Football slips in the mud, Lakeland retains Cheese Bowl trophy

PLYMOUTH, Wis. – Mother Nature made her presence known on Saturday afternoon, with a constant rain that made Taylor Field a mud pit. Despite the absolutely poor field conditions, Lakeland earned a 16-7 victory over Concordia Wisconsin in the NACC opener for both teams.

THE BASICS
Final Score: Lakeland 16, Concordia Wisconsin 7
Location: Taylor Field (Plymouth, Wis.)
Records: Lakeland 3-1, 1-0 NACC; Concordia Wisconsin 2-2, 0-1 NACC

HOW IT HAPPENED
- Everything was difficult on Saturday – walking, running, throwing, catching, tackling, etc. – because of the field conditions, but a pair of Michael Whitley rushing touchdowns were the difference.
- Concordia Wisconsin struck first with its only score of the game, a 16-yard receiving touchdown by Isaiah Tenette from Aaron Nixon with 13 minutes to play in the second quarter. Lakeland answered with a Whitley touchdown run from the two-yard line with 1:06 to play before halftime.
- The Muskies game-winning score came from seven yards out by Whitley with 4:22 to play in the third quarter.
- In all, there were 25 possessions in the game and three resulted in points, and 19 ended in a punt or turnover on downs. There were a combined 395 total offensive yards in the game and the Muskies defense was difficult to gain yards on. Concordia Wisconsin ended the defeat with just one rushing yard on 22 carries.
- Freshman C'Carro Grice (Milwaukee, Wis.) led the Falcons with 31 rushing yards on seven carries.
- Nixon (North Prairie, Wis.) was 16-of-32 passing for 114 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
- Senior Danté Edwards (Glendale, Ariz.) was the leading receiver with 30 yards on four receptions.
- Sophomore Jacob Mason (Hartford, Wis.) punted seven times for 229 yards (32.7 average) and had a long of 53 yards.
- Junior Richie Guess (Homer Glen, Ill.) led the defensive efforts with 11 total tackles (eight solo), while senior James Thomsen (Mount Prospect, Ill.) had 10 tackles (seven solo). Senior Michael Ledesma (Glendale, Ariz.) had nine tackles (seven solo), 3.5 tackles for loss, sack and a pass breakup.
- Sophomore Robert Woods III (Chicago, Ill.) recovered a fumble and ended the game with a career-best seven tackles, to go along with 2.5 tackles for loss. Senior Malcolm Bowers (Germantown, Wis.) had two pass breakups.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- The Falcons managed just seven first downs and 115 total offensive yards. They punted seven times and turned the ball over on downs three times.
- Concordia Wisconsin recorded a season-high five pass breakups.
- Senior De'Shawn Pullen (Milwaukee, Wis.) had a career-high eight tackles (five solo).
- Lakeland won the Cheese Bowl game for the third-consecutive game in the 25th matchup between the two teams.

THE OPPOSITION
- Eddie Dezmon paced the offense with 80 yards on 20 carries.
- Whitley also passed for 145 yards on 12-of-26 attempts.
- Kezlow Smith hauled in four passes for 89 yards.
- Airiss Hargrow and Kevyn Lewis each had seven tackles for the Muskie defense. Chris Dickson had the game's only interceptions.
- Lakeland had 9.5 tackles for loss in the win.

NEXT ON THE SCHEDULE
- The Falcons host Benedictine in a Family Weekend contest at Tomasini Stadium. The NACC game will start at 1 pm.