On to the D3 semis …

courtesy of a last-second FG.

Image via Wisconsin High School Helmets (www.mghelmets.com)

Randy Hill has kicked longer field goals this season. Until Saturday afternoon, the West De Pere placekicker hadn’t kicked one bigger.

Hill’s 26-yard field goal as time expired propelled the Phantoms past Kewaskum 24-21 in a WIAA Division 3 quarterfinal game at West De Pere. The kick capped a 10-point, fourth-quarter comeback for the Phantoms, who have won 11 straight after dropping their opener at Seymour.

“I’m normally taught just to keep my head down and listen to the crowd, but I kicked it and I had to look up right away. I had to see it go through, if it did or not,” Hill said. “Thank God that it did.”

West De Pere let the game clock run down to 3.3 seconds before calling time. Sophomore Jay Tollefson snapped the ball to holder Michael Linssen and Hill split the uprights.

“I just wanted to stay warm, keep it loose,” said Hill who hit from 40 and 42 yards in warmups.

A strong defensive performance in the 2nd half, along with a strong running game made the winning FG possible.  More impressive was the fact the Phantoms were without Beau Bellmore most of the 2nd half.

Behind 21-14, the Phantoms dominated the fourth quarter. West De Pere held Kewaskum (10-2) to minus-4 yards on five plays while gaining 93 yards on 24 snaps itself.

The bulk of those yards came from Zac Rottier. Running behind tackles Rlki Kodanko and Tony Romenesko, guards Travis Feaker and Garrett Schuh, center Kyle Steuck, tight end Tyler Van Sistine and fullback Trevor Cherney, the junior reeled off 48 yards on 11 tries in the quarter filling in for Beau Bellmore.

Rottier had runs of 11 and 10 yards on the game-winning drive.

“It was scary at first because you never want to lose a player like Beau,” Rottier said. “It’s a tough loss, then I figured I had to step in. I had to prove that we’re a team and we can do this as a team.”

Bellmore, who rushed for 108 yards, was helped off the field by Romenesko and Steuck early in the third quarter. The Bay Conference player of the year returned to field one kickoff and take one lateral before retiring.

After basically cruising all season following the Seymour slip this was a hard fought victory.  Here’s what Coach T had to say:

“There were a lot of momentum changes in the game,” West De Pere coach Bill Turnquist said. “You know we jumped out to a really quick lead 14-0. We had a number of turnovers (three) that really hurt us. We haven’t been doing that all year.”

“We haven’t had that opportunity to fight back and score at the end of the game like this all year long,” said Turnquist of his team which had outscored its opponents 428 to 123 through 11 games. “This is a good one, one we can enjoy.” (Source: Last-second kick propels West DePere past Kewaskum – GBPG)

Up next for the Phantoms: a match-up with the high-flying Comets of Waupaca, with the winner earning a spot in the state championship game.  Game time and location TBA.