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Wisconsin high school football: Menomonie tops River Falls again to move on to Level 2 of playoffs

jace frederick, pioneer press
·4 min read

Menomonie experienced a down year by its program standards a year ago. The Mustangs went 3-7 and failed to advance out of Level 1 of the Division 2 playoffs — a near birthright for Menomonie football players given the program’s longstanding history of success.

But last year was a different situation for the Mustangs — they were young. They had to play a large number of inexperienced guys. When that’s the case, there will be bumps in the road.

“We knew it would pay off in the long run,” Menomonie coach Mike Sinz said, “and it definitely has.”

Particularly Friday night, as the Mustangs beat Big Rivers Conference rival River Falls for the second time in 14 days, topping the sixth-seeded Wildcats 28-14 in their playoff opener on Friday at the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

Third-seeded Menomonie (8-2) will travel to New Richmond (9-1) next Friday to play the second-seeded Tigers after New Richmond topped Marshfield 39-22 on Friday. New Richmond beat Menomonie 35-7 in late September.

Menomonie’s experience showed itself at critical junctures Friday.

On fourth-and-goal from the 6-yard line in the first quarter, Isaac Ellison made up for a drop on the play prior by reeling in a back-shoulder throw from Brady Johnson for a touchdown to put the Mustangs up 7-0.

River Falls (6-4) immediately responded with a quick scoring drive — highlighted by a 50-yard run by senior running back Jonah Severson — that ended in a Severson 1-yard touchdown run to make it 7-7 with four minutes to play in the opening frame.

That’s where the score stood until nearly halftime — as River Falls squandered a scoring opportunity by fumbling on a pitch play when it was nearing the red zone.

Menomonie was knocking on the door just before halftime. The Mustangs faced second-and-goal from the 1-yard line with 27 seconds to go in the half and no timeouts. On second down, Steele Schaefer was stopped by a River Falls defense that was selling out against the run.

The Mustangs wisely had a third-down play predialed. Menomonie faked the run. So while Schaefer was eaten up in the backfield by multiple defenders, Johnson rolled out freely with the ball, and connected with a wide-open Ryan Dingwall for the touchdown with just three ticks left in the second quarter.

“We’ve hit on execution so much this year, and especially the last week,” Sinz said. “The execution was unbelievable. Again, when you have a veteran team, you can count on them to get it done in those crucial situations.”

In the second half, Menomonie’s rushing attack simply wore down the River Falls defense.

Mustangs running back John Higbie ran for a pair of second-half scores, including a 50-yarder to put Menomonie up 28-7 and all but seal the deal. Higbie, who finished with 94 yards on the ground, simply proved too difficult to bring down, and helped the Mustangs run out the clock at the game’s conclusion.

Menomonie, which also beat River Falls 39-15, ran for north of 220 yards on the night. The Wildcats ran a number of players both ways, something Sinz insinuated the Mustangs wanted to take advantage of.

“We start four senior offensive linemen up front, and our guys take pride in that (running game). We always talk about how much it means to them, and that group is just so cohesive and they’re just together,” Sinz said. “We wanted to kind of get it rolling and kind of tire their guys out, and at the end, that kind of happened.”

Wildcats coach Ryan Scherz noted River Falls likely had to score on the majority of its possessions Friday.

“We got close, but there was just mistakes at the wrong time,” he said. “We did some things at the wrong time in both games that cost you against good teams. You’ve got to play pretty darn near perfect to win in Menomonie. But the kids, they battled. That’s just the way it goes sometimes.”

River Falls was in a similar situation to where Menomonie was a year ago. The Wildcats touted a small, yet accomplished, senior class this fall. Scherz said that group did everything that was asked of it throughout its high school tenure.

“This year, it’s just tough having such a small class that you don’t have so many leaders, you don’t have so many guys that are used to doing what they’re doing. That’s a tough part. But obviously that’s something that happens in football,” Severson said. “That’s something that won’t be a problem for the next four years. This program is doing great getting kids involved. I feel like everybody loves being a part of the team, and it’ll be something where we have over 20 seniors every single year.”

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