Preble holds off Manitowoc for win

The Green Bay Preble football team made five interceptions Thursday in its home-opener at Gauthier Family Stadium.

The Hornets’ biggest takeaway from holding off Manitowoc for a 31-26 victory in a Fox River Classic Conference game was just that, it was a win. An ugly one at times, but a win nonetheless.

“Those takeaways were huge today no doubt,” said Preble coach Tim Larsen, whose team improved to 2-0 on the young season.

The Hornets collected all five of their takeaways in the second half, including three interceptions on the Ships’ first three possessions.

However, Preble came away with only 10 points off of the second-half turnovers, allowing Manitowoc to hang around until the end when senior Matt Carwardine picked off Jared Lensmeyer for his second interception of the game.

“We just learned we have to battle every game and take it one week at a time,” Carwardine said. “Like coach said, our goal every week is to go 1-0, and we achieved that this week.”

The Hornets rushed for 261 yards with University of Iowa recruit Henry Geil accounting for a game-high 144 yards on 27 carries, while fellow senior Gavin Buergi added 116 yards on 10 carries, including three that went for scores.

Buergi gashed Manitowoc for a 59-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage of the game and came back with a 34-yard scoring scamper in the second quarter to tie the game 14-14.

As impressive as the numbers were on the ground, Preble actually struggled to sustain drives against the Ships, who stacked the box in an attempt to stop Geil.

The strategy was effective for most of the game as Geil’s longest rush entering the fourth quarter went for 12 yards and Manitowoc made three tackles for losses against him.

But then the future Hawkeye broke through for a 57-yard touchdown run to put Preble up 28-20 and take all of the wind out of the Ships’ upset-minded sails.

“They did a great job scheming against us,” Larsen said. “We were almost running with 11 guys in the box.

“We have to have an answer for teams loading the box on us. We just have to execute, too. We can run our stuff with a loaded box. We just have to finish blocks and just have to be sound in our execution.”

Preble’s offensive line has been battered by injuries during the early part of the season, making it even tougher to put together long drives.

Manitowoc (0-2) outgained the Hornets in offensive yards, totaling 396 to Preble’s 337.

Senior Jared Lensmeyer threw for 261 yards with senior Tanner Hadler making 13 receptions for 167 yards.

Green Bay Preble junior EJ Reese

Junior Malcome Young rushed for a pair of touchdowns. His first came after Manitowoc recovered a fumble on a punt just outside the Preble goal line to give the Ships a 14-7 lead in the first quarter.

Young’s second score closed the gap to 21-20 in the fourth quarter. Manitowoc went for a 2-point conversion, but the pass was broken up by Preble junior EJ Reese, who also made two interceptions in the contest.

The Ships later capped a 12-play, 70-yard drive with a 9-yard TD run by senior Garrett Braun to pull within 28-26 with 4 minutes, 19 seconds remaining in the game.

The Ships initially completed a pass to convert the 2-point conversion, but a penalty for having an ineligible player down field nullified the play. They failed to convert on the following attempt.

Preble senior defensive lineman Nic Dahlke provided consistent pressure on Lensmeyer, while senior Colin Dougherty made the Hornets’ other interception in the game.

“It’s all about energy.” Buergi said. “Once we got our energy going, and really started focusing, that’s when we started going.”

Manitowoc 14 0 0 12 – 26

G.B. Preble 7 7 7 10 – 31

First quarter

GBP – Gavin Buergi 59-yard run (Wyatt Stenson kick)

M – Owen Lettenberger 5 pass from Jared Lensmeyer (Alex Myers kick)

M – Malcome Young 2 run (Myers kick)

Second quarter

GBP – Buergi 34 run (Stenson kick)

Third quarter

GBP – Buergi 8 run (Stenson kick)

Fourth quarter

M – Young 6 run (Pass failed)

GBP – Henry Geil 57 run (Stenson kick)

M – Garrett Braun 9 run (Pass failed)

GBP – Stenson 33 field goal

Individual statistics

Rushing – M: Garrett Braun 9-78, Malcome Young 11-31, Owen Lettenberger 6-19, Jared Lensmeyer 4-7; GBP: Henry Geil 27-144; Gavin Buergi, 10-116; Nic Dahlke 1-1.

Passing – M: Jared Lensmeyer 23-42-5-261; GBP: Casey Roeser 6-16-0-76.

Receiving – M: Tanner Hadler 13-167, Garrett Braun 1-2, Owen Lettenberger 3-28, Davis Heinzen 3-22, Malcome Young 3-42; GBP: Henry Geil 1-29, Matt Carwardine 2-11, David Perret 1-10, Dalton Lardinois 1-19, Gavin Buergi 1-7.

Thursday’s FRCC Scores

Bay Port 62, Sheboygan South 6

Pulaski 55, Sheboygan North 0

G.B. Southwest 20, De Pere 0

WFRV Channel 5’s highlights