On Dec. 22, 2003 — a day after Brett Favre’s father died — the legendary gunslinger laced ‘em up and threw for 311 yards and four touchdowns in the first half of a Monday night blowout win, 41-6 over the Oakland Raiders. Favre finished 22-of-30 for 399 yards.

It was one of Travis Elliott’s all-time favorite games.

Elliott, the father of Kewaunee Storm football players Baylor and Brody Elliott, passed away before sunrise last Thursday, Oct. 8.

The boys’ mother and Travis’ former wife, Kristin Kinstetter Elliott, said Baylor and Brody wanted to go to school that morning after learning their dad had died, and would be on the field at Marinette playing in his honor that night.

Let the record show that Kewaunee manhandled the Marines, 48-6, getting two fumble returns for touchdowns, two rushing TDs, two passing touchdowns and a punt return for a TD.

While the team certainly came first, you couldn’t help but cheer for two young men who lost one of their biggest fans less than 24 hours earlier.

Brody Elliott, a sophomore, returned a punt for 37 yards for a touchdown, somehow weaving through a pack of defenders late in the first half. He also completed three passes for 28 yards in a running-clock game, and had three tackles on defense.

Baylor Elliott, a junior, caught three passes for 52 yards. One of them was a 17-yard touchdown toss in the second half from Diesel Bosdeck. He had three tackles as well, plus recovered an onside kick.

“Giving them the opportunity to play the game and be around guys that care about them was really important,” said coach Randy Charles. “It was definitely an emotional time for them, and they handled it really well. For them to make those plays, that was huge for them and for us.”

Their teammates seemed to feed off of the energy of the boys pushing through adversity.

“They all knew what they were going through, and wanted to be there to support them,” Charles said.
Bosdeck went to Baylor for a gain of 19 on the game’s first play, and six plays later, Blake Temme scored the first of his two rushing touchdowns. He finished with 69 yards on just seven carries.

After a Temme fumble and a second Marinette three-and-out, Brody returned a punt 15 yards. On the next play, Bosdeck hit Peyton Schaller on a 55-yard scoring strike. Not even 20 seconds later, Landon LaTour returned a Marines fumble 34 yards for a touchdown. It was 21-0 after one quarter.

Bosdeck passes to Mason Kovacs and Schaller on the next drive gained 16 and 18 yards, and Temme scored from 37 yards out. A little more than a minute later, Dane Harrell scooped up a fumbled lateral and returned it 32 yards for another TD. Brody followed with his punt return not even four minutes later, and it was 41-0 with 4:29 left in the first half.

Marinette’s only score was a 99-yard keeper in the fourth quarter against the Storm’s second team defense.

LaTour, Harrell and Drew Vaughn each had five tackles, and LaTour and Ethan Ratajczak each had two pancake blocks. Blake Bortolini had four solo tackles, and Schaller had an interception. Temme had a two-point conversion, and A.J. Spranger had four extra-point kicks.

Kewaunee improved to 5-1 in the Packerland, 6-2 overall, and hosts Oconto (4-4, 3-3 in the Pack) on Tackle Cancer Night Friday.

“They’re fighting for their playoff hopes,” Charles said. “We can’t sleep on this team.”

Algoma 30, Oneida Nation 14

Starting in place of the injured Ethan Melotte, Jack Schwader had 158 yards rushing on 21 carries, and fellow senior Jack Meverden had 107 in 11 tries as Algoma gained 395 yards on the ground.

Sophomore Parker Stewart added 51 yards in nine carries, senior Cooper Fay 42 on two, senior Jacob Blahnik 30 on four and sophomore Calvin Mayheu seven yards on one carry. Schwader had two touchdowns and a pair of two-point conversions, Meverden a TD and a two-point run, and Stewart a touchdown.

Schwader attempted three passes, completing one to Mayheu for six yards.

Defensively, Brady Walker had eight tackles, Blahnik seven, David Tebon six and Pete Ritchie five.
The Wolves finished 6-2 on the season. The team’s only losses came against undefeated and third-ranked Valley Christian and once-beaten and eighth-ranked Sevastopol.

Freedom 45, Lux-Casco 6

A trip to Freedom to take on the top-ranked and unbeaten Irish proved to be a humbling one for the Spartans, who were outgained 534 yards to 184.

Senior quarterback Eli Derenne completed 14 of 26 passes for 105 yards but was held to nine yards on six carries. Ben Klass managed 35 yards on six carries and scored the only L-C touchdown. Trenton Price completed his only pass, a 32-yarder to Derenne.

Price caught five passes for 66 yards, and Joey Jeanquart seven for 27.

Price, Jeanquart and Julian Bailey all had interceptions for the Spartans, and Ethan Werner led with 10 tackles. Bailey and Grant Seering each had five.

The Spartans (5-3 overall, 4-2 North Eastern Conference) wrap up the regular season with Senior Night vs. Denmark Friday.