Big second half propels CG-Belgium

It got a little crazy in Sheboygan Falls Friday night before the Cedar Grove-Belgium High School football team pulled out a 32-21 victory.

The Rockets saw a 20-0 lead in the third quarter evaporate into a 21-20 deficit heading into the final 12 minutes.

“It kinda got a little hairy at that point,” Cedar Grove-Belgium coach Dan Schreurs said.

An 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Gabe Egan, a three-yard Egan touchdown run with about three minutes to go and some ball-hawking pass defense sealed the Rockets’ 2-0 start.

“We got complacent. We have problems with this every time we’re up by a good score in the third quarter,” Schreurs said.

An interception and punt from deep in their own territory helped set up scoring chances for the Falcons, who run a spread, no-huddle offense that can move the ball quickly.

In the fourth quarter, however, the Falcons got pass happy and the Rockets nabbed three interceptions that helped put the game away.

“Our secondary is pretty athletic. We were able to go up and make plays,” Schreurs said.

Rocket senior quarterback Logan Arrowood went 12-for-22 for 213 yards with one touchdown and one interception, and he ran 14 times for 54 yards.

“They started to creep out on our slot guys. Then, we were able to run power inside with the quarterback,” Schreurs said.

Senior wideout Sam Peiffer had eight catches for 117 yards and a touchdown. Colton Sellin caught two balls for 61 yards and Egan caught two balls for 35 yards.

The Falcons ran a cover 2 defense, which focuses on the two outside receivers. The Rockets turned their passing game into their running game.

“We knew we’d have success with short passes,” Schreurs said.

In the first half, Egan picked off a pass and returned it 43 yards for the game’s only score in the first 24 minutes. It was his first of two interceptions. Justin Anzia, Wes Otto and Colten Sellin each had one interception.

Anzia added 11 tackles from his inside linebacker spot, and outside linebacker Deven Soerens made 11 tackles.

“Justin’s in the middle just locking everything down. Deven’s become effective coming off the edge,” Schreurs said.

Caleb Ledbeter had nine tackles, and Otto and Billy Navis each had seven.

Falcon quarterback Charlie King went 19-for-42 for 210 yards passing with one touchdown and four interceptions. Dane Nickolai threw a pick in his only pass attempt. Emmett Krauter had four catches for 109 yards and one score.

The Rockets’ 6-0 halftime lead could have been larger. With 12 seconds and no timeouts left, Arrowood tried to plunge in from the 1-yard line. He gave the ball to the official, who Schreurs said didn’t do anything. The line judges on both sides of the field didn’t do anything, either, he said.

The officials didn’t mark the ball and eventually got together for a conference. They determined Arrowood was short, by which time the clock ran out.

“The refs kind of made a mistake,” Schreurs said.

In the third quarter, the Rockets took the kickoff and scored on a 35-yard Peiffer catch. Egan later ran 27 yards for a score before the Falcons mounted a comeback.

Both teams could move the ball but their spread offenses struggled inside the 25-yard line when the field became more compact, Schreurs said.

Tackling was difficult since humid conditions made jerseys and pants slippery.

“We were kind of laughing about that. What do we do this week, grease up the kids and do tackling drills?” Schreurs joked.

After two challenging nonconference foes — the Rockets beat big and strong Mayville, 38-20, in the opener — the Rockets start Big East Conference play this week by hosting Manitowoc Lutheran. The Lancers beat Roncalli, 38-26, in the first week and lost at Mishicot, 26-6, last Friday.