterback Tommy Check led the Rangers with a game-high 104 yards on 25 carries.
