Obermann gets redemption in Kimberly's high school football playoff win over Appleton North

KIMBERLY − Cody Obermann was a mix of relief and excitement following Kimberly's gritty 10-7 WIAA Division 1 high school football playoff victory over Appleton North on Friday.

The senior defensive back minutes before had sealed the Papermakers' opening-round victory with an interception that helped catapult the Papermakers to a second-round matchup with Stevens Point next Friday.

“It was awesome just to have so many guys jacked up for that play," Obermann said of the interception. "Just to have guys all around me to trust me and make that play.”

It was one of several the Papermakers defense made in the win over its rival. Kimberly beat Appleton North 14-0 in the Fox Valley Association regular-season finale last week and Friday's game would be even more of a pressure cooker.

Kimberly scored all of its points in the first half on a 33-yard Hunter Berry field goal and an 11-yard touchdown pass from Carson Pendleton to Marcus Doucette.

North (6-4) made its move early in the second half following a muffed punt return by Obermann. That led to a recovery by Bobby Salm that put the Lightning in prime field position at the Papermakers 31.

The Lightning scored on Salm's 8-yard run with 6:31 left, then North put together a nice drive at the end of the third and into the fourth that had Kimberly's defense reeling a bit.

As the drive neared midfield early in the fourth, North had first-and-10 from its own 48. A false start and subsequent bad snap sent the Lightning back 23 yards and a second-and-33 situation that led to a punt.

The ensuing Kimberly possession took more than six minutes off the clock, flipped field position and set up a punt that put the Lightning at its own 4-yard line for its final drive, which ended with the Obermann interception.

Kimberly coach Chad Michalkiewicz said Obermann showed character in overcoming the earlier flub with the game-deciding interception.

"You know, he botched the punt. Big deal. Park it and move on. That's what we talked about," Michalkiewicz said. "To see him come up with the game-winning defensive play is unbelievable and very characteristic of him and characteristic of our football team."

Loss tough to swallow for North

The unmistakable feeling of a missed opportunity was clear in North coach Rob Salm's comments after the loss.

All of North's losses this season could be attributed to self-inflicted wounds, and Friday was no different.

“For whatever reason we seem to have the worst mistakes at the worst times and at the most crucial times in the game," Salm said. "I wish I could answer why that happens. But again, when you play good teams you can’t make those mistakes. And tonight that’s what happened again.”

North says goodbye to a solid senior class that included captains Brayden Hechel, Brock Arndt, Brady Lamon, Luke Kritzer and Jackson Modder.

“They’re a group of seniors with a big heart and a strong sense of brotherhood for each other," Salm said. "They really love each other and you can see the way they were playing tonight. They were playing for each other. They really gave us a chance in this game and that’s what's so disappointing … you feel like you let them down. We feel like they didn’t get what they deserved and as a coach that’s always a tough pill to swallow.”

Neenah routs D.C. Everest, gets another home game

Cheers erupted on the Neenah sideline late in the fourth quarter Friday night.

The Rockets were well on their way to beating D.C. Everest 54-28 in a Division 1 first-round playoff game, but it was at that point the Rockets learned they would be hosting Chippewa Falls in the second round instead of making the long trip to Hudson.

“It’s amazing. We didn’t want to make that drive and now we get to play at our home field again, where we practice on every day, it’s going to be great,” said senior Connor Briones, who had one of two interception returns for a touchdown in the third quarter for the Rockets.

Grant Dean had three touchdown runs in the first half for the fourth-seeded Rockets, who get to host eighth-seeded Chippewa Falls after the Cardinals upset No. 1 seed Hudson 21-14.

Dean had touchdown runs of 7, 39 and 1 yard for the Rockets. Freshman quarterback Ashton Van Beek added scoring runs of 31 and 35 yards.

Briones returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown with 4:06 remaining in the third quarter, and just over a minute later Zayne Schmitt picked off a pass and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown to give Neenah a 47-14 lead.

“I saw the ball and I just instinctively knew it was mine, I was supposed to take it all the way back,” Briones said. “It’s pretty great.”

Hunter Weinke closed the scoring with a 37-yard touchdown run for the Rockets, who are 8-2 overall.

Ghosts pull away from Brookfield Central in D2

Top-seeded Kaukauna got a bit of a scare in its 33-14 victory over Brookfield Central in a Division 2 playoff opener. Central tied Kaukauna going into the half on AJ Seymour's 19-yard touchdown pass to Nick Foster.

That woke up Kaukauna, however, as the Ghosts proceeded to outscore the Lancers 19-0 in the second half, with the Ghosts' ground game doing most of the damage. Connor Kincheloe had scoring runs of 26 and 50 yards with Finnley Doriot adding a 29-yard touchdown run. Doriot also had a 28-yard touchdown pass to Nolan Hall in the first quarter.

Kaukauna hosts fourth-seeded West De Pere in the second round, a team it defeated 25-22 in Week 2. West De Pere ousted Kaukauna from the playoffs in the state semifinals last season.

Friday's high school results: Here are Friday's high school sports results for the Appleton area

First-round must-see playoff games: Here are 8 must-see games in Appleton and Green Bay during the first round of the WIAA high school football playoffs

Menasha, Fox Valley Lutheran win D3 openers

Seventh-seeded Menasha pulled off the area's top upset, beating second-seeded Plymouth 31-8 and limiting the Panthers to 116 total yards in a Division 3 playoff opener. Ty Carlson scored on a 34-yard fumble return to headline the defense with Logan Liegl tossing a 31-yard touchdown pass and adding a 64-yard touchdown run in the second half.

“The fact that (Carlson) actually scored, those plays are so much bigger when guys actually score because when you’re playing in a playoff game, you never know. It’s tough to get in that end zone sometimes,” Menasha coach Jeramie Korth said. “So we had to crack the seal, I guess, and get that open a little bit and I think once we did that we were able to figure some things out. It kind of gave everybody a sigh of relief that, ‘OK, we can breathe a little bit. We’re on the board and now we can find some things out that work for us on offense as well.’

“The defense definitely got us going tonight.”

Egan, Heiges power FVL: Liam Heiges threw for three touchdowns and Jack Egan added three on the ground in leading the Foxes past Antigo 42-14. FVL led 35-7 at the half. Lucas Papendorf had touchdown receptions of 33 and 60 yards and finished with five catches for 112 yards.

Xavier, Wrightstown advance

Xavier (9-1) routed Wisconsin Dells 42-7 to advance in Division 4. Isaiah Des Jardins had touchdown runs of 38 and 48 yards with Matthew Potter also scoring on two short touchdown runs. Evan McCormick also had a 48-yard touchdown run as the top-seeded Hawks will play sixth-seeded Winneconne (7-3) next Friday. The Wolves defeated Berlin 35-20 to advance. Xavier beat Winneconne 45-19 in the regular season. ... Winneconne's Brady Immel had three touchdown passes and Ethan Mathe added two rushing scores in the Wolves' win over Berlin. ... Third-seeded Wrightstown (8-2) got three touchdowns from Aiden Humphreys to knock off Sturgeon Bay 29-12 and advance to the second round in D5. Humphreys scored on runs of 4, 3 and 3 yards. The Tigers play at second-seeded Southern Door next Friday.

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This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: High school football teams advance with first-round victories