GREEN BAY – The De Pere Redbirds (3-1 overall) defeated conference rival Appleton West Terrors (3-1 overall) 40-14 on Friday, Sept. 11.

“Proud of how they played, how hard they played and how physical they played,” said Redbirds Head Coach Ben Strickland.

“For us just coming out, playing and establishing the run. Feeling like we were dictating the game on our terms, and we did at times,” said Strickland. 

This win sets up a huge conference matchup next week versus the Bay Port Pirates. 

Recap

The Redbirds owned the first half going into halftime with a 24-7 lead. Early in the third quarter the Redbirds were able to sack Appleton West quarterback Connor Navis to grab a 26-7 lead.

Liam Fieber was able to intercept quarterback Connor Navis which then led to a touchdown connection between Redbirds tight end Charlie Ruston and Redbirds quarterback Ryland Nowalk. With 5:24 left in the fourth quarter the Redbirds were able to add another touchdown to make the score 40-7. 

With 4:19 left in the fourth quarter, the Terrors were able to add one last touchdown to make the score look a little more presentable with a touchdown connection between Isaac Ise and Connor Navis which then made the score 40-14.

With this win the De Pere Redbirds were able to get back on the winning side after a tough loss to the West De Pere Phantoms last week.

“It feels good to win and we got it done. That’s the ultimate goal at the end of the day,” said Redbird’s quarterback Ryland Nowak. 

Nowak also discussed how important it is to keep a focused mindset even with the seventeen point lead the Redbirds held at half time. 

“You have to always think it’s 0-0 and you have to keep going. You have to keep pushing with your guys - it’s always 0-0 so you can never back off,” said Nowak.

Coach Strickland discussed a key thing to work on for the Redbirds before the matchup against the Bay Port Pirates and that was being consistent throughout all four quarters. 

“Consistency there’s times where we show we can be a really good football team, but we can’t choose the times that we do that. We have to do that every single snap and be our best and give ourselves the best chance without beating ourselves,” said Strickland.

Next week Thursday the De Pere Redbirds will be traveling to Bay Port in a crucial conference matchup against the Pirates.