LA CROSSE — Christian Rudrud broke through the left side of the Central High School football team’s offensive line and found open space.
The most dangerous offensive weapon in the MVC looked like he had clear sailing to the end zone in a close game with Onalaska and sole possession of a conference championship on the line.
But Onalaska junior Brendan Chenault is fast. Like Rudrud, he’s real fast, and he felt himself closing the gap between the two as Rudrud approached the end zone.
When Chenault brought Rudrud to the turf of the Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex in the fourth quarter, it made a big difference in what eventually became a 20-14 victory for the Hilltoppers.
“He’s state-track fast, right?” Onalaska coach Tom Yashinsky said of Chenault’s run-down tackle. “There aren’t many kids in this conference that can run down Rudrud, but he did it, and that was huge.”
It was huge because the big-play machine almost had the RiverHawks (6-3 overall, 6-1 MVC) right back in a game they were trailing by 14 points. Instead of allowing a touchdown, Onalaska’s defense stopped Central on fourth down from the 10-yard line and — Chenault was also there to defend on that fourth-down incomplete pass to Connor Groth in the end zone — took a big step in preserving their lead.
The Hilltoppers (7-2, 5-2) won their fifth game in a row to set themselves up for a nice seed in the upcoming WIAA Division 3 playoffs. Central enters the Division 2 field with a co-championship in the MVC and likely a first-round home game. Playoff pairings will be announced on Saturday.
“I was covering Connor Groth on the play, and I saw (Rudrud) pop out,” Chenault said. “Christian is a crazy athlete, and I can’t assume someone will get him, so he became my guy. I had to go get him.
“I take pride in my stamina, and I could feel myself inching closer. I tried to punch the ball out, but I got him.”
A fumble gave the RiverHawks another possession on the Onalaska side of the field, and Rudrud completed a 20-yard pass and followed it with runs of 13 and 3 yards to reach the end zone. His conversion run cut Onalaska’s lead to 20-14 with 3 minutes, 28 seconds remaining.
That’s when Carson Zinnecker took over and didn’t give the RiverHawks another possession. He carried six times for 39 yards and two first downs as Onalaska ran out the clock on the victory. He ran by and through tackles and fell forward on every carry to help make that happen.
Rudrud, who entered the game with 1,300 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns, gained 159 on 19 carries and ran his season touchdown total to 21. But he also gained 53 on one carry and 39 on another, meaning the Hilltoppers held him to 67 on the other 17 attempts. That’s not bad against a runner averaging 7.1 yards per carry through eight games.
“That’s a really tough kid to stop,” Yashinsky said of Rudrud. “I’m really proud of our team as a whole for how they played.
“We made his life miserable for 48 minutes, and we were physical.”
Central coach Mitch Olson said his team would have to regroup a bit before the playoffs, but a six-game win streak, co-championship and wins over playoff teams like Reedsburg, Holmen and Logan should sustain the confidence level.
“They had a great defensive gameplan,” he said of the Hilltoppers. “They really tackled extremely well. They just played very well tonight.”
The Hilltoppers were also physical when they had the ball and put together an impactful ground game behind junior Kaeson Stettler. Stettler finished with 113 yards and scored on a run of 3 yards for a 6-0 lead in the second quarter and another from 3 yards out for the 20-6 lead with 10:33 left in the game.
Stettler has rushed for 368 yards and scored nine touchdowns — rushing and receiving — in the past three games.
“The job was to be physical,” Stettler said. “The more physical team always wins, and I think we were the more physical team. We pounded the rock and got the job done.”
The Hilltoppers also received a tremendous boost near the end of the first half after they stopped the RiverHawks on downs with 1:25 on the clock.
Clinging to a 6-0 lead, Onalaska decided to go for points rather than run out the clock and get to halftime.
Senior quarterback Ian Kowal marched the Hilltoppers 90 yards on nine plays and gave them a 12-0 victory when he completed a touchdown pass to senior Tanner Siebert on a fourth-and-goal snap from the 18 with 22 seconds on the clock. Kowal, who was 12 for 17 for 141 yards in the game, completed 6 of 7 passes for 76 yards during that possession.
“Ian did a great job on that, and Jackson Egan came up big (a 35-yard catch to put the ball at the Central 6),” Yashinsky said. “The kids stepped up when they needed to, and (defensive coordinator) John Bushman did a really good job with how to defend a kid like (Rudrud). That’s not easy to do.”
