Bison’s fast start fades vs. Manitowoc Lutheran

Random Lake/Ozaukee stayed with undefeated defending Big East Conference champion Manitowoc Lutheran for a half last Friday, but RLO couldn’t hang with the Lancers for the entire game.

The Bison trailed 14-0 at halftime and lost, 42-0, in Ozaukee’s homecoming game.

“They’re the better team right now. We were able to play with them for awhile but made too many mistakes as the game wore on,” RLO coach Cole Large said.

Jack Upson ran 17 times for 95 yards. Quarterback Jeffrey Stefanich ran 10 times for 44 yards. Colton Dybul had 43 yards on 14 carries. Stefanich went 2-for-4 passing with an interception, and Natan Luza threw an interception.

Dybul had 10 tackles at linebacker, and Stefanich had eight. Murphy Brown had six and Tegan Hall had four.

The Bison got out to a solid beginning.

“We got the ball to start and came out with a strong drive. We ran the ball well but stalled at the 10-yard line,” Large said. “They had a long touchdown drive, and we had a punt blocked to give them a short field.”

The second half was a different story. The Lancers scored 14 points in each the third and fourth quarters.

“In the second half, we didn’t come out strong enough and they widened the gap in the third quarter. We got aggressive with some calls on fourth downs in the fourth quarter to give them short fields and threw a pick-six,” Large said.

The Lancers had 220 yards rushing on 25 carries, averaging nearly nine yards per run. Josiah Martin had 128 yards and three scores on 11 carries. Isaiah Hochmuth went 3-for-3 passing for 52 yards.

The Bison went to 3-2 overall and 1-2 in the Big East. The Lancers are 5-0.

“They were the better team. We don’t make excuses for why that’s the case; it just is. Our focus is on us. We need to keep improving and playing better football as a team,” Large said.

The Bison play at 3-2 Cedar Grove-Belgium for the Rockets’ homecoming game on Friday, Sept. 25.