Post Messenger Recorder -

The Belleville Wildcats football team played at Marshall in a WIAA Division 5 playoff game on Friday, October 29. The Wildcats knocked the Cardinals off the tournament bracket, winning 28-13.

Photo courtesy of Marian Viney

First Row (L-R): Gabriel Nass, Kevin Vega, Alonso Vega, Jake Fahey, Logan Derke, Casey Hagen, Jake Shemanski, Brennen Keyes, Caden Myers. Second Row (L-R): Patrick Samon, Coach Jacob Biesterveld, Coach Cody Bigler, Head Coach Mike Nolden, Coach Evan Phillips, Coach Tim Serum, Coach Jeff Pier, Kaden DeSmet. Third Row (L-R): Danny Judd, Dylan Posthuma, Ryker Swenson, Gabriel Heinz, Devin Gratz, Derek Schultz, Landry Yarbrough, Samuel Arndt, Brett Olson. Fourth Row (L-R): Isaac Erb, Anthony Nolden, Jacob Jenkins, Riley Weber, Chase Varney, Brady Durni, Isaiah Wilkinson, Ethan Koepp. Fifth Row (L-R): Jacob Walker, Aidan Keyes, DeMarcus Conner, James Arndt, Carson Syse, Colin Derke, Carter Doyle, Joshua Peterson. Sixth Row (L-R): Trevor Syse, Owen Nemec, Benjamin Viney, Logan McCullough, Davis Richter, Nate Meier, Nolan Saeger, Andrew Ace. Missing from photo: Coach Tony Schmit, Ray Homme.

The game opened up with Marshall taking an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter. The Wildcats answered the back three times in the second. Trevor Syse ran it in from 3 yards out and kicked the extra point to tie the game up. The next score was another run by Syse, this time for 1 yard, and an extra point and Andrew Ace caught a 27-yard pass from Syse to put the Wildcats up by two scores at the half (with Syse's successful extra point), 21-7.

After a quiet third quarter, Marshall attempted a comeback in the fourth, however their attempt at a 2-point conversion was stopped short by the Wildcats defense. Belleville scored their final TD with 2:25 left in the game on a 3-yard run by Trevor Syse, who kicked the extra point as well.

Trevor Syse was 11 for 15 at QB, with 125 yards.

Dylan Posthuma led the team in rushing yards, with 89, while Trevor Syse had 84 and 3 touchdowns and Anthony Nolden ran for 9 yards.

Leading the team with 68 receiving yards on 4 receptions, and 1 touchdown was Andrew Ace, while Demarcus Conner had 42 yards on 5 receptions, Anthony Nolden had 11 yards and Dylan Posthuma had 4.

On defense, Jake Fahey, Kaden DeSmet and Demarcus Conner all had 1 interception. Davis Richter had 4 tackles, Jake Fahey and Landry Yarbrough each had 2 tackles and Kaden DeSmet, Demarcus Conner, Aidan Keyes, Anthony Nolden, Andrew Ace, Brady Durni, Dylan Posthuma and Colin Derke all had 1 tackle.

Next up for Belleville is Brodhead-Juda on Friday, November 5th. Brodhead-Juda is seeded #2 for the playoffs and is coming off a victory against the #3 seeded Richland Center last Friday night, where they won 42-3. Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m., at Brodhead High School.