LA CROSSE — The Aquinas High School football team knew there were many things that had to be done well against second-seeded Baldwin-Woodville it was going to play in a WIAA state semifinal for a fifth straight season.
The Blackhawks were last season’s Division 4 runner-up, losing the title game to the same Racine St. Catherine’s team that beat the Blugolds in semifinal round.
Baldwin-Woodville had blasted through its competition with a high-powered offense that presented problems to every team it faced.
One thing Aquinas knew it couldn’t do was turn the ball over, and two of those gave the Blackhawks a short field for scoring drives that were converted and led to a 27-20 victory at the Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex on Friday.
For the first time since 2019 (in a traditional tournament format), the Blugolds (11-1) won’t have a semifinal for which to prepare after a matchup that featured impressive play on both sides of the ball from both teams.
Running back Dane Veenendall rushed for 136 yards and two touchdowns for Baldwin-Woodville (12-0), which never trailed and will play Winneconne (12-0) in a semifinal next Friday.
“It was hard sledding for both sides,” Aquinas coach Tom Lee said. “Two good, physical teams.
“I won’t be surprised if (the Blackhawks) win it all. It’s a worthy champion if they do.”
Baldwin-Woodville never trailed and took full advantage of two Aquinas turnovers.
The first game after the Blugolds’ first possession. Junior Brady Lee ran to his right to punt the ball on fourth down, and the play turned into a fumble that the Blackhawks recovered at the Aquinas 30-yard line. Veenendall finished the touchdown drive by running 22 yards to the end zone on a fourth-and-2 snap, then added a conversion run for an 8-0 lead.
Quarterback Joe Jensen later finished a 26-yard touchdown drive that was set up by a James Kropelnicki interception. That score was followed by another Veenendall conversion run and gave Baldwin-Woodville a 27-12 lead early in the third quarter.
“Brutal,” Lee said of the miscues. “It kills you, those short fields.
“If they go the distance, which they did a couple times, we didn’t think they could do that all night. When we got that short field twice, once on the punt and once on the pick, that’s tough.”
The Blugolds stayed in the game with enough offense and a very solid defensive performance.
Aquinas held a team that entered with a scoring average of 47 points per game to 268 total yards and just 70 in the second half.
Senior Marcus Klar scored on touchdowns runs of 4 yards in the second quarter and 2 yards in the third, and Brady Lee added a 1-yard scoring run in the first. Klar’s second touchdown cut the deficit to the final margin with 2 minutes, 22 seconds left in the third, but the Blugolds couldn’t put together another drive to tie the game.
Senior quarterback Ryan Johnson completed 15 of 25 passes for 157 yards, and senior Waylon Hargrove caught three of them for 49 yards. Brady Lee had three for 47 yards.
Aquinas senior Logan Becker finished with three catches for 24 yards and had a 60-yard kickoff return that set up Klar’s first touchdown run to get the Blugolds within 16-12 early in the second quarter. Aquinas had three pass completions of more than 20 yards, but the hope was to make more of an impact with passes down the field.
“They have some great defensive backs and had a great defensive scheme,” said Becker, who finished his season with 38 receptions for 609 yards and seven touchdowns. “They were great, and they deserve that win.”
The Aquinas defense held the Blackhawks to 4.3 yards per play and yielded just two that went for more than 20 yards. The pass rush became more effective as the game progressed, and junior Charlie Kirschner had a sack that went for a 16-yard loss in the fourth quarter.
“Talk about Blugolds football, that was definitely Blugold football,” senior lineman Will Flottmeyer said of the defensive effort. “If you watch the film, you will see guys going from one side of the field all the way across to the other side and making tackles.
“Then they rally with their guys and do it again. We just played Blugold football.”
Klar carried 17 times for 80 yards, and senior Tyson Martin added 75 yards on eight attempts.
