GILMAN 61, THORP 18 - Gilman bounces back with big offensive homecoming effort

GILMAN 61, THORP 18

Two turnovers were the only thing that stopped Gilman’s offense, which scored touchdowns on all eight of its other possessions in Friday’s 61-18 homecoming win over the rival Thorp Cardinals.

Bouncing back from a tough 22-14 loss at McDonell Central the week before, Gilman piled up 453 yards of total offense, including 310 on the ground, got a perfect six-for-six passing performance from quarterback Dawson Krizan that included three touchdowns and hit on eight plays that went for 20 yards or more.

The Cardinals did dent Gilman for three first-half touchdowns and had a chance to pull within one score early in the third quarter. But once Gilman stopped that drive, it shut Thorp down the rest of the way to improve to 3-1 in the North Central East Conference and 4-1 overall.

“It was just those two fumbles,” Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer said of the offensive performance. “We didn’t have to punt at all. I think we only had five thirddown opportunities. We were three for five on third down and we were able to get first downs on our fourth downs.”

Krizan threw for 143 yards and ran for 119 more on just 11 carries. As a team, Gilman averaged 9.7 yards on its 32 rushing attempts.

The Pirates got their first big play on their opening possession. Facing third and seven from their 35-yard line, Krizan got time in the pocket and hit Sawyer Winger in stride over the middle 15 yards downfield and Winger nearly turned it into a touchdown as he angled to the left sideline. His foot just hit the paint at the 32-yard line to keep it a 33-yard pass reception. On the next play, Chad Konsella darted through a hole up the middle for a 32-yard touchdown that put Gilman ahead 6-0 just 1:50 into the contest.

“Dawson made a good read,” Rosemeyer said of the key pass play on the drive. “He might’ve had Max (Ustianowski) open deep early on, but he was very patient, had good protection and was able to see Sawyer coming across the middle and made a nice throw.”

Gilman’s next possession ended in a fumble on the first play, but Thorp punted and the Pirates needed just two plays to go 52 yards and extend to a 14-0 lead. Krizan ran for 15 yards then hit Tony Syryczuk in the left flat. Syryczuk broke five tackles, spinning out of the last one to complete a 37-yard catch and run. The two-point pass to Winger pushed the lead to 14 with 3:49 still left in the first quarter.

“That was a good effort by Tony,” Rosemeyer said. “He just kept going. They do go for the ball and will try to strip you and that was kind of the end result of that maybe a little bit.”

Thorp’s main offensive weapon, receiver Dylan Mattson, caught a 40-yard pass that set up a 3-yard scoring run for Harley Zurakowski just before the quarter ended, but the Pirates came right back with a seven-play, 59-yard drive that was capped by Syryczuk’s 5-yard touchdown run. After a short Thorp punt deep in Cardinal territory, Gilman got the ball back on the 25 and went right to work as Krizan found an open Trevor Vick at the left pylon on the first play for the Pirates’ fourth touchdown of the game. Konsella ran in the two-point conversion for a 30-8 lead with 7:48 still left in the first half.

At that point, the Cardinals got their window of opportunity to stay in the game.

A 44-yard pass from Lincoln Knop to Mattson led to Mattson’s 23-yard touchdown reception at the 5:12 mark of the first half. The Pirates had great field position at Thorp’s 36 following a 38-yard kickoff return by Konsella, but they fumbled the ball away three plays later at the 24. The Cardinals burned off the rest of the half, aided by a roughing-thepunter penalty as well as two more defensive penalties to extend the drive. On the last play of the half, Knop found freshman tight end Cooper Rosemeyer for a 4-yard touchdown to make it 30-18.

“I thought their quarterback played well,” Robin Rosemeyer said. “That was probably the best we’ve seen him throw the ball. He was pretty accurate and I thought they made some good catches too. That was probably the best game Mattson’s had all year too.”

A 33-yard Knop to Mattson connection on Thorp’s opening possession in the second half put the Cardinals into Gilman territory, but on third and eight, Taydyn Angell broke into the backfield and dropped Knop for an 8-yard sack that killed the drive at the 26. Three snaps later, Krizan got behind the pulling Angell, who got two key blocks to spring Krizan for a 61-yard touchdown run that pushed the lead to 38-18 and seemingly took the wind out of Thorp’s sails.

“Our pass defense was a little bit better there,” Rosemeyer said. “We did give up one big pass play before that, but we got better in the second half as it went on. Then to be able to score right away on Dawson’s long run, that was big because they did have a lot of momentum going into halftime and in that first drive. If they score there and make it a one-possession game, who knows what happens.”

The Pirates forced a punt and drove 68 yards, overcoming a sack on the possession, and got a 30-yard touchdown run from Brady McAlpine that opened up at 46-18 lead with 44 seconds left in the third quarter.

Forced to go for it at its own 29 early in the fourth quarter, Syryczuk and Angell teamed up to drop Thorp’s Landon Penk for a 1-yard loss on fourth and 1 and the Pirates quickly turned that into a 29-yard touchdown pass from Krizan to Winger, kicking in the running clock with 10:24 left in the game.

The Pirates reserves completed the scoring with an impressive 55-yard drive that ended with a 25-yard run from Lucas Halida with 2:50 left.

Konsella had 87 rushing yards on nine carries, Lucas Halida had three carries for 38 yards on Gilman’s last drive and McAlpine had 37 yards on just three carries. Winger had 62 yards on two catches to lead Gilman’s receivers.

Defensively, Syryczuk was involved in 15 tackles.

Knop put up some big numbers for Thorp, completing 17 of 33 passes for 242 yards. Mattson caught nine of those passes for 173 yards. But Gilman made Thorp’s offense one dimensional by limiting the Cardinals to just 26 yards on 32 rushing attempts, once sacks and losses were factored in. Penk had 46 yards on nine carries.

“We were able to get a couple of sacks and they hurt themselves with some missed snaps, especially early on that helped us out,” Rosemeyer said. “At key times we were able to get that big play defensively.”

Gilman looks to keep improving Friday at Alma Center Lincoln (1-3, 2-3) as it aims to stay in the conference title and WIAA playoff chase.

ROSS PATTERMANN/THORP COURIER Gilman’s Tony Syryczuk gains positive yardage during Friday’s homecoming win.