Tri-Village rallies to beat New Bremen

NEW MADISON — The road to repeat as state champions ended for the Cardinals on Saturday night, falling to Tri-Village 32-29.

The Cardinals jumped out to an early 21-0 lead, but Tri-Village rattled off 32 unanswered points to earn the win.

“They [Tri-Village] battled and got the momentum and kind of had us on our heels offensively and defensively. We just couldn’t recover,” said Cardinals coach Chris Schmidt. “We said all week, they’re a good football team and wellcoached. They have a lot of good skill pieces and players. Unfortunately, when you make some mistakes and maybe don’t play as well as you think you could, you come up short. All credit to them.”

On their opening drive, New Bremen faced a 3rd and 18 from the Patriots 38-yard line. Dave Homan scrambled right and tossed it downfield to Trevor Bergman who caught it and ran it into the endzone for the first points of the game. Owen Gabel’s PAT made it 7-0 with 6:34 left in the first.

On Tri-Village’s opening drive, they went for it on 4th and 1 on their own 44-yard line but Nolan Kuenning got into the backfield for the Cardinals and sacked quarterback

Braden Keating, giving the ball back to New Bremen with great field position.

But the Cardinals squandered the opportunity and turned the ball over on downs after Homan’s pass attempt to Dylan Bambauer fell incomplete.

But the defense kept it going for New Bremen on the next drive.

Braeden Suchland picked off Keating’s pass on 4th and 12 and the Cardinals had the ball back, taking over on their 6-yard line.

On the first play of the new drive, like he was shot out of a cannon, Homan ran up the middle and bounced it left and ran in for the 94yard touchdown, 14-0 Cards.

New Bremen forced the Patriots first punt of the game on their next possession and again, the Cardinals took advantage.

Four plays was all it took as Homan found his way into the endzone again. He did fumble the ball but it was recovered by Colten Muether for the New Bremen touchdown, 21-0 Cardinals.

Tri-Village got their first points of the game on their next drive making it a 21-6 game at the half.

The Patriots got the ball back to start the second half and things immediately got off to

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