By Tim Wester
Correspondent
After losing its first four Southern Lakes Conference games, the season looked grim for Union Grove.
But the Broncos weren’t ready to give up, and rededicated their work ethic at practice, which started to show three weeks ago against Wilmot.
Since the loss to the Panthers, Union Grove rattled off a thrilling 33-27 overtime win against Lake Geneva Badger Oct. 4, and added its second straight conference win in a row with a 28-14 victory at Elkhorn (2-6, 1-5 SLC).
Konner Goetsch led the way with 143 yards on 13 carries, while Tommy Hempel ran for a pair of touchdowns to help keep the Broncos’ aspirations going.
“It was nice to get two in a row,” Union Grove coach Craig McClelland said. “After we had that road loss to Delavan-Darien, we regrouped and played Wilmot and although we lost, we did see some good things and saw improved effort that carried over into the past two weeks.”
Goetsch sparked the Broncos with a 51-yard touchdown run to put the Broncos ahead 7-0 in the first quarter.
The Elks countered with 14-straight points to go up 14-7 in the second quarter.
Hempel, however, tied the game at 14-14 with a 34-yard touchdown run.
The game remained tied at 14 before Hempel put the Broncos up 21-14 with an 8-yard touchdown run with 7:32 left in the third quarter.
Union Grove maintained a narrow one-score lead into the fourth quarter before Ryan Davis struck the decisive blow with a 60-yard touchdown interception return.
“Tommy been doing great for us,” said McClelland whose team ran for just under 300 yards.
“We try to get them both an x amount of carries per game because they do good things and make special plays. We have been pretty pass heavy in past, but this year we have a solid line and a couple backs that do a really good job. When you play football late in season in Wisconsin, you need to have a good running game.”
The Broncos (3-5, 2-4 SLC) look to close out the regular season with three straight conference victories when they host Westosha Central (2-6, 2-4 SLC) tonight.
Both teams need to earn the third conference victory to have an outside shot at a WIAA Division 2 playoff berth.
“They have to fill out the brackets and the way it lays now is the game for us versus Westosha Central is winner gets in and loser is out,” McClelland said. “It’s a big game for both of is. It’s crazy to be in this position with a chance to make the playoffs after facing a tough schedule early in conference with some tough losses.”
The Broncos run game accounted for 291 of their 354 total offensive yards.
Garrett Foldy had 14 carries for 60 yards.
Elkhorn amassed 230 total offensive yards.
Mason Buelow led the Elks in the air after completing 13-of-28 passes for 135 yards along with a touchdown.
But the Broncos intercepted two of his passes.
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