Brothers Tully combine for 250 yards, six touchdowns in rout
By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
Just when you thought the panic meter was shifting into dangerous levels, a night like last Friday happened for the Burlington football team.
Forty-nine points, 390 total yards and 162 yards allowed healed the wounds of two straight conference losses in a big way.
Grant Tully, a sophomore running back, took advantage of the most touches in his brief varsity career, racking up 157 rushing yards on 16 carries with two touchdowns in a 49-10 pummeling of Westosha Central.
Burlington improved to 3-2 overall and, more importantly, picked up its first conference victory after two tough defeats to Lake Geneva Badger and Waterford.
Though the run game was held to less than 50 yards in each of the Demons’ last two games, Grant Tully and brother Cal helped the squad rack up a season-high 327 yards and 7.8 yards per carry.
“Our goal is to establish the run each and every week,” Burlington head coach Steve Tenhagen said. “Our offensive line did a great job at the point of attack last week, and we were able to get the run going. Our backs did a nice job reading the blocks and making plays down the field.”
A steady downpour turned into a downright monsoon just before halftime, but the Demons had already built a 28-2 lead. Cal Tully ran for two scores and passed for another in the first 14 minutes of the game, and Grant Tully’s 32-yard score capped Burlington’s first half.
Ty Wiemer was the recipient of Cal Tully’s touchdown pass, a 10-yard toss that made it 13-0 late in the first quarter.
By halftime, the heavy rain was a major issue, as lightning was spotted in the distance. The game was suspended due to lightning for about an hour.
When play resumed, the Demons continued their own rainstorm, adding touchdown runs from each Tully in the third quarter and extending the lopsided advantage to 42-2.
By the fourth quarter, all of the Burlington starters were out, but Westosha still had no answers.
Josh Insor tallied a 1-yard touchdown run with 3 minutes left. Central scored its only touchdown with 18 seconds left in the fourth.
Westosha’s only other points, all two of them, came on a Cal Tully safety in the first half.
Burlington committed seven penalties but made up for it with ball-hawking defense.
Westosha lost a fumble in the slippery conditions, as did Burlington, but the Demons managed to pick off two Josiah McDermit passes.
McDermit was 5-for-16 for 77 yards for the night, and Westosha needed 31 carries to muster a measly 85 rushing yards (2.7 per carry).
Tanner Strommen and Grant Tully each notched an interception in the game.
Hegeman Tiedt led the Demons with 6.5 tackles.
Special teams were solid, too, as Lance Otter converted five of six extra points in far from ideal kicking conditions.
Erik Viel had a strong return game, tallying 66 total yards on three returns (53 kickoff, 13 punt).
Returning to his roots
It was exactly the kind of confidence boost the Demons needed after two straight losses, especially with Delavan, Wilmot and Union Grove, three playoff contenders, all left on the schedule.
The brutal schedule kicks off Friday night at Delavan-Darien, the place Tenhagen coached for nine years overall and got his first chance as a varsity head coach.
“The Delavan-Darien community is a great place that I was fortunate to be a part of for nine years,” he said. “I made many friendships through my years. It will be exciting to return on Friday.”
“As much fun as it will be for me personally to play at the school that gave me my first chance as a head coach, it will be about the Demons and Comets on Friday night. It should be a great game.”
Delavan (3-2, 1-2 SLC) is coming off a 29-15 loss at Lake Geneva Badger.
The Comets have the area’s leading passer, Jake Benzing, who has passed for 1,199 yards, eight touchdowns and five picks.
Fabias Shipman has rushed for 438 yards, and Mike Alder (316 yards) and Ben Ingersoll (311 yards) are two of the top three receiving leaders in the SLC.
Cal Tully is second in the conference with 910 passing yards, and sophomore Nick Klug leads the area with 356 receiving yards.
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