Appleton North football starts strong, defeats Hortonville to stay unbeaten in FVA

Appleton North defensive back Dane Smith knocks down
a pass attempt during Friday night’s win over Hortonville.
(Photo by Paul Lecker/AppletonSportsPage.com)

By Paul Lecker
AppletonSportsPage.com

APPLETON – A powerful defensive performance and just enough offense through 3½ quarters proved to be enough for the Appleton North football team on Friday night.

The Lightning scored four unanswered touchdowns, finishing with a spectacular 71-yard punt return for a score from Alijah Valeri, and defeated Hortonville 26-14 in a Fox Valley Association contest at Paul Engen Field at Appleton North High School.

Appleton North improves to 4-1 overall and remains unbeaten in the Fox Valley Association at 3-0 heading into a big matchup with Neenah (4-1, 3-0 FVA) next Friday, Sept. 26. Hortonville remains winless at 0-5 and 0-3 in conference play.

The Lightning were slowed by 10 penalties totaling 90 yards, but were able to overcome those at times and scored on their first three true possessions of the game.

“Since our first games we’re not consistent,” Appleton North coach Rob Salm said. “We just make some mental mistakes and we need to clean that stuff up if we want to play with the best. It’s all there, we just have to put it all together and play a complete 48 minutes to see how good we can be.”

Hortonville’s best drive of the first half was its first as it reached the North 21 before two penalties and a sack set the Polar Bears back and North took over on downs.

The Lightning turned around and drove 68 yards on a long 10-play drive. Despite two penalties, North was able to push it in the end zone on a 10-yard run by Anthony Reischl in the closing seconds of the first quarter and took a 6-0 lead.

Following a quick three-and-out, the Lightning took over after a short punt at their own 43. A 10-yard run by D.J. Wilson brought it to the 1 before quarterback Grant Hardy jumped over the top for a touchdown and North led 12-0 after a failed two-point try.

A roughing the punter penalty on a whopping fourth-and-41 play kept the ensuing Polar Bears’ drive alive and they reached the North 38 before a sack by Ben Wenzel killed the drive.

The long possession chewed up more than 8 minutes on the clock, and North was unable to do anything in the final minute of the half and took a 12-0 lead into the break.

The Lightning busted the game open early in the third quarter with a pair of big plays.

Following a personal foul penalty to made it second down and 23, Reischl ripped off a 61-yard run to turn the field and bring North down to the 17. Two plays later, Hardy connected with Jackson Skorr for a 16-yard touchdown pass across the middle and with the extra point it was 19-0.

The North defense held, forcing another punt, and Valeri ripped off the 71-yard return to give the Lightning a 26-0 lead with 7:23 to go in the third quarter.

North would not score again, but the four-touchdown lead was more than enough.

“Physically, up front, the offensive line was moving some people and defensively, I think we’re pretty resilient,” Salm said. “We gave them some extra opportunities, some bad penalties that gave them first downs, but overall we responded. In the second half, we didn’t get the stops we wanted, so we have some things to work on.

“We are in a good spot and have a chance to play a really good team next week. If we’re playing our best, it will be a really fun game.”

Hortonville put together two scoring drives that ended on touchdown runs by Jack Holdren, who ran for 68 yards in the game.

Reischl led North’s rushing attack with 77 yards and Brody Olp added another 56 as the Lightning ran for a solid 198 yards on 33 carries.

Lightning 26, Polar Bears 14
Hortonville   0   0   7   7   –   14
Appleton North   6   6   14   0   –   26
First Quarter
AN – Anthony Reischl 10 run (kick missed), 0:10.
Second Quarter
AN – Grant Hardy 1 run (pass failed), 8:48.
Third Quarter
AN – Jackson Skorr 16 pass from Hardy (Khailer Chandavong kick), 9:47.
AN – Alijah Valeri 71 punt return (Chandavong kick), 7:23.
H – Jack Holdren 12 run (Paul Grasse kick), 2:00.
Fourth Quarter
H – Holdren 2 run (Grasse kick), 1:00.
Team Statistics
First downs: H 13; AN 9.
Rushing (att-yards): H 33-84; AN 33-198.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): H 10-20-102-1; AN 3-5-28-0.
Total yards: H 196; AN 226.
Fumbles (total-lost): H 0-0; AN 0-0.
Penalties (no.-yards): H 9-60; AN 10-90.
Punting (no.-avg.): H 3-26.3; AN 2-21.0.
Individual Statistics
Rushing: H, Jack Holdren 19-68, A.J. Pheifer 14-16. AN, Anthony Reischl 6-77, Brody Olp 9-56, Grant Hardy 6-24, D.J. Wilson 7-21, Sam Schmalz 2-8, Elliott Frisch 2-6, Keegan Muchow 1-4.
Passing: H, Pheifer 10-20-102-1. AN, Hardy 3-5-28-0.
Receiving: H, Connor Christensen 2-16, Jon Englebert 2-13, Jack Tennie 2-11, Isaac Behnke 1-30, Abram Daniels 1-16, Greyson Rankin 1-13, Xavier Koenecke 1-4. AN, Muchow 2-12, Jackson Skorr 1-16.
Interceptions (defense): AN, Cole Hank.
Records: Hortonville 0-5, 0-3 Fox Valley Association; Appleton North 4-1, 3-0 Fox Valley Association.