MADISON – The West De Pere Phantoms secured the WIAA D2 State Championship Title with their 28-14 win over the Notre Dame Academy Tritons at Camp Randall Stadium on Friday, Nov. 21.
“This means a lot — a lot of hard work paid off and we did our job,” said West De Pere Quarterback Patrick Greisen. “It wasn’t just one person on our team — we have a lot of people that can make plays.”
The clash between the two Green Bay area teams started off strong as both teams went drive for drive trading touchdowns nearly the entire first half.
An opening drive touchdown for West De Pere’s Ryan Lutz on a 1-yard rush into the endzone put the Phantoms ahead 7-0 early in the game.
Shortly after, Notre Dame Running Back Kingston Allen evened the score with a 9-yard rush into the endzone just 6 minutes later.
Before the end of the first quarter, Lutz earned back the lead for the Phantoms with a 1-yard push to put another 7 points on the board for his team going into the second quarter.
To start the second quarter, Allen rushed for 28 yards for his second touchdown of the day to bring the score to 14-14.
With 9:49 left until the end of the first half, Greisen launched a deep ball downfield for a Judeah Kniskern reception for a 60 yard touchdown.
Though both offenses saw success early on, ultimately the Phantoms defense stepped up to make a necessary stop to shift the momentum of the game just before the half.
“Our defense came up huge tonight. I’m so proud of them. They put in so much work and it was just great to see that they were able to help us out so much today,” said Lutz of his defense’s resilience and grit.
Greisen added that at a time when he could sense the momentum could shift for either team, he felt his defense really showed up and took care of business.
“They carried. Our offense was struggling a little bit but they made big stops. They’re a damn good defense,” said Greisen.
West De Pere’s Ethan Collar intercepted a pass by Tritons’ Quarterback Max Pierce at the West De Pere 16-yard line.
After a string of completions by Greisen, the Phantoms’ luck expired when Greisen’s pass was intercepted by Micah Warren.
Allen and the Tritons worked their way down to the West De Pere 1-yard line, when Phantoms’ Braylon Stegall and Mason Werner brought down Allen for a stop to preserve their lead with a little over a minute left before the half.
Despite failing to convert on fourth down on the ensuing drive, the Phantoms defense showed up yet again with an interception by Werner as time expired in the first half.
“That was everything. It just comes down to our perseverance and our preparation that got us to this point,” said Lutz.
The Phantoms defense retained momentum going into the third quarter with a forced fumble by Stegall on the Tritons’ opening drive, recovered by West De Pere’s Jaxon Jashinsky.
The Phantoms then put the game away with the lone touchdown of the second half coming in the fourth quarter on a 47-yard Landon Kibbe touchdown to bring the final score to 28-14.
“This means a lot. It means a lot for our community, our players, our coaches,” said Lutz.
Lutz closed out the game for the Phantoms with the final possession as time expired.
“It means a lot that they trust me in that situation and I am just happy to be able to contribute to my team,” said Lutz. “Their defense was good. They fought hard and they are a well-coached team.”
The Phantoms rounded out the game with 304 passing yards to Notre Dame’s 63.
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