The #3 Luxemburg-Casco Spartans rolled to a 30-20 win over the to #2 Plymouth Panthers Friday night in a WIAA Level 1 tournament football game at Henke Field.

 

  L-C controlled the game from the beginning and frustrated the Panther offense by shutting down their vaunted running game.  The Spartan defense set the tone early by denying the Panthers at mid-field on a fourth and one.  The very next play quarterback Owen Deprez connected with receiver Logan Doell on a huge pass play to set the Spartans up with first and goal.  Two plays later, Isaac VandenBush scored from two yards out to give the Spartans a 7-0 lead. 

 

Luxemburg-Casco scored two more times before halftime to take a commanding 20-0 lead into intermission. Deprez scored on a four-yard run and a nine-yard gallop by VandenBush had the Spartans in firm control. 

 

The second half started with the Spartans driving down and scoring on a 4 yard run by Evan Dorner, who was playing for VandenBush who had to leave the game due to an allergic reaction.  Despite a huge 27-0 lead, the Panthers fought back.  Quarterback Kellen Mella scored on a two-yard run with just over two minutes left in the third quarter to make the score 27-6.  After Spartans' George Herlache kicked a 22-yard field goal with 5:49 left in the fourth quarter, the Panthers scored two touchdowns in the final minutes to make the score interesting.  A missed two-point attempt after the second score by Plymouth with 1:12 left sealed the game for Luxemburg-Casco. 

 

The Spartans (6-1) will now travel to #1 West DePere next Thursday in a Level 2 playoff game. The Phantoms knocked off #4 Grafton 7-3 at home.  Matt Piesler and Paul Schmitt will have the call starting at 6:30 p.m. with the pregame show and kick-off set for 7 pm on 96.7FM WBDK.  The game audio can also be streamed on the NewRadioSportsRadioNetwork.com.