Storm, mistakes can’t slow Eagles

The only thing that slowed Southern Door down Friday night was itself.

Yet despite being flagged eight times and having three touchdowns called back by penalties, the Eagles still soared past the visiting Kewaunee Storm, 41-3, in the first round of the Division 5 high school football playoffs.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been frustrated with a 38-point win until tonight,” said Eagles coach Pat McCarty. “But I’m an optimist, and if we clean those things up we can be even better. That’s my message to the team.”

The unbeaten Eagles (10-0) will host Winnebago Lutheran (8-2) at 7 p.m. next Friday in the second round. Winnebago Lutheran advanced with a 21-0 win over Valders.

Southern Door had shut out Kewaunee, 42-0, during the regular season and this game turned out to be similarly one-sided.

The Eagles led only 6-3 at the end of the first quarter, but they proceeded to outscore the Storm 35-0 the rest of the game. They increased their lead to 20-3 at halftime and 34-3 at the end of the third quarter before scoring their final touchdown early in the fourth to activate the running clock mercy rule with 11 minutes, 25 seconds remaining.

Senior quarterback Nick LeCaptain, senior running back Tory Jandrin and sophomore running back Derik LeCaptain each had two rushing touchdowns to lead the Eagles.

Southern Door gained 391 of its 525 total yards on the ground. Derik LeCaptain had a career-high 210 yards on 19 carries, Nick LeCaptain added 93 yards on 11 carries, and Jandrin had 83 yards on 10 carries.

The Eagles’ backs averaged 8 yards per carry behind the blocking of offensive linemen Alex Quigley, Mason Davis, Zach Marchant, Max Pierre and Nick McCarty.

“I was pleased with how we moved the ball,” said coach McCarty. “I thought our line did a great job. They told me, ‘Coach, put it on our backs and we’ll get you 300 yards on the ground.’ They knew they could control the line of scrimmage and they did.

“We found a play on the right side that worked well — Jandrin leading LeCaptain behind Max Pierre and Nick McCarty — and when in doubt we just kept running it.”

Meanwhile, Southern Door’s defense held Kewaunee (5-5) to just 160 yards. The Eagles stopped the Storm three times on downs, got interceptions from Derik LeCaptain and Sam Gerend, and put constant pressure on quarterback Cody Bultman, who was sacked by DJ Poland and Marchant.

“They hit us with a trick play out of the gate and they caught us out of position on another play early in the game, but other than that we held them in check,” said coach McCarty. “Part of it was that our guys were a little too excited and overran some tackles. Once they settled down, I thought they played outstanding.”

Although they pulled away for their 10th consecutive win, McCarty said the Eagles will need to clean up their mistakes if they’re going to keep advancing in the playoffs.

“It’s tough to overcome those penalties and it’s frustrating when you’re your own worst enemy,” he said. “The seniors know the quality of opponents we’ll have next, so our margin for error becomes much smaller every week.”

Kewaunee 3 0 0 0-3

Southern Door 6 14 14 7-41

Scoring summary:

SD-Nick LeCaptain 25-yard run (kick failed).

K-Alexander Hewett 21 field goal.

SD-N. LeCaptain 1 run (Andrew Montana kick).

SD-Derik LeCaptain 11 run (Montana kick).

SD-Tory Jandrin 12 run (Montana kick).

SD-Jandrin 9 run (Montana kick).

SD-D. LeCaptain 17 run (Montana kick).

Individual leaders:

Passing: K-Cody Bultman 7-17-2-63. SD-N. LeCaptain 7-12-0-127