Polar Bears get Homecoming win
Owens scores three touchdowns
By Greg Seubert
Hortonville recovered from its first loss of the season Sept. 27 with a 46-29 Valley Football Association-South win over Oshkosh West.
The Polar Bears’ fifth win of the season came on the team’s Homecoming night and included several big plays.
Kyle Allen had touchdown passes of 75 and 34 yards to Jayqon Owens as well as a 63-yarder to Trevor Balboa and a 28-yarder to Parker Lawrence, while Owens returned the second-half kickoff 80 yards for another score.
The Wildcats struck first in the first quarter on Ryan Schleis’ 42-yard touchdown pass to Jagger Freiberg on the game’s opening drive.
Hortonville answered with Allen’s 75-yarder to Owens. Luke Diedrich completed a pass to Dylan Schmidt for the two-point conversion and the Polar Bears led 8-7 with 1:51 remaining in the first quarter.
David Kohl replaced Schleis and gave the Wildcats a 14-8 lead with a 6-yard pass to Noah Alford two minutes into the second quarter. It was the first of four touchdowns in the quarter.
Allen connected with Balboa for Hortonville’s second touchdown and a 15-14 lead and the Polar Bears took a 22-14 lead with 3:48 to go in the first half on a 1-yard run from Hunter Strange.
The Polar Bears came close to adding to the lead late in the half, as Lawrence returned a punt inside the West 10-yard line. However, West was able to punt again because of offsetting penalties: a facemask penalty on the Wildcats and holding on the Polar Bears. Bennett Whiteley picked off an Allen pass and returned it 85 yards for a touchdown and the teams headed into halftime tied at 22-22.
Second half
Owens returned the second-half kickoff 80 yards and his 34-yard pass from Allen later in the third quarter made it 36-22.
The Wildcats took advantage of a short field after blocking a punt that set them up at the 9-yard line. Kohl found Blake Langlitz two plays later and West cut the lead to 36-29 with 6 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Penalties forced the Polar Bears into a fourth-and-52 situation early in the fourth quarter, but a roughing the kicker penalty on the Wildcats kept the drive alive. A 20-yard field goal from McKenna Gervais gave the Polar Bears a 39-29 lead with 3:49 remaining in the game and Hortonville added one last score on Allen’s 28-yard pass to Lawrence with just over a minute to go.
Hortonville improved to 5-1 on the season with the win and will head to Oshkosh’s Titan Stadium to face Oshkosh North at 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4.
• Other scores from Sept. 27 included Manawa 55, Iola-Scandinavia 6; Weyauwega-Fremont 47, Wild Rose 8; Seymour 28, Waupaca 6; Clintonville 17, Green Bay East 14; New London 49, Green Bay West 6; and Amherst 35, Bonduel 7.
