Ghosts end Polar Bears’ season - Waupaca County Post

Kaukauna avenges earlier loss

By Greg Seubert

Hortonville handed the Kaukauna football team one of its three losses during the regular season.

The Ghosts returned the favor in the second round of the WIAA playoffs.

Kaukauna took a 10-0 halftime lead, but had to hold on for a 20-14 win Nov. 1 in a matchup of Division 2 Valley Football Association teams.

The third-seeded Ghosts will now host fourth-seeded Superior Friday, Nov. 8, in Level 3.

Hortonville, a No. 2, seed, ended its season with a 9-2 record.

Noah VanAsten opened the scoring for Kaukauna with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Natrop with just over two minutes remaining in the first quarter. Kyle Seefeldt capped Kaukauna’s next drive with a 32-yard field goal with just under nine minutes to go in the first half.

Hortonville had three-and-outs on its first three drives of the game and the fourth ended with Logan VanRoy’s interception of a Kyle Allen pass in the end zone.

The scoring picked up in the second half, as the first four drives ended with points on the scoreboard.

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Braden Gasser and the Hortonville football team had the number 82 on their helmets in memory of teammate Collin Krivoshein, who was killed in an automobile accident near Hortonville Oct. 28. Greg Seubert Photo

Hortonville High School senior Payton Brennan holds a towel in honor of football player Collin Krivoshein, a Hortonville football player killed in an automobile accident Oct. 28 after football practice. Greg Seubert Photo

Hortonville took the second half kickoff and drove 65 yards. Fifty of those yards came on Allen’s pass to Jayqon Owens. Chase Hughes scored from 6 yards out and the Polar Bears cut the lead to 10-7.

It didn’t take long for the Ghosts to answer, as VanAsten hooked up with Logan Fitzhugh for a 2-yard touchdown pass,

Hortonville answered on its next drive with Allen’s 4-yard pass to Owens, but McKenna Gervais’ extra point turned out to be the Polar Bears’ final point of the season.

Seefeldt added another 32-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to make it 20-14.

Owens returned Kaukauna’s kickoff 98 yards for a would-be tying touchdown, but a holding penalty gave the Polar Bears the ball at their own 21-yard line and the drive ended on Jacob VanZeeland’s interception.

Hortonville had one last chance after Seefeldt missed a 34-yard field goal with 1:48 to go in the game.

The Polar Bears used their passing game to drive down the field, but VanRoy picked off Allen’s last-second pass in the end zone.