LAKE GENEVA—The Badger High School football team’s season continued to roll merrily along Friday night against visiting Westosha Central.
The Badgers moved to 6-1 on the year with a dominating 52-15 victory over the Falcons, who fell to 5-2 with the loss.
Badger sits alone atop the Southern Lakes standings with a perfect 5-0 record.
After Westosha scored the game’s first touchdown in the first quarter, the Badgers scored 38 straight points to coast to the victory.
Quarterback JP Doyle again was solid, rushing for 79 yards and three touchdowns while throwing for 102 yards and another score.
It was the Badger running game that set the tone. Landon Nottestad carried the ball 17 times for 107 yards and a score, while freshman Matt O’Grady rushed eight times for 118 yards, including a 73-yard fake punt for a touchdown.
The total of 459 yards was a testament to the Badger offensive attack.
The Badger defense was also terrific, holding a previously high-powered Westosha offense to just 229 yards.
The game was still tight at 14-7 when Doyle connected with wide receiver Cade Scheideman for a unique 65-yard scoring strike.
The ball was tipped by a Westosha defender directly into the arms of Scheideman, who went the rest of the way for the score.
“I saw that it might be underthrown, so I tried to come back for it,” Scheideman said. “When I saw it go up, I knew I had to do my best to go grab it.”
Scheideman said Friday’s blowout represented a big win.
“It’s just a huge win not only for our program, but for our school,” Scheideman said. “They have beaten us for a long time in a lot of different sports, so for us to come out and play the way we did, it feels great.’
While the offense was on cruise control, the defense was putting up quite a fight against the Falcons. After surrendering the opening score, Badger didn’t allow another point while the game was still competitive.
“It took us a little while to adjust to what they were doing,” Doyle, who doubles as a starting safety, said. “But once we locked in, we did a really good job of containing their weapons.”
Badger coach Matt Hensler saw plenty of room for improvement with his squad.
“It was a big one, no doubt, but there are a lot of things we have to correct,” Hensler said. “Defensively, we missed way too many tackles. The good news was we did a great job flowing to the ball, so if we did miss a tackle, we had other guys there to make the play.”
The Badgers will host Union Grove on Friday night as they attempt to secure at least a tie for the Southern Lakes conference title.
LAKE GENEVA BADGER 52, WESTOSHA CENTRAL 15
Westosha Central 7 0 8 0 — 15
LG Badger 14 14 10 14 — 52
Scoring summary: WC—Nick Argersinger 38 run (kick good). LGB—JP Doyle 6 run (kick good). LGB—Matthew O’Grady 23 run (kick good). LGB—Cade Scheideman 65 pass from Doyle (try failed). LGB—Doyle 50 run (Landon Nottestad run). LGB—A. Karnatz 36 FG. LGB—Nottestad 6 run (kick good). WC—Josh Topercer 8 pass from Brock Koeppel (Taylor run). LGB—Doyle 5 run (kick good). LGB—O’Grady 73 run (kick good).