Ozaukee football survives frantic finish

With a nearly full moon and a mist falling on Shoreland Lutheran High School’s football field last Friday, “it was very Halloween appropriate,” Ozaukee coach Michael Schatz said.

The game fit the holiday as the Pacers put a few scares into the Warriors before Ozaukee pulled out a 20-13 nonconference victory behind its powerful running game and stiff defense.

With three minutes to play, the Pacers drove to the Warriors 3-yard line, ready to try to tie the score.

Defensive back Phil McLarty, nicknamed versa-Phil because of his versatility, had other ideas. The junior picked off a pass, ending the threat.

The Pacers had receivers run two seams on the play, and McLarty picked one to cover.

“The quarterback threw it away from him. I don’t know how he got there,” Schatz said. “Phil came out of nowhere to jump in front of that ball.”

The Warriors, however, were forced to punt, and the Pacers drove inside the 10. One touchdown catch was negated since the receiver was ruled out of bounds, and the Warriors forced an incompletion on the game’s final play.

That preserved another second-half comeback. On Oct. 9, the Warriors fell behind 14-0 before beating Oostburg, 20-14. Last Friday, they were down, 13-0, at the break.

That’s when star running back Jack Genzmer and the offensive line turned into werewolves, or at least really good football players. In the final two quarters, Genzmer had about 140 of his 218 yards rushing, along with two touchdowns.

“Jack normally is a really good runner but Jack came out in the second half as a different runner,” Schatz said.

“Jack, the O-line and the other blockers just gelled. It seemed like there was no one play we couldn’t call.”

Bret Hamm scored the Warriors’ other touchdown on a 4-yard run.

The Warriors had 231 yards rushing on 40 attempts to the Pacers’ 77 yards on 27 runs.

It helped having center/linebacker Brandon Harbison back from contact tracing. He made a team-high 16 tackles and recovered a fumble forced by Genzmer.

“He makes all the difference for our defense,” Schatz said.

Cael Large had 11 tackles, Gahan had eight, Hamm had seven and Jonny Melendez had six. Genzmer had three sacks.

Schatz said the defensive tackles switched to shooting a different gap in the second half, which made it easier for Harbison and Hamm to rack up tackles.

For the Pacers, Sawyer Smith went 12-for-20 passing for 163 yards and an interception. Jared Babiak ran eight times for 41 yards.

Warrior quarterback Ty Szczerbinski went 3-for-4 passing for 51 yards and an interception.

While the wind was calm, teams had to adjust to a layer of ice that formed on the field.

“We had players coming off the field having to grab a screwdriver to get the ice off their cleats,” Schatz said.

Ozaukee had one scoring chance in the first half, keyed by a Braxton Gahan 53-yard pass in which he caught a short out, gave a Pacer a stiff arm and took off.

The Warriors drove inside the Pacers’ 10-yard line but fumbled.

Ozaukee scheduled the game on Wednesday after Manitowoc Lutheran canceled due to the coronavirus and contact tracing, and Schatz and his staff scrambled to put a game plan together.

Ozaukee, 3-2 in the Big East Conference and 4-2 overall, plays at Hilbert (4-2 Big East) on Friday.