Demons rout Falcons to remain in 1st place
By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
He’s already home, but he’ll coach his first homecoming game with his new team.
His old home is coming to town.
A large, extended football family of Steve Tenhagen will invade Don Dalton Stadium Friday night.
The Burlington Demons, fresh off a 41-6 pasting of host Westosha Central Friday night, return to the city limits in search of their first home victory this season.
They’ll attempt to win their third straight game against coach Tenhagen’s old team, Delavan-Darien, a club reeling with three straight losses.
Tenhagen will coach his alma mater in a Homecoming game for the first time, while his old family will try to spoil the fun.
And the added drama of Homecoming week means possible distractions, goofy festivities and plenty of old friends.
The biggest of those distractions football-wise, the annual powder puff games, which pit the school’s girls against one another with a freshmen-sophomores game and a juniors-seniors game, had several Demon football players in attendance Monday night.
While the mood was light-hearted and fun, Kyle Reinke said the team is focusing on Delavan and their high-powered offense.
They know things could get a little intense with all the close ties between the teams, and they couldn’t deny they wanted to win this one for coach.
When asked about the chance to knock off his old team, Tenhagen stayed true to character, stoic and level-headed, focused on business.
When the football booms through the air, end over end, at 7 p.m., winning is the goal.
But Burlington’s new coach won’t mind seeing some old buddies.
“We are tied for first place and we want to win our Homecoming game,” he said Tuesday night. “But I have a bunch of great friendships over there. I’m close with the players as well. I know their strengths, but it comes down to execution. We will have the same approach.”
Delavan boasts the reigning SLC player of the year in quarterback Jesse Collins, who leads the conference with 1,209 passing yards. His two top targets, Jake Benzing and Ethan Cesarz, are the league’s best receiving threats, at least according to the stat sheet.
How will Burlington stop the high-octane Comets?
“We are maturing as a defensive unit,” Tenhagen said. “We didn’t have experience early on, and we knew it would be a process. We have gotten much better defensively. We played great Friday night.”
Great may be an understatement.
The Demons limited host Westosha Central, the SLC’s last-place squad, to only 200 total yards of offense and six points. What’s more is Burlington picked off two passes.
Last place or not, the Falcons have weapons and every team in the conference has talent. It was just another major step for a Demons defense that held Waterford in check the week before in Waterford.
Explosive plays continue
Burlington’s offense stumbled a bit last Friday, Tenhagen said, but the big play propelled the Demons to 41 points.
“We were a little off offensively,” he said. “We missed some cuts in the run game.”
Brad Burling threw a 25-yard post route to Ty Wiemer in the second half, and the junior receiver, who is now third in the SLC in yards, took it to the house.
Also, Hunter Melby, who said Monday he is playing through some shoulder pain, went off for touchdown catches of 43 and 31 yards against the Falcons.
Tenhagen said Delavan plays very aggressively on defense. Also, he called Collins a “very good football player.”
Burling finished with 299 total yards against the Falcons, including 200 through the air.
The Demons had 205 yards rushing and 422 overall.
“We played well,” Tenhagen said. “We executed on special teams as well as we have all season.”
Burlington must win at least one of its three remaining games to make the playoffs for the first time since 2012 and only the second time since 2006.
The Demons have a chance to get back at Delavan and Elkhorn at home, two teams that beat them last season. A matchup in Wilmot Oct. 10 should be the toughest test.
Wilmot, Lake Geneva Badger and Burlington all sit atop the SLC at 3-1.
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