The Fond du Lac Cardinal football team advanced to the state quarterfinals for the first time since 2006 with a 27-20 win at Big 8 champion Middleton on Friday night. Fondy jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead by scoring on their first two possessions. Marcus Ruch caught a four yard TD pass from Jack Nejedlo with 8:07 left in the first quarter. Nejedlo punched it in from 8 yards out to make it 14-zip with 3:53 left in the opening frame. Middleton fought back and cut into the Fond du Lac lead when Cam Maly scored on a 3-yard run. The kick failed and Fondy led 14-6 early in the 2nd quarter. Nejedlo ran for his 2ndtouchdown on the night with 1:01 left in the first half to open up the 21-6 lead. Fondy extended their lead to 27-6 with 11:43 left in the 4th quarter on a Justin Maratik 3-yard run and it looked like they could cruise to the easy win. Middleton wouldn’t lay down. Cody Markel caught a 4 yard TD pass from Kellen Schultz with 4:10 left. After recovering the onside kick, Middleton made it a one score game with Schultz hit tight end Mitch Herl on a 7-yard scoring strike with 3:32 left in the game. Fond du Lac could not move the chains and was forced to punt and give Middleton a chance to tie. Senior Jason Toshner boomed a 61 yard punt that died inside the Middleton one. Fondy clinched the victory with 1:56 left when Lucas Raube intercepted Schultz. Justin Maratik ran for 173 yards and a touchdown on 35 carries. Nejedlo ran for 108 yards and 2 TDs to go along with his 130 yards through the air. Brian Luteyn caught 3 passes for 73 yards. Kellen Schultz was 22-41 for 284 yards, 2 TDs and 1 interception for Middleton. Mitch Herl caught 6 passes for 110 yards and a TD. Travis Zander had 7 grabs for 112 yards while Mitch Bacon had 5 catches for 72 yards for Middleton. The win improves Fond du Lac to 10-1 on the season and they will play #1 seed Kimberly next weekend with a date and time to be determined later today.
Click here to listen to a podcast of the game.
Click here to listen to post game comments from Mike Gnewuch
Click her to listen to post game comments from QB Jack Nejedlo
Click here to watch the Fondy football team celebrate their victory with their fans.
