Wrens Advance To Semi-Finals

October 22nd, 2014

Tyler Peterson – NSO

Photos by: Marianne Pierson

The Wrenshall Wrens hosted cross town rivals, the Carlton Bulldogs, in the 1st round of the Section 5A 9-man playoffs. After a closely contested 1st half, the Wrens found themselves with the 39-8 victory.

Wrenshall got on the board first, marching down the field on their first drive, which was capped off with a 32 yard touchdown run by Caleb O’Connor to put them up 6-0 early. The Bulldogs forced the Wrens to put on their next possession, but Justin O’Connor pinned the Bulldogs at the 2 yard line with a gorgeous punt. On the Wrens next possession, QB Luke Vine broke several tackles on his way to a 54 yard scamper to put the Wrens up 12-0.

The Bulldogs defense would respond. Playing tough defense, the Bulldogs forced the Wrens to punt it away, thats when Mike Moralez could his hand on the kick and Isaiah Wallace recovered it in the end zone for the touchdown. Dominic Bennett converted the 2 point conversion to cut the lead down to 12-8. On Wrenshalls next possession, Bulldogs came up with a late stop, halting the Wrens just before halftime, keeping the score at 12-8.

The Bulldogs received to start the 2nd half, but the Wrens forced them to a 4th down in their territory, but the Bulldogs took a risk and converted a fake punt when Quarterback Jackson Mickle connected with Josh Dallman to covert the 4th down. The Bulldogs drive would stall however, and on the Wrens next possession, O’Connor found the end zone again, this time from just 2 yards out to increase the Wrenshall lead to 19-8. The Bulldogs went 3 & out and Wrenshall capitalized again with Dakota Spry rushing 25 yards to the end zone to increase their lead to 26-8. In the 4th quarter, the Bulldogs drive would be stopped again. Wrenshall continued to pound the ball on the ground and scored again when Hunter Pauly reversed field on a 28 yard run to put the Wrens up 32-8. The Wrens would score once more late, with O’Connor finding the end zone for his third time, this time from 8 yards out to finalize the score at 39-8.

The Bulldogs end their season at 2-7, and will lose 9 seniors from next years roster. The Wrens improve to 7-2 and will play the difficult South Ridge Panthers on Saturday, October 25th in South Ridge. Kickoff will be at 7 PM.

Tyler Peterson can be contacted at tpeterson@northlandsportsonline.com