The Aquinas High School football team won a battle between defending champions on Friday and earned the right to play in a WIAA Division 4 quarterfinal next week with a 29-0 shutout of Lodi.
The Blugolds (10-1), who have won three straight Division 5 titles, beat last year’s Division 4 champion 29-0 behind two touchdown passes from Jacob Thornton to Logan Becker in a second-round game at the Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.
That creates a rematch from Week 2 for the quarterfinal round. Top-seeded Aquinas will host unbeaten and second-seeded Columbus (11-0) at UW-L. The Cardinals beat the Blugolds 20-16 in Week 2.
Thornton completed 9 of 16 passes for 98 yards and the two scores. Becker caught five of those passes for 81 yards and both touchdowns.
Senior Kyle White rushed for 125 yards and a touchdown as Aquinas won its eighth consecutive game.
Columbus 41, West Salem 27
COLUMBUS — The Cardinals took advantage of two turnovers and used a big game from senior running back Connor Roche to end the Panthers’ season at 9-2.
West Salem played most of the game without sophomore quarterback Drew McConkey due to an injury, and senior running back Luke Baginski took over as a double threat.
Baginski passed for 196 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 27 times for 147 yards and two touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough to counter the Columbus offensive attack of 458 total yards and 352 rushing yards.
Roche carried 27 times for 197 yards and three touchdowns, and West Salem’s 27-197, 3 TDs. Carter Pontius had five catches for 125 yards and a touchdown for the Panthers.
DIVISION 2
New Richmond 44, Holmen 14
NEW RICHMOND — The Vikings (7-4) led early, but the top-seeded Tigers (11-0) stormed back to advance to the quarterfinal round.
Holmen scored touchdowns in the first and fourth quarters and trailed 23-7 at halftime.
Junior Jack Barth carried 10 times for 111 yards and scored one touchdown, while junior AJ Alesch added 22 yards and the other score. Barth recorded his seventh 100-yard rushing game of the season and upped his touchdown total to 10.
DIVISION 5
Prairie du Chien 56, Brookfield Academy 0
PRAIRIE DU CHIEN — The top-seeded Blackhawks (10-1) won their 10th straight game and scored 29 second-quarter points for a 43-0 halftime lead.
Prairie du Chien advances to host third-seeded Milwaukee Academy of Science in a quarterfinal next week.
Blake Thiry, a senior and Indiana University commit, carried 12 times for 106 yards and two touchdowns and had four catches for 53 yards. Quarterback Abe Amundson completed 9 of 11 passes for 114 yards and four touchdowns.
Brady Lenzendorf had two touchdown catches and one touchdown run, and Hunter Straka caught Amundson’s two other touchdown throws. The Blackhawks held Brookfield Academy to 102 total yards.
DIVISION 6
Eau Claire Regis 17, Onalaska Luther 14
EAU CLAIRE — The fourth-seeded Knights (8-3) nearly knocked off the top-seeded Ramblers (11-0) and had a four-game win streak come to an end.
DIVISION 7
River Ridge 27, Bangor 0
BANGOR — The top-seeded Cardinals (8-3) surrendered all points in the second half, including 21 of them in the third quarter.
Eli Tucker carried 17 times for 48 yards, but Bangor couldn’t get much going against a team that has scored 82 postseason points.
MSHSL SECTION CHAMPIONSHIP
SECTION 1AA
Chatfield 24, Caledonia 14
WINONA, Minn. — The top-seeded Gophers held on the beat the second-seeded Warriors (7-3) for a second time this season.
Senior quarterback Ethan Stendel passed for 135 yards and rushed for 61 and two touchdowns, but the Gophers scored one more touchdown and had a two-point conversion on all three.
Stendel’s first touchdown — an 8-yard run — came in the first quarter and was followed by a Stendel extra point to cut Chatfield’s first lead to 8-7.
Stendel then scored from 1 yard out in the fourth quarter and added the extra point to produce the final score.
