The Kewaunee Storm defended their home turf in round 1 of the 2025 WIAA football playoffs, fending off the visiting Marathon Red Raiders 36-6 on Friday night on U102.1.
The two teams opened the game by swapping scoreless possessions, but on the second Kewaunee drive, Brett Paulsen would open the scoring with a 14-yard TD run with 3:14 left in the first quarter. A mishandled snap on the extra point left the game 6-0. Kewaunee would quickly get the ball back, and on the final play of the first quarter, Bret Paulsen would find Connor Kilgore wide open behind the Red Raider's corner for a 40-yard touchdown. Paulsen would find Waylon Delain for the successful 2-point try, and the 14-0 lead at the end of one quarter.
The game would be scoreless in the second quarter, but not without its share of drama. Marathon had the ball inside the Kewaunee 5-yard line at one point, but was turned away on downs, which kept the score at 14-0 at halftime. The drama was far from over.
Kewaunee kicked off to open the second half, but was able to hold Marathon to a 3 and out. Kewaunee would add to their first-half lead via an 18-yard Paulsen to Delain touchdown pass. Conner Kilgore would complete a successful 2-point try, and the 22-0 lead. The next drive, Connor Kilgore would put a stop to another Marathon drive inside the 10-yard line, picking off Marathon QB Tyler Thurs in the endzone, but falling at the 1.
With their heels in their own endzone, Kewaunee gave the ball on first down to Waylon Delain, who would bolt through the Red Raider's defense for 40 yards, and the end of the 3rd quarter with Kewaunee leading by the 22-0 score.
Things got chippy in the fourth as Marathon saw its season slipping away. Multiple big hits drew penalty flags; several others could have, but didn't. One such hit sent Diesel Bosdeck to the sidelines for the rest of the game after he picked off Thursday's pass and returned it inside the Marathon 10-yard line. Paulsen would rush the very next play in for a 9-yard score, and drew offsetting personal foul penalties one against Paulsen, and one against the nearest Marathon defender and things seemed to calm down at that point. Dane Harrell would end the next marathon drive with another interception, and Paulsen would rush in from 2 yards out to cap the Storm scoring, and send the game into a running clock for the final 7 minutes.
Marathon, however, did not go down without a final swing or two. On their final drive, they used two timeouts on route to score their lone touchdown on the night with under a minute to go.
Kewaunee will host Bonduel Friday, October 31st, which can be heard on U102.1 and NEW Radio Sports Network with Jacob Nate taking you through pregame at 6:45 PM, followed by the 7:00PM kickoff.
