LA CROSSE — Senior running back Maxim Roberts set the tone for an exciting night by taking the first handoff of the game, making one cut and racing 84 yards for a touchdown that gave the Logan High School football team a quick lead over visiting Reedsburg.
But it was the run Roberts made at the end of the night that will be remembered most in the Rangers’ 42-36 overtime victory over the Beavers at Swanson Field.
Roberts followed up a magnificent defensive play by junior teammate Tait Hatlevig with a 25-yard touchdown run on Logan’s first overtime snap, breaking away from a attempted tackle midway through the run.
“What an unbelievable play he made,” Logan coach Casey Knoble said of Roberts. “(Reedsburg defender Ian McClure) had him, but he reached back and stiff-armed backwards to get away and then kept sprinting to the end zone.
“That is a run that will stick in my mind the rest of my life.”
Roberts carried 28 times for 232 yards and scored four touchdowns for the third-place Rangers (5-2, 3-2), who snapped a two-game losing streak with a solid win over a team many considered the favorite in the MVC before the season began. Reedsburg fell to 4-3 overall, 2-3 in the conference and was eliminated from title contention.
Central (5-2, 5-0) plays at Holmen (7-0, 5-0) for sole possession of the MVC lead next week with one game to play afterward. The championship race is down to those two teams since one will be unbeaten going into Week 9.
The winning touchdown was set up by Hatlevig’s interception in the end zone during the Beavers’ possession.
Reedsburg’s Will Mikonowicz as stopped by Brigsen Schaffer and a few teammates for a 1-yard loss on first down, and that gave Reedsburg the idea to switch things up on second down. Gavin Budnik ran to his right out of the backfield and down the sideline as quarterback Sawyer Mittelstaedt lofted a pass toward the end zone.
Hatlevig timed the throw perfectly and shifted momentum toward the Rangers as they prepared to take their shot at the end zone.
“They hit us with the same play earlier in the game, and it was wide open,” Hatlevig said. “I saw (Budnik) go, and knew that was my guy. I just had to make the play on it.”
Roberts said the interception turned up the excitement that already existed as Logan’s offensive players stood on the sideline waiting to take possession.
“Everyone was fired up, but that took the energy through the roof,” said Roberts, who has 917 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns after Friday’s performance. “We were like, ‘Let’s go do this and close out this game.'”
The touchdown run was the seventh scoring play of at least 25 yards in the game.
The Rangers had the 84- and 25-yard touchdown runs by Roberts, a 54-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Tommy Check to senior Andrew Stanton and a 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by senior Jackson Bosch.
Reedsburg had a 73-yard touchdown run by Budnik, a 58-yard touchdown run from Will Mikonowicz and a 42-yard punt return for a touchdown by Mikonowicz.
The two plays by Mikonowicz made a 36-21 Logan lead disappear in the fourth quarter. The punt return and extra point tied things at 36 with 5 minutes, 33 seconds remaining.
Logan’s final fourth-quarter possession advanced to the Reedsburg 30-yard line, but Check was intercepted by Luke Spencer in the end zone while trying to connect with Stanton as 1:39 remained.
The Beavers used one penalty and five plays to move to the Logan 42 with 9.3 seconds remaining, but Stanton intercepted a Mittelstaedt pass and was tackled on the return as time expired.
The victory was a significant one for Logan, which closes out the regular season at Baraboo and at home against Holmen.
“We needed a big win like this,” Knoble said. “We needed to be able to come back and get this one after losing our last two.”
