Thorp, offensive lineman Nathan Zarins ….

Thorp, offensive lineman Nathan Zarins of Owen-Withee and defensive lineman Aiden Janke of Athens.

The team also featured four members of two-time state champion Newman Catholic, all of whom had significant impacts in the win. In particular, quarterback Conner Krach ran for two touchdowns and threw for three more. Newman Catholic has eliminated Gilman in the playoffs the past two seasons.

“I thought we put the kids in the right places,” Tallier said following his second straight appearance on the North’s coaching staff. “We had so many all-stars that could’ve played both ways, both offense and defense. They were so talented they could’ve played on both sides of the ball. But I think where we ultimately decided to put kids made a big difference in the end.

“We had four kids who played quarterback for their high school teams in the defensive backfield,” Tallier added. “It just shows in a small school, especially in eight-man football, you put your best athletes at quarterback. If you don’t have space to have them throwing the ball, at least put the kids back there who understand what the routes are and what a quarterback wants to do with the ball.”

“Our confidence was through the roof,” said Kroeplin, one of those quarterbacks who played defense Friday. “We knew what was going to happen.”

“Once we saw all the people there and their height and saw their athletic ability, we knew,” Ustianowski said.

“Our defense was crazy. Just seeing that made my confidence go up,” Kroeplin said.

“And then when we went to our sledgehammer formation on offense, I don’t think there was a lineman below 6-5,” Ustianowski said.

The North scored almost immediately after recovering an onside kick to start the game. Krach’s 27-yard touchdown run made it 6-0. The offense took some time to get going and an 18-yard interception return by Gibraltar’s Jack Duffy tied the game at 6-6 with 3:08 left in the first quarter. Ustianowski broke up the twopoint try, staying in his zone and stepping in front of a pass intended for Brandon Baumann of Three Lakes to keep it tied.

Momentum started to turn for good on a 52-yard punt return by Rosemeyer that put the ball on the South’s 8. James Bruhn of Phillips, who had touchdowns on his first three carries, got his first one on a 1-yard run and Janke caught the two-point conversion for a 14-6 lead with eight minutes left in the half.

Ustianowski had his near interception on the first play of the ensuing drive, deflecting a ball intended for Belmont’s Noah Fritz. Nicholas Webster of Siren almost caught the deflection as well. Kroeplin had the tackle on the next play for a 2-yard gain. After a poor punt, the North needed two plays to score again, getting the touchdown on Krach’s 38-yard run to open up a 22-6 lead.

Things really went downhill for the South when Laona-Wabeno’s Adam Seeber caught a long pass to get inside the 10, but Prairie Farm’s Tyler Rassbach popped the ball free from Seeber. It was recovered by Webster and returned to the 22. Bruhn took off on a 78-yard scoring run on the next play and just like that it was 30-6.

The South did take advantage of a 65-yard reception by Baumann to get a 1-yard touchdown by quarterback Evan Pedretti of De Soto, but another bad punt by the South set up a quick 25-yard drive in the final seconds of the half. Dale Tetrault of McDonell Central caught a 6-yard bullet from Krach at the front left pylon with nine seconds left.

The second half started with Kroeplin kicking the ball inside the South’s 5 and him making the tackle on returner Karsen Cox of Williams Bay. After a fourthdown stop by the defense, Bruhn’s 38-yard touchdown run made it 44-12. Tetrault, who Gilman has seen often as a standout receiver at McDonell, added two more touchdowns, one on a 15-yard pass with 1:46 left in the third quarter that made it 60-12 and the other on a 62-yard run that made it 66-12 with 8:10 left. After the first of those Tetrault scores, Ustianowski steered Cox toward the right sideline on the kickoff return, where he was blasted on a textbook tackle by Kroeplin.

“That one felt good,” Kroeplin said. The Gilman teammates worked to-