Pirates have no problems while getting fall’s first win

GILMAN 48, BRUCE 0

Strong defense and the ability to capitalize on opponent mistakes were key for a second straight week for the Gilman Pirates in a 48-0 blowout of Bruce in Friday’s home opener.

The Parents’ Night game was delayed for about an hour and a half with about five minutes to go in the second quarter, but the full game was completed after the storm passed as the Pirates easily improved to 2-0 while Bruce fell to 1-1 in the non-conference contest.

Gilman built a 42-0 halftime lead with only two of the touchdowns –– the first and last –– coming at the end of sustained drives. In fact, Bruce did not run a single play in Gilman territory as the Pirates recorded their second straight shutout to start the fall.

“Defensively I thought we did a great job,” Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer said. “They did have a couple of chunk plays at times where they were getting 7 or 8 yards. But for the most part we did really well. They didn’t get past the 50yard line the whole game.

“I thought the kids read their keys well,” he added. “Grady Kroeplin took a step forward I thought at middle linebacker. He was involved in 12 tackles so that was good to see. The defensive ends did OK, there’s still room for improvement there. Our tackling was pretty decent all the way around. We kept our leverage on the outside. They did complete a couple of passes, but overall they had a low throwing percentage so I thought our coverage was well done too. It was a good team effort because everyone got in to play defense.”

Gilman allowed one first down on the game’s first possession, but then forced a punt and took over on its 34-yard line. After one first down, two penalties knocked the Pirates back into a third and 17 situation, but they erased that when quarterback Grady Kroeplin took a quick dropback and lofted a long pass down the left side that hit Branden Ustianowski in stride for a 55-yard touchdown and a 6-0 lead.

“We just had hitches called thinking let’s throw a 5-yard hitch and see what (Ustianowski) can do because it was third and 17,” Rosemeyer said. “We just wanted to make it more manageable. But they switched it on their own, which they have the liberty to do. They communicate it and if they’re set up for the fade, they will run the fade and they executed it. It was a very well thrown ball, Branden ran a really good route. It was a tough one to defend because it was a good route, good pass combination.”

Bruce gambled and lost on its next possession, failing to convert on fourth and four from its own 26. On the next play, running back Troy Duellman followed a big surge from his blockers and went untouched for a score down the left side. A short punt set the Pirates up at Bruce’s 40 after another defensive stop and Duellman scored from there, this time starting left and cutting back to his right to open up a 20-0 lead with 3:19 still left in the quarter.

“We ran that belly play for Troy two plays in a row where he went untouched both times for touchdowns,” Rosemeyer said. “The one time he was able to cutback and go the other way, but both were executed pretty well.”

Bruce gained a first down on its next drive, but a botched snap and 12-yard loss led to a punt that Ustianowski returned 28 yards to the Red Raiders’ 17. Duellman ran for 16 yards on the last play of the quarter and Wayne McAlpine started the second quarter with an easy 1-yard score. Kroeplin’s two-point pass to Caleb Marion made it 28-0.

“Good defensive plays, them taking a chance and not succeeding on fourth down and then a special teams play set us up for success early,” Rosemeyer said.

The Pirates did not score the next time they got the ball, but Bruce helped them out by fumbling another snap which Kroeplin recovered at the one. He scored on the next play and passed to McAlpine for the two-point conversion to push the lead to 36-0 just before the lightning delay.

Right before the half, the Pirates drove 57 yards in seven plays with senior Casey Grunseth getting the touchdown on a 7-yard run with 1:08 left.

McAlpine recovered a fumbled punt, forced by Ustianowski, at Bruce’s 4-yard line early in the third quarter and the JV offense capitalized with Dawson Krizan throwing his first varsity touchdown pass, a 7-yarder to sophomore Lee Zagorski.

The Pirates finished with 306 yards of total offense compared to 81 for Bruce. Of those yards, 233 came in the running game. Duellman had 110 yards on just seven carries. Kroeplin had 49 yards on six attempts. Nine players had at least one carry.

Kroeplin was two for four through the air for 66 yards with Ustianowski catching both completions. Krizan’s 7-yard touchdown was his only attempt.

“They played a whole new defense than what we had seen in the scrimmage and in their first game,” Rosemeyer said. “It was one of those things where we had to take what they gave us. They had played in a four-man front in the scrimmage and the first game and here they came out in a five front. They kind of packed the line a little bit. They didn’t let us do a lot outside, but the belly plays going at them had success where they only had three guys left in the secondary behind that five-man front.”

Gilman has one final non-conference crossover this Friday with visiting Cornell (0-2) before opening Central Wisconsin East Conference play next week against Greenwood.