A bad night in Owen

Everything goes wrong for the ‘Jays

Sometimes football teams have bad nights where everything that could possibly go wrong does. That was the case for the Athens varsity football team on Thursday during its 56-0 road loss to Owen-Withee in a battle of previously undefeated squads.

Both teams entered the game with 3-0 non-conference records playing in their first Central Wisconsin East Conference eight-man football game this season.

Owen-Withee scored right away on senior Colin Dallman’s 15-yard touchdown run and senior quarterback Logan Amacher’s two-point conversion run. Athens was putting together a successful drive of its own when the Bluejays converted a short fourthdown at their own 48-yard line into a first down. Senior quarterback Kyler Ellenbecker kept the ball for a sevenyard run to the Blackhawks’ 45-yard line.

Later in Athens’ offensive drive, the Bluejays were faced with another pivotal fourth down play at the Blackhawks’ 40-yard line. Athens’ drive stalled when the Bluejays were stopped for no gain against the largest boy on the field, Owen-Withee senior nose tackle Nathan Zarins, who is sixfeet, four inches tall and 315 pounds.

Losing 28-0, Ellenbecker completed a 38-yard pass to senior tight end Aiden Janke down to Owen-Withee’s 25-yard line. Ellenbecker left the game with an injury right before halftime and he was replaced by Janke who threw an incomplete pass on a fourthdown play to end the first half.

Owen-Withee-Curtiss EMS workers treated Ellenbecker’s injury during halftime, and he returned to the Athens football sideline with a large bag of ice on his shoulder. He was done for the night.

One positive aspect on Thursday night for Athens was that Brent Aschenbrenner of Stratford handed chocolate milk to the Bluejays and Blackhawks after the game, on behalf of the North Central WI Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

The Blackhawks held an edge in the number of upperclassmen they have on the varsity football roster, compared to the Bluejays. Owen-Withee has 12 upperclassmen in its 22 varsity players this season, while the Bluejays only have seven upperclassmen among their 17 varsity players.

Todd Diethelm, Athens varsity head football coach, however isn’t one to make excuses for his team losing. He’s using the team’s defeat as a life teaching lesson for the players, because just like in football and life in general, things don’t always go a person’s way. It’s how a person or football team responds to adversity that defines them in life.

Diethelm is surely motivating his football players this week in practices to overcome the adversity they are presently facing, by rebounding with a good homecoming football performance against Alma Center Lincoln at 7 p.m. this Friday, at Athens High School. The Bluejays have a 3-1 record and the Hornets are 3-1 entering Friday’s game.