Shootout shuts CG-Belgium’s season

The Cedar Grove-Belgium and Brookfield Academy high school football teams last Friday gave a preview of what scores may look like on those new video game systems released this holiday season.

The field next to Cedar Grove-Belgium High School is called “The Launch Pad,” and that’s exactly what it was for the host Rockets and visiting Blue Knights.

The No. 2-seeded Rockets lost, 53-48, in a game that featured 881 yards of offense and gave punters the night off.

The No. 3-seeded Blue Knights recovered an onside kick with less than three minutes to play and were able to run out the clock to preserve the victory and move on to play at No. 1-seeded Lake Country Lutheran in the Division 5 playoffs.

“We all played our hearts out but sometimes it just doesn’t go your way,” Rocket junior quarterback Logan Arrowood said.

Arrowood went 14-for-19 passing for 272 yards and four touchdowns. He ran 14 times for 83 yards and two scores, as well as converting two 2-point conversions on a pass and a run.

He was outdone by Blue Knight quarterback Jonah Jensen, who went 21-for-28 passing for 262 yards and eight touchdowns. He ran 22 times for 138 yards.

Jensen came into the game 61-for-106 for 932 yards and 15 touchdowns in six regular season games.

“Wow. I don’t even know what to say. That was not what we saw on film. Their quarterback was on a different level tonight,” Cedar Grove-Belgium coach Dan Schreurs said.

Most of Jensen’s passes went to Joe Schmidt, who caught 13 balls for 190 yards and six touchdowns.

“We knew they were going to be a challenge with their option, but we kind of sold out to that and left the passing game wide open and they got us. There’s no doubt about it,” Schreurs said.

Rocket wide receiver Sam Peiffer had a career day as well, catching 10 passes for 190 yards and three touchdowns.

The Rockets took the lead on their first possession, with senior Cayden Fisher scoring from 6 yards out.

Jensen answered two and a half minutes later with a 43-yard touchdown pass to Schmidt. The extra point put the Rockets behind, 7-6, and they wouldn’t regain the lead until the end of the third quarter.

A fumble on the kickoff gave the Blue Knights the ball back, and they soon scored again to make it 14-6.

The Rockets struck back with one play. Arrowood hit a streaking Peiffer in stride down the right sideline for an 80-yard scoring bomb. Senior Cole Augustiniak caught the 2-point conversion and it was 14-14.

The Blue Knights scored on their next possession, and the Rockets again answered with Arrowood capping a 73-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 21-20.

The Blue Knights then scored again, and they took advantage of another fumble on the kickoff to go up, 34-20, with 2:25 left in the half.

The Rockets drove 58 yards to the Blue Knights’ 14-yard line when Fisher caught a pass in the middle of field, turned and raced to the end zone with 11.5 seconds left. It was 34-28 at halftime, a final score in most games.

The Blue Knights took the third-quarter kickoff and fumbled on the second play from scrimmage. Rocket Deven Soerens pounced on the ball, and the team drove deep but, after three Fisher runs couldn’t score, faced fourth and goal from the 1-yard line. Arrowhead took it in and the game was tied at 34.

The Blue Knights kept the pressure on and took a 41-34 lead. The Rockets came back with a Peiffer 30-yard scoring catch. He caught the ball across the middle, spun, shook a couple of defenders and made his way to the end zone. Fisher juked a defender on his way to the 2-point conversion and the Rockets had a 42-41 lead and the momentum.

But the Blue Knights couldn’t be stopped. The Jensen-and-Schmidt show closed another drive with a touchdown on a 4-yard pass, and it was 47-42.

The Rockets were then stopped at their own 49-yard line on fourth and 4 when an Arrowood deep ball was broken up.

On the ensuing drive, two Rocket offsides penalties handed the Blue Knights a first down, and Schmidt soon caught a 25-yard touchdown. Jensen ran in the conversion to make it 53-42 with 3:33 left.
Arrowood went right back to work, hitting Augustiniak for 50 yards and two plays later finding Peiffer. The field general rolled left, then rolled right to buy time before hitting his favorite target alone in the left side of the end zone with 2:53 to play.

“He’s unbelievable. Thankfully, we’ve got another year with him. Athletes like that don’t come around very often. We’re blessed to have two,” Schreurs said, referencing Arrowood and his former quarterback Josh

Weiss, who broke single-season passing records in 2016 on the way to the state title game.

But the Rockets couldn’t quite pull this game out. They finished the season 5-2 overall and 5-1 for second place in the Big East Conference.

While much of the team’s offense returns next year, this was the final game for several seniors, including Fisher, who went out rushing 18 times for 94 yards and a touchdown, and Augustiniak, who caught three balls for 75 yards.

Jordan Sells on defense provided hard hits in his final game. Rocket football to him, he said, meant “putting your foot on their neck and keep on going every play and just pound them to the ground. The same thing on defense, knocking them down and making them feel the pain.”

Schreurs was happy his team kept up with the Blue Knights.

“I’m proud of the offense. They kept going. We were able to move the ball on the ground and in the air. Cayden going out like he did — running that hard.”

The early turnovers hurt, as did some untimely penalties on offense and defense.

“I don’t know if that’s attributed to not playing last week. It happened against Oostburg too when had that week off. We just weren’t clean. It happened again this week,” Schreurs said.

“If there’s anything I learned this season, it’s that if we ever come across a chance to have a week off, we’re not going to take a week off anymore.”

The Rockets had two byes this season due to the Covid-19 pandemic and were missing Arrowood due to contact tracing in a 28-14 loss at conference champion Reedsville (6-0). Whether they would play was determined on a week-to-week basis.

“I told the seniors, ‘Given the season that we had, the way they had to lead us through all that type of stuff, I couldn’t have thanked them any more for it,’” Schreurs said.

Win or lose last Friday, this week is the last of the season. The WIAA split the playoffs into four-team pods and only allowed for two rounds. Losing teams were allowed to schedule another game, but the Rockets did not. Their season ended in a classic.

“They left it all out there. They played as hard as they could — just ended up on the wrong side,” Schreurs said.