Bay Port takes control of FRCC

SUAMICO - The Bay Port football team just took control of the Fox River Classic Conference.

The Pirates’ 20-17 comeback win over Green Bay Notre Dame on Friday night wasn’t easy, but they weren’t expecting it to be against a Tritons team riding a 13-game winning streak.

But at the end of this one, just a few minutes after quarterback Quinn Pierner connected on a 22-yard touchdown pass to Riquel Lollis with 1 minute, 3 seconds remaining that proved to be the game-winner, the Pirates found themselves as the only undefeated team left standing in the conference.

“Earlier in the week I didn’t realize we were the underdog until (I talked with the media),” said Bay Port coach Gary Westerman, whose team was the last to defeat Notre Dame before it started its winning streak. “So after realizing we were the underdog that really motivated us in practice.”

Bay Port, which has beaten Notre Dame in each of the past five meetings, wasn’t perfect. Westerman had no problem pointing that out.

His team had an uncharacteristic three turnovers, including a fumble on the Notre Dame 13 in the second quarter and another on a muffed punt that set up a 7-yard touchdown run from senior quarterback Johnny Santaga that put the Tritons up 10-6 in the final seconds of the first half.

Of course, there was a lot to like, too.

Bay Port’s defense was stout for most of the night, holding down a Tritons offense that had not scored fewer than 42 points in any game this season and had been averaging 41 during their winning streak.

Senior linebacker Matt Lorbeck had three sacks and might have made the play of the game in chasing down Nate Ihlenfeldt after the Notre Dame star running back took a screen pass and went 82 yards to the Bay Port 6 in the opening minutes of the second quarter. Notre Dame failed to come away with any points on the drive.

It only got better in the second half, when Bay Port held Notre Dame to just six plays in the third quarter and 14 total in the final 24 minutes.

“We knew we had to get some rush on them because they are quick,” said Lorbeck, who will play at Northern Illinois next season. “They can get down the field pretty far, pretty quick. We knew we had to send some guys. I think it worked out for us. We got caught a few times, but that’s just part of it.”

Notre Dame still clung to a four-point lead entering the final 12 minutes after neither team could put up a point in the third quarter.

That soon changed after Bay Port running back Ben Styczynski scored on a 27-yard TD run that put the Pirates up 13-10 with 9:09 remaining.

But after forcing a Notre Dame punt, Pierner threw an interception on third down to junior defensive back Mike Gregoire that gave the Tritons the ball at Bay Port’s 31. It was Pierner’s first interception of the season.

It proved even more costly after Santaga threw a 31-yard TD to Ryan O’Connell on the very next play to give Notre Dame a 17-13 advantage with 5:04 remaining.

The mistake didn’t seem to bother Pierner much.

He came right back and engineered an 8-play, 80-yard drive that was capped with the TD pass to Lollis.

“We had five-man protection on that touchdown, so we had four to a side,” Westerman said. “We knew it was going to be open if we could protect it. It was critical. We wanted to call it earlier, but it’s kind of feast or famine there.”

The Tritons (6-1) actually were prepared for that exact play to be called, but they just couldn’t stop it.

“Got to give them credit for making that play,” Notre Dame coach John Nowak said. “I thought we could have done things different. It was a play we worked on all week, I’ll tell you that. They didn’t fool us when they ran it.”

Notre Dame took over at its own 25 with 59.9 seconds remaining, but four incomplete passes later and it was over.

Bay Port has games against Green Bay Southwest and De Pere remaining, so there still is work to be done. But it took a huge step toward winning an outright conference championship for the second time in three seasons.

“Even before the week started, Westy was like, ‘You can’t make this your Super Bowl,’” Lorbeck said. “We still have got two other games. De Pere is fighting for a playoff berth and Southwest has got a really good defense.”

G.B. Notre Dame …3 7 0 7 – 17

Bay Port …0 6 0 14 – 20

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

ND - Johnny Santaga 42 yard field goal.

Second Quarter

BP - Cordell Tinch 52 pass from Quinn Pierner.

ND - Santaga 7 run (Santaga kick).

Third Quarter

No scoring.

Fourth Quarter

BP - Ben Styczynski 27 run (Cade Johnson kick).

ND - Ryan O’Connell 31 pass from Santaga (Santaga kick).

BP - Riquel Lollis 22 pass from Pierner (Johnson kick).