Hortonville takes down Wisconsin Rapids

By Scott Bellile

The Hortonville Polar Bears took a chomp out of Wisconsin Rapids with a 29-19 victory on Friday, Sept. 11.

Co-head coach Andy Kolosso summarized the game: “We made a lot of mistakes [but we’re] happy with the win.”

Friday night the Polar Bears had 12 penalties for 91 yards, which Kolosso said really hurts the offense. He said he’d like to fix the team’s error-prone tendencies so ideally they sustain a 13-play drive.

“We’ve just got to keep improving,” Kolosso said.

The Polar Bears fumbled the opening kickoff, so Wisconsin Rapids capitalized on the slip-up to score a rushing touchdown two minutes into the game.

Hortonville quickly recovered from the blunder. Senior running back Max Flunker drove in a 13-yard touchdown with three and a half minutes to go in the quarter. A two-point conversion by senior wide receiver Joe Cliver brought the score to 8-6.

Flunker and extra point kicker Tanner Pahl added another 14 points near the end of the second quarter. With a minute and a half left in the second quarter, Flunker dashed six yards to cross the endzone. In the last 38 seconds Flunker ran 14 yards for his and the Polar Bears’ third touchdown, bringing the score to 22-6.

After a Wisconsin Rapids 30-yard touchdown in the third quarter, Hortonville junior fullback Brock Young caught an 11-yard pass from senior quarterback Braden Stoeger for the team’s last touchdown. Pahl’s extra point brought the score to 29-12. One last touchdown by Wisconsin Rapids finalized the score at 29-19.

Hortonville running back Brad Conger led in rushing with 115 yards, followed closely by Flunker with 111 yards.

Hortonville’s record is now 2-1 in the Valley Football Association-South and 3-1 overall. The Polar Bears will play Oshkosh West at home Friday, Sept. 18, at 7 p.m.