Wildcats Clobber Knights
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Photo courtesy of Lynda Shrader
Before kickoff at Friday night's Belleville vs New Glarus-Monticello game, the NGM Knights football team presented the Belleville team with a jersey bearing Eric O'Connor's number and signed by the entire team. The team expressed their condolences and donated $300 to the Memorial Fund for O'Connor.
The Highway 69 rivalry between the Knights and the Wildcats has been going on for decades, and according to the website of the Wisconsin Sports Network, it has been 10 years since Belleville has won a football game against New Glarus-Monticello. That all changed under the lights on Friday night, when the Knights hosted the Wildcats. The Wildcats pulled off the win, 21-0.
"We had a great game Friday. Even though we made a lot of mistakes, our players played their hearts out. This was an emotional game for us, remembering Eric O'Connor and how much this rivalry meant to him," said Belleville Coach Chase Ritter. "Our offensive line dominated throughout the game and we had a lot of players step up when we needed some key plays. The defense played so well that NGM never got inside the red zone. This victory over NGM took a mental block off us that has been hanging over our heads for years, and now our guys are more confident than they've ever been."
Photo courtesy of Lynda Shrader
Knight Jarrett Long wraps up Ogden York and gets some help from Jared Carney and Jesse Tetner. Also involved in the play were Wildcat Drew Shrader and Knight Reece Rufer.
The game got off to a slow start, and the score at the end of the first quarter was 0-0. In the second quarter, Sawyer Fahey ran it into the end zone on a 1-yard run and Cody McMillan's extra point was successful for the Wildcats to take the 7-0 lead going into halftime.
Belleville's next score came in the fourth on a 20-yard pass from QB Nate Mabis to Drew Shrader. Mabis took the ball down the field 48 yards to score the final points of the game.
Belleville's Nate Mabis was 8 for 16 for 99 passing yards. Mabis also rushed for 106 yards. Drew Shrader caught three passes for 57 yards.
Pat Craker led New Glarus in rushing. Jared Carney was 6 of 8, passing for 88 yards. Trevor Gassman had two catches for 25 yards.
Up next for the Belleville Wildcats is their Homecoming game against Waterloo on Friday, September 22nd. The New Glarus Knights will play at Marshall on Friday, September 22nd.
