The Trucker varsity football team traveled to Winneconne to take on the defending state champion Wolves on Friday, Sept. 26.

The Trucker defense forced the Wolves to punt after their first offensive possession, but the Clintonville offense gave the ball back to the Wolves via an interception with 9:02 remaining in the first quarter.

Winneconne capitalized on the turnover, throwing a 78-yard touchdown pass on the next play. The extra point kick was good, and the Wolves led 7-0.

Clintonville answered on their next possession with a 60-yard touchdown pass from Damon Lorge to Todd Taylor Jr. The extra point tied the game, 7-7, with 4:06 remaining in the first quarter.

Winneconne quickly regained the lead with a 54-yard touchdown pass with 2:18 remaining in the first quarter, and tacked on the extra point for a 14-7 lead.

The Wolves added another touchdown with 31 seconds remaining in the first quarter on a 68-yard touchdown run. The extra point gave them a 21-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Winneconne added two touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 35-7 lead at halftime.

Down but not out, the Truckers battled back in the second half. Lorge threw a 62-yard touchdown pass to Lehman and followed it up with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Lehman to bring the score to 35-21.

Winneconne answered with a touchdown run to make the score 42-21, but Clintonville refused to quit.

Lorge booted a 45-yard field goal to bring the score to 42-24, and later ran for a 32-yard touchdown to narrow the Wolves’ lead to 42-31.

Unfortunately, the Truckers ran out of time and couldn’t quite catch the Wolves, who escaped with a 42-31 win.