St. Mary’s Springs Wins 13th State Football Title

The St. Mary’s Springs
Academy football team won their 13th
state championship in school history with a 37-28 win over Darlington in the
WIAA Division Six State Championship Game on Thursday afternoon at Madison’s Camp Randall
Stadium.  The game looked like it might
be a laugher early as the Ledgers jumped out to a 21-0 first half lead.  Blake Bauer capped off a 12-play 63 yard
opening drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. 
The Ledgers went up 14-0 with 8:23 left in the 2nd quarter
when Sam Spranger punched it in from 2-yards out.  The Springs’ lead ballooned to 21-0 when Mark
Austin finished off a hook-n-ladder play by scampering 11-yards after taking a
pitch from Collin Ottery. 

 

Darlington then went on to
score three touchdowns in and amazing 1 minute and 46 seconds to even the score.
Myles Leahy scored on a 42-yard run, but the extra point was blocked with 2:43
left in the first half.  The Ledgers then
fumbled the kickoff and two plays later Hunter Johnson scored on a 10-yard run
and with the 2-point conversion the Ledger lead was 21-14 at the 2:02 mark. SMSA
fumbled the next kickoff as well setting up a 14 yard Jason Singer TD run to
even things up at 21 with :57 left in the 2nd quarter.   

 

St. Mary’s Springs was able to take a 24-21 lead into the
halftime locker room as senior kicker Zach Hintze drilled a 49-yard field goal
as time expired in the half.  That field
goal was a Division 6 state record and tied the all division’s record set by
Bruce Olson for Westby in the Division 4 State Final back in 1985.

 

The Ledgers took a 27-21 lead with 2:34 left in the 3rd
quarter when Hintze drilled a 27  yard
field goal.  Darlington
took their 1st lead of the game at 28-27 with 7:56 left in the 4th
quarter when Hunter Johnson scored from 14 yards out to cap a 14-play, 83-yard
drive that took 6:31 off the clock. 

 

St. Mary’s Springs did not
fold as an 8-play, 40 yard drive put them in position for Hintze to kick his 3rd
field goal of the game.  This one from
39-yards out with 4:19 left to give Spring the 30-28 lead.   After stopping Darlington
on downs, the Ledgers secured the gold ball when Blake Bauer hit Luke Gellings
on a 26-yard TD pass on 4th down.

 

The Ledgers (14-0) complete another perfect season while Darlington (12-2) settles for a state-runner up trophy
for the 2nd straight season. 
The Ledger title is their 5th WIAA football title to pair
with their 8 WISAA crowns.  Bob Hyland,
the all-time winningest coach in Wisconsin
history has a record of 412-101-2 in 44 season. 

 

Click
here to view complete game stats from the D6 Title Game

 

Click
here to listen to the KFIZ Radio Broadcast Podcast of the game.

 

Click
here to listen to Bob Hyland’s Post Game Press Conference

 

Click
here to listen to Ledger senior Mark Austin describe winning a gold ball.

Bob Hyland being interviewed post-game by KFIZ’s Wade Bates and Alex Wolf of Fond du Lac Reporter

Ledger seniors celebrate a state title.  

(back row) Luke Walber, Collin Ottery, Dominic Belisle, Cory Nies, Mark Austin, Luke Gellings

(front row) Matt Busse, Alec Strigenz, Brennen Ottery, Anthony Grebe, Zach Hintze

Ledgers celebrate their championship!

Ledger coach Bob Hyland accepts the state championship trophy. 

Senior kick Zach Hintze’s gets a post game interview on Fox Sports Wisconsin