Notre Dame upends West De Pere to return to state semifinals
The Green Bay Notre Dame football team is headed down a familiar road.
The Tritons upended West De Pere for a 28-7 road victory Friday in a WIAA Division 3 state quarterfinal game to put themselves one win away from a return trip to Camp Randall Stadium.
Notre Dame (10-2) will face Rice Lake (9-2) next week in a rematch of a state semifinal game at Stiehm Stadium in Weston, which was the same venue the Tritons punched their tickets to state at the last two years.
Notre Dame would love to put together a repeat performance of what it did against the Phantoms (10-2).
The Tritons held the Bay Conference co-champions in check and outgained them 365-220 in yards of offense.
Junior quarterback Wes Glime had a strong outing, completing 18-of-22 passes for 184 yards and a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to seal the game.
The first went for 30 yards to senior Connor Bell after Glime scrambled out of the pocket on a third-and-9. The second went for 22 yards to senior Matthew Rader with 5 minutes, 22 seconds remaining in the game to cap the scoring.
“He was able to take advantage when the pass protection broke down to scramble and get something,” Notre Dame coach Mike Rader said of Glime. “Their defensive coverage allowed him to do that a little bit more than he’s had to in some other games. He’s really stepped up. He’s maturing and working hard, and it’s good to see him have games like this.”
Follow PrepsAgenda.com on Facebook
Notre Dame controlled the game in the first half in building a 14-0 lead before seeing the tide turn when West De Pere marched 73 yards in 15 plays to close the gap with a 5-yard touchdown by senior Austin Beaumier on the opening drive of the second half.
After the Phantoms’ defense forced a three-and-out on the ensuing possession, the momentum West De Pere had was lost along with a fumble on a punt return that was recovered by the combination of seniors Max Pallini and Grant Shilbauer.
The Tritons would ultimately be stopped on downs, but the Phantoms never could quite get their normally dominant ground game rolling after that.
“They were twisting their defensive tackles and that kind of threw our centers and guards off,” said Beaumier, who accounted for 109 of West De Pere’s 187 rushing yards. “The linebackers flowed really hard to the ball. Their corners and safeties were playing pretty uptight to and they just made the tackles.”
Shilbauer and senior Jack Allen each had a team-high eight tackles for Notre Dame, while Pallini and senior Isaac Sidon both had seven tackles. Allen and junior Matthew Re also accounted for interceptions.
“Obviously, we knew we had to stop the run,” Rader said. “We worked all week on a couple different ways of doing that. We used a couple different ways and it was effective mostly. There was still plays out there, but in the end we were able to stop them enough to get them in a position where they’re going to have to pass and do some things that I think are outside their comfort zone.”
Notre Dame defeated West De Pere 28-7 in a WIAA Division 3 state quarterfinal game on Nov. 3, 2017.
Posted by Preps Agenda on Saturday, November 4, 2017
Notre Dame opened the game with an 11-play, 63-yard drive, which was capped by a 3-yard Mitch Chosa touchdown run. It extended the lead to 14-0 with a with a 14-play, 85-yard drive that culminated with a 4-yard TD run by senior Michael Gregoire with 2 minutes, 36 seconds remaining in the first half.
Gregoire finished with a game-high 116 rushing yards in addition to making five receptions for 32 yards.
While the Tritons will have a chance to advance to state for a third straight year, West De Pere can take solace in making a big step towards returning the program to the level of play its used to being at this season.
The Phantoms won a share of their first conference title since 2012 this season and will have a roster stacked with returning talent next year, including the likes of freshman quarterback Josh Blount and sophomore running back/linebacker Cody Cavil.
Juniors Evan Frisque and Alex Spitzer finished each made a game-high nine tackles for the West De Pere defense, which also got sacks from junior Jake Karchinski and senior James Daanen, who made three tackles for loss.
“I’m glad to the know that the team is still in good hands next year,” said Beaumier, who was one of 16 seniors on West De Pere’s team this year. “I have faith in them and will definitely be back to watch a couple games.”
G.B. Notre Dame 7 7 0 14 – 28
West De Pere 0 0 7 0 – 7
First quarter
ND – Mitch Chosa 3 run (Andrew Gruesen kick)
Second quarter
ND – Michael Gregoire 4 run (Gruesen kick)
Third quarter
WDP – Austin Beaumier 5 run (Sawyer Grovogel kick)
Fourth quarter
ND – Connor Bell 30 pass from Wes Glime (Gruesen kick)
ND – Matthew Rader 22 pass from Glime (Gruesen kick)
Individual statistics
Rushing – ND: Michael Gregoire 30-116, Wes Glime 6-37, Brandon Limoni 3-17, Mitch Chosa 1-3, Avery Lyons 1- -1; WDP: Austin Beaumier 19-109, Josh Blount 15-62, Cody Cavil 5-16.
Passing – ND: Wes Glime 18-22-0-184; WDP: Josh Blount 4-9-2-27, John Edinger 1-3-0-6.
Receiving – ND: Michael Gregoire 5-32, Matthew Rader 4-56, Jack Allen 3-37, Tommy Martzahl 3-19, Josh Cribben 2-10, Connor Bell 1-30; WDP: Austin Beaumier 3-27, Cal Jensen 2-6.