By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
Friday Night Lights returned across the state last week.
Every home stadium was rocking, with large crowds anticipating a banner season and a fresh start.
Such was the case in Whitewater as the Whippets hosted visiting Catholic Central, a school with 400 less students.
The Toppers, ranked No. 2 in the state in the first wissports.net coaches poll, had no problem facing the Division 3 Whippets.
In fact, Catholic Central downright dominated the home team.
With a 15-play, 80-yard opening drive capped off by a Cole Kresken touchdown, Catholic Central set the tone and broke Whitewater’s will in a 21-0 shutout.
Catholic Central coach Tom Aldrich said he was comfortable with the way his team played.
“We played solid defense throughout,” he said. “Our opening drive was impressive, and it took a lot out of us and them. We set the bar high for the rest of the season.”
After sloppy play closed out the first half, the Toppers got back on the scoreboard with some fireworks midway through the third quarter.
Quarterback Ben Heiligenthal heaved a deep ball to transfer senior Christian Nicholls, who leaped over a defender for the grab and jogged 30 yards into the end zone for a 71-yard score to make it 14-0.
Then, on the first play of the fourth quarter, Heiligenthal capped a nine-play, 76-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run.
Aldrich commended the efforts of Nicholls, who finished with four catches for 137 yards.
The Toppers defense survived with a “bend, don’t break” mentality.
They gave up 115 passing yards but kept Whitewater under 200 total.
“We didn’t give up any big plays,” Aldrich said. “And we stuffed the run. We were well-prepared. It was nice to play against some bigger bodies. We haven’t won many first games.”
Offensively, Catholic Central totaled 369 yards, led by 208 through the air.
Heiligenthal was on point, completing 11-for-15 passes without a turnover.
Kresken ran for 91 yards on 17 carries.
Jeff Stemper had 88 yards from scrimmage, including six catches for 61.
Another factor was turnovers. The Toppers picked off two passes and recovered a fumble.
Stemper and Kresken flew to the ball at the linebacker spots, and Hertel Novasic stopped the run up front.
Brandon Vandehei had an interception.
Catholic Central opens its home portion of the schedule Friday night against Lake Country Lutheran, the team which eliminated them from the Division 7 playoffs last season.
Currently, LCL is ranked just outside of the top 10 in the state in Division 6.
Quarterback Ben Wilkins threw for 256 yards and three touchdowns in Lake Country’s 53-12 victory in Week 1.
Adam Tovar ran for 182 yards, and Grant Johnson caught six passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns.
The Toppers will have their hands full.
“They have an exceptional quarterback and some speed at wide receiver,” Aldrich said. “They are a solid team.”
Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
-
-
-
-
-