For over 60 years the school-colored milk can has represented the intense rivalry between the Thorp and Owen-Withee communities. It represents everything that is good about high school athletics – the competition, the sportsmanship, the pride, and the small-town bragging rights! No matter what the records each school has entering the contest, you can bet on it being a battle and each team will play above themselves because of what is at stake.
Friday night’s game was a classic example of what the rivalry has become – both teams entering the game with a 3-2 record and fighting for their play-off matrix lives in hopes of getting a higher seed. The Blackhawks opened the scoring on a 4-yard touchdown run by Talon Mueller following a nice punt return by Clay Mueller to give the Hawks good field position. Mueller added the two-point conversion – 8-0 Hawks! Thorp answered that score with a TD pass on a boot play – two-point conversion came up short, 8-6 ball game. The Hawks answered that score when Isaiah Pyrchalla found Tegan Treankler in the endzone on a play-action pass to put the Hawks up 16-6 following the two-point conversion. Thorp answered the bell with an 80 yard kick-off return for a touchdown making the score 16-12 at the end of the first quarter.
The scoring cooled down in the second quarter, however, the Cardinals did find the endzone with very little time left in the half on a 29-yard pass play, to go up 20-16 at the intermission.
The second half belonged to the Blackhawks as they played a much more inspired level of football on both sides of the football. The offense took control of the tempo of the game scoring three times on short runs by Talon Mueller and accumulating over 150 rushing yards. It wasn’t necessarily pretty at times, but it was a ground and pound mentality that left the Cardinals with no answer. The Special Teams got into the act also with a big 4th down play, tackling the Cardinal’s punter deep in their own territory after a muffed snap that led to a Blackhawk score. And the defense continued to put pressure on the Cardinal quarterback throughout the half forcing errant throws and shutting the door on the run game to allow them to get off the field on fourth down. It was a team effort that represented perseverance and resiliency – two qualities that will help this team as they enter the home stretch of the regular season. Final score – Owen-Withee 38 – Thorp 26.
The Blackhawks will host Alma Center Lincoln in their Homecoming game this Friday night. Kick-off is at 7:00 p.m. The Blackhawk Football Family invite all former players to wear their football jerseys to the game to celebrate this Homecoming event!