Demons on the road to face Westosha Thursday
By Mike Ramczyk
Correspondent
Todd Ghilani knew what to expect.
The first-year Elkhorn Area High School football coach understood the need to stack the box to contain the Southern Lakes Conference’s premier rusher, 5-foot-10, 175-pound Zach Wallace of Burlington.
There was only one problem.
Wallace was determined to have his way, and there was nothing the Elks could do about it.
A few late fourth quarter runs, where Wallace would bounce off the initial tacklers like a pinball machine and proceed to break and drag subsequent Elks, sealed a 20-6 slug fest where the Elkhorn defense played well enough to have a legit shot at the end.
With about two minutes to play, Elkhorn (1-3) advanced to the Burlington 10, down 20-6.
A quick touchdown and onside kick could’ve given the Elks a chance to tie or win the game, but a crucial fumble was recovered by the Demons.
Wallace broke two big runs on the game’s final drive, and Burlington quarterback Peyton O’Laughlin took a knee to continue the Demons’ perfect season (3-0).
Wallace amassed 256 rushing yards and two touchdowns, punishing Elk defenders all night long.
“Burlington is the class of the league,” Ghilani said. “And Wallace is the best back we’ve seen.”
“We turned them over in the first half once. Early, we played a lot of good offense. We were moving the ball, but when we got in the red zone, we stiffened up.”
Burlington head coach Steve Tenhagen said a shift in defense from a 4-3 formation to a 3-4 and 3-5 has helped allow his squad to allow only 23 points in three games.
“It definitely was a grind,” Tenhagen said. “Elkhorn played well, and they got all eight guys in the box to stop our run. We went to our package we run when teams stack against us. The rules of the spread offense are to throw the football. We just missed a couple receivers throughout the game, and we missed some other things. It’s part of the learning process.”
Wallace gave his offensive line credit for his big game.
“I owe it to the O-line,” he said. “I’m nothing without them, and the wide receivers played great.”
Burlington sits atop the Southern Lakes Conference along with 3-0 Union Grove.
The Demons look to move to 4-0 Thursday night at Westosha Central (2-2).
So, is Burlington really the class of the league?
“I don’t get caught up in that stuff,” Tenhagen said. “It’s on to next week. Westosha has been all over the place with scores. We’ve seen them on film. We’ll have a good game plan going.”
“We have to be more efficient offensively. We know the box will be loaded all year. We’re young up front. We’ve had to ease that process in. Peyton will continue to grow as he gets game experience.”
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