HOLMEN — The Central High School football team’s defense made a stand on Friday night, and that helped the RiverHawks claim a share of the MVC championship.
Central kept a powerful Holmen running game in check and allowed just one second-quarter touchdown drive on the way to a 20-6 victory that pushed its winning streak to six games.
The RiverHawks are now 6-2 overall and 6-0 in the conference with the chance to win the MVC outright in a game against Onalaska next week. The Vikings fell to 7-1 overall and 5-1 in the MVC and will need to beat Logan next week and have the Hilltoppers beat Central to get a share of the title.
Senior Christian Rudrud rushed for 170 yards and all three of his team’s touchdowns, pushing his season totals to 1,296 and 19 touchdowns.
Holmen rushed for 148 yards — about half of its per-game average this season — and had 176 total yards in its first loss of the season.
Rudrud scored on a 4-yard run in the first quarter and had 2- and 13-yard scoring runs in the second quarter. The 13-yarder produced the final score.
Senior Jack Barth rushed for a team-high 67 yards for the Vikings, but 41 of those came on one of his nine carries.
Holmen was stopped on downs at the Central 7 on its final possession when quarterback Bennett Schild’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete.
Avant Williams also recovered a Holmen fumble on the final play of the third quarter after the Vikings had driven to the Central 30-yards line, and Schild was also intercepted in the fourth quarter by Ruben Smith.
Central student Kaylee Zielke shared some photos with us.
