Winning streak reaches three

A solid ground game and timely defense carried the Ozaukee High School football team to its third straight victory last Friday at Howards Grove.

Junior running back Jack Genzmer ran for 140 yards and two scores, linebacker Brandon Harbison made 16 tackles and senior Cael Large was moved to the secondary and picked off two passes in a 33-7 Big East Conference win.

“They pay attention. It wasn’t coaching. It was the kids stepping up and doing great things. I can’t tell you how proud I am of them,” coach Michael Schatz said.

The Warriors held a 14-7 halftime lead but Tiger quarterback Jack Schroeder, who finished with 110 yards rushing and a touchdown on 22 carries, was bothering Schatz. Rain before the game made Schroeder all the harder to tackle as he slipped out of the grasps of Warrior defenders.

“It was a rough first half. We felt like we should have played a lot better,” Schatz said. “At halftime, we told our defensive line to calm down. Don’t go full bore, wait for him to make the first move and then go.”

That work up front opened the door for Harbison to rack up the tackles, including one sack, and he recovered a fumble.

“He’s smart. He studies the game and, despite being undersized, he’s a coach’s dream. He knows the defense, he knows what everyone does, he knows why he’s going to this gap, knows why he’s supposed to drop,” Schatz said.

Schatz also praised the line of Braxton Gahan, Zach Bell, Trevor Decker and Genzmer.

“They allow us to do a lot of things behind them,” he said. “Trevor Decker doesn’t show up a lot on the stat sheet but he’s got two or three guys blocking him because he’s a problem. He needs so much more credit than he gets for having a defense that has been pretty dominant the last three games.”

Gahan had nine tackles, as did Bell. Linebacker Bret Hamm had eight, including two sacks.

An injury in the secondary caused a shuffling of players, and Large moved from linebacker to free safety, where on his first of two interceptions he “sprawled out completely” for  a ball that Schatz said may be the best catch he has ever seen.

“He showed he’s not only a linebacker. He’s whatever you need him to be,” Schatz said.

Phil McLarty ended up moving from free safety to cornerback, and Schatz said that versatility made a difference.

“I don’t know how else to say it, but he’s a great player,” he said.

Schroeder only went 2-for-8 passing for 31 yards and two interceptions. The Tigers had 178 yards of offense to Ozaukee’s 320.

The defense “stepped up when they needed to,” Schatz said.

Offensively, the Warriors again relied on their running game, racking up 286 yards on 51 carries as a three-headed attack emerged.

Behind Genzmer, Hamm had 15 carries for 67 yards and a score, and Large ran 13 times for 47 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Ty Szczerbinski added three carries for 11 yards and a score.

“Pick your poison running the ball, and Ty is effective, too, when we call his number,” Schatz said.

Szczerbinski went 4-for-8 passing for 40 yards. Schatz said a few passes were dropped.

Just as on defense, the Warriors in the trenches led the way. The offensive line, Schatz said, is gelling.

“All they care about is how far they can push the other guy off the line,” he said. “The O-line is saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got Jack X number of yards.’ They are 100% the key to our success on offense.”

Inserting Harbison, a team captain, at center a couple of weeks ago has paid dividends. That allowed John Bellmann to play guard, along with Decker. Bell and Skylar Mills are the tackles, and Schatz said Gahan may be the best blocking tight end in the state.

“He doesn’t care about how many passes he catches. He doesn’t care about anything but winning. He’s got that offensive lineman mentality,” he said.

The Warriors, after a 42-0 shellacking from Cedar Grove-Belgium in their first game, have outscored their last three opponents, 80-21. The Warriors are 3-1 — Howards Grove is 1-3 — and in a three-way tie for second in the Big East with Cedar Grove-Belgium and Hilbert.

They face a tough test on Friday when league-leading Reedsville (4-0) comes to Fredonia.

“We’ve got to come out ready to play,” Schatz said. “They’re a great team but we’re ready to compete.”

Ozaukee was missing two players due to contact tracing that they expected to be back this week.