Bulldogs varsity football team defeats the Falcons

 

LAKE MILLS — The Lake Mills football team hosted Aplington-Parkersburg Friday night in a battle for positioning within the district.

At 2-4 entering the game, the Bulldogs needed a win to pull even with the 3-3 Falcons. Despite giving up a touchdown on the very first drive of the game, the Bulldogs came back to beat the Falcons 31-14.

Lake Mills started the game on defense, making multiple stops against Aplington-Parkersburg’s run game to put them in a fourth down and short. However, a conversion on a short pass over the middle gave Aplington-Parkersburg new life and eventually led to the first score of the game.

The touchdown came on an 18-yard pass and put the Falcons on top 7-0 less than five minutes into the first quarter.

A costly sack would stall the Bulldogs’ first offensive drive and force them to punt. They would get their revenge on the next drive, however, by getting a third-down sack of their own and getting the ball back in good field position.

Riding that wave of momentum, senior quarterback Cael Boehmer kept the ball on an option run, taking it 65 yards down to the one-yard line. The big play set up a one-yard run by Elijah Wagner to tie the game at 7-7 to end the first quarter.

The second quarter was mostly uneventful, with both teams trading punts back and forth for the majority of the quarter. That was until Lake Mills found some energy after a 40-yard pass from Beohmer to a falling Tommy Kaktis, putting the ball inside the 10-yard line.

The Bulldogs capitalized on the great field position a few plays later, when Boehmer took a quarterback sneak four yards into the endzone. A successful PAT put the Bulldogs up 14-7 as the teams headed to the locker rooms for halftime.

Receiving the ball to start the second half, junior Logan Prescott took the kick return into Falcon territory at the 28-yard line. The Bulldogs pulled off some big time plays, including two fourth-down conversions to move the ball to the one-yard line. However, two consecutive false starts pushed them back to the 11, where Boehmer eventually kicked a field goal to take a 17-7 lead halfway through the third quarter.

Aplington-Parkersburg responded by their kickoff return to the 18-yard line of Lake Mills. After a pass interference call on a fourth-down attempt, Aplington-Parkersburg got in the endzone on a one-yard touchdown run to cut the Lake Mills lead to three points.

The Bulldogs punched right back with a quick drive set up by a 40-yard pass from Boehmer to sophomore Carson Eaton. They scored one play later on another option keeper from Boehmer to take a 24-14 lead into the fourth quarter.

Lake Mills started the fourth quarter by forcing an Aplington-Parkersburg turnover after a fourth-down pass was incomplete. Lake Mills took a big chunk out of the remaining clock on its following drive.

Aside from taking nearly eight minutes off the clock, the Bulldogs also added another seven points when Eaton rushed for a five-yard touchdown to almost surely seal the win for the Bulldogs.

Lake Mills locked in the victory on the ensuing Aplington-Parkersburg drive when junior Mason Fritz picked up a fumble, allowing Lake Mills to run out the rest of the clock.

The Bulldogs climb to 3-4 on the season and will play again Friday when they host the Green Devils of Osage.