9/17/2009 8:00:00 AM SPARTANS STUN CARDS Memorial jumps out to 22-0 lead and prevails 22-14
Karl Raymond Sports Editor
The nightmare of 9/11 will live forever in our minds and memories.
Fast forward eight years later and last Friday, Sept. 11 is a night the Sun Prairie High School football team, coaching staff and Cardinal fans hope can soon be forgotten. Dealt a 22-0 halftime deficit by Madison Memorial in a Big Eight Conference football game at Ashley Field, the Cardinals made an inspiring comeback in the second half but never fully recovered, falling to the Spartans, 22-14.
Sun Prairie, ranked among the top 10 in the coaches' poll, suffered its first loss of the season and slipped to 2-1. Madison Memorial joined the Cardinals at 2-1 as four teams are tied for second place in the Big Eight Conference football standings behind unbeaten Janesville Parker.
It was a long and seemingly never-ending night with the start of the game delayed over 15 minutes due to an extended sophomore game. Once the varsity game had concluded it was past 10:30 p.m. From a perfectionist's standpoint, it was not a quality game. Mistakes were abundant on both sides. The two teams combined for seven fumbles -- Sun Prairie 5 (losing three) and Memorial 2 (losing 1) -- and 201 yards of penalties -- Sun Prairie 8 for 82 yards and Memorial 14 for 119 yards.
What started out bad for Sun Prairie only got worse. The Cardinals' first possession ended on a 59-yard interception returned for a touchdown by junior defensive back Jordan Fredrick. Memorial quarterback Mike Moss capped off the touchdown by throwing a two-point conversion pass to Lechein Neblett, giving the Spartans an 8-0 lead at 8:09 of the first quarter.
A few minutes later, Memorial's lead jumped to 14-0 with 5:39 remaining in the first quarter after junior running back Keith Larson took a handoff from Moss on first down and took it all the way into the end zone from 45 yards out. The Spartans' two-point conversion failed, leaving Memorial's lead at 14-0.
A fumble by Sun Prairie with 2:54 left in the first quarter set up the Spartans' third touchdown. The 72-yard march ended with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Moss to Neblett with 11:45 showing in the second quarter. Moss then completed a two-point conversion pass to Fredrick as the Spartans' lead swelled to 22-0.
While Sun Prairie's offense, again playing without senior running back Sean Marshall due to disciplinary reasons, couldn't get untracked, the Cardinals' defense stopped a pair of Memorial drives on interceptions by Bill Thiel and Chris Kujawski.
"I thought we missed some opportunities and we turned the ball over too much in our territory and that's tough to continually fight that battle," said Sun Prairie head coach Brian Kaminski of the first half. "Once we got something going we would have a turnover or a miscommunication."
Memorial's passing game especially hurt the Cardinals in the first half as Moss, well-protected by his offensive line, completed 19 of 35 attempts with two interceptions. His favorite target was Neblett, who had seven catches for 74 yards and Fredrick, who had five receptions for 44 yards.
"We knew going in that they have a very good quarterback and good receivers," said Kaminski. "Maybe it took us a while to figure out things, but I thought we were able to make some adjustments and our defense definitely played better in the second half."
That's for sure as Sun Prairie, after giving up 247 yards in the first half, limited the Spartans to just 51 yards in the second half.
Although Sun Prairie's second half was much better than the first, it didn't start out that way. Mike Mwelwa fumbled away the opening second-half kickoff, setting up the Spartans at Sun Prairie's 28-yardl line. However, Larson fumbled the ball after Memorial had reached the 10-yard line and Sun Prairie recovered.
While both teams were unable to move the ball a significant number of yards, a bit of trickery on Sun Prairie's part accounted for the Cardinals' first touchdown.
On first down from Madison Memorial's 41-yard line, Sun Prairie quarterback Tyler Patterson took the snap and handed it off to receiver Jordan Noskowiak, who swept to his right and then stopped and threw a pass to a wide-open Ross Harmon to complete the 41-yard touchdown play.
Jordan Noble kicked the point after as Sun Prairie trimmed the Spartans' advantage to 22-7 with 5:06 left in the third quarter.
Sun Prairie closed the gap even more early in the fourth quarter. The Cardinals moved the ball 83 yards in 11 plays, scoring on a perfectly lofted pass from Patterson to Harmon in the corner of the end zone. Noble's point after kick cut Memorial's lead to 22-14 with 11:09 left in the game.
Sun Prairie's defense kept the Spartans in check, but the Cardinals' offense never really put together a serious threat after scoring its second touchdown.
Although not pleased with the way his team played in the first half, Kaminski told his players after the game he was proud of them for not giving up in the second half.
"Our defense got put in some tough, tough spots whether it was a fumbled punt or a fumbled kickoff and we didn't give up any points," said Kaminski. "Our offense was able to put up 14 points, but we just ran out of time at the end had to burn some timeouts. We had some communication breakdowns which puts the blame on us as coaches, too. It's something we've got to work on."
Sun Prairie finished with 110 yards rushing on 36 carries with Alec Pankow leading the way with 84 yards on 19 carries. Harmon was Sun Prairie's leading receiver with six receptions for 93 yards and two touchdowns.
Although it's apparent Sun Prairie's running game is not as effective with Marshall in the lineup, it's not something Kaminski is going to spend a lot of time worrying about.
"We're not going to dwell on Sean Marshall and point the finger at him," said the head coach. "We're just going to move forward and adjust to football without him if that's what happens. All we can do is control what's here and the guys we have and have those guys step up. I thought our kids did a good job facing adversity after finding out about it Thursday night. It is what it is and we're not going to worry about it and we're just focusing on who we have right now."
Kaminski said he told his players after the game: "I'm proud of your heart. They played hard and fought to the end. Our defense rose up several times, but we just couldn't get our offense going due to certain things. When we burned back-to-back timeouts was pretty big when it came to the fourth quarter and we were left without any timeouts."
Noskowiak led Sun Prairie in tackles with 11 and David Presser had 10. Ryan Kiecker had nine tackles and Anthony Burchette had eight.
Sun Prairie now travels to Middleton this Friday night (7:30) to face a team that blanked Verona, 26-0, last week.
"Middleton is always good and it's been a heck of a battle with them from day one," said Kaminski. "I know we've beat them the last two years in close games and I'm sure they are going to bring everything they have and they have some momentum right now. We just have to get better, shore up our blocking, break some tackles, play solid defense like we did in the second half tonight and get our pass game going a little bit."
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