The West De Pere Phantoms (12-0 overall) defeat the Hudson Raiders (10-2 overall) 38-26 in the WIAA Division 1 state quarterfinal playoff game on Friday, Nov. 6.

Game Recap

Hudson jumped out to a 6-0 lead early in the second quarter from a Delani Oreso receiving touchdown. West De Pere answered back later in the quarter with a rushing touchdown from Kainan Strong to make the score 7-6.

Going into the third quarter the score was still 7-6 but early in the third, Strong scored his second touchdown of the game. Receiving touchdowns from Morgan Mertens and Darian Acevedo-Ortiz made the score 28-6 in the third quarter. A field goal from Phantoms kicker Maverick Lor made the score 31-6 with 10:25 left in the game. 

The Raiders then scored their first touchdown of the second half to make the score 31-13.  With 1:49 left in the game the Raiders scored via Blake Serpico to make it 31-20. Strong got his third touchdown of the game to make the score 38-20 with 1:22 left in the game. On the last play of the game Raiders quarterback Grant Bjerke scored his second rushing touchdown to bring the final score to 38-26. 

I spoke with Phantoms running back Kainan Strong about how he and his team are keeping their eye on the prize and staying focused during their playoff run.

“It’s the little things, come to practice, do the same things, but do them in an extraordinary way and if you do that, we’ll be okay,” said Phantoms running back Kainan Strong.

“We all can keep getting better, if we keep getting better, I think we’ll reach that goal,” said Strong.

I also spoke with Phantoms head coach Kegan Wirtz about what changed offensively in the second half.

“There weren’t really any adjustments that were made, it was more so we just stopped shooting ourselves in the foot. We had a lot of penalties that got us off schedule in the first half. In the second half we cut down on those penalties, and we stayed on schedule, which allowed us to run the ball a little bit more,” said Phantoms head coach Kegan Wirtz.

I also discussed with Coach Wirtz some things to improve before their state semifinal game next week.

“Cutting down on the penalties, cutting down on the mental mistakes, I thought we had a pretty good week of practice, but that’s the kind of stuff that kill you, so just limiting some of that and playing a cleaner game next week,” said Wirtz. 

The West De Pere Phantoms will face the Racine Case Eagles (11-1 overall) next week with a trip to the state championship on the line.