Newsradio 620 WTMJ is on Twitter now! Click Here to learn more. WIAA Division 4 Championship: Wautoma/Faith Christian 20, Big Foot 0MADISON, Wis. (AP) --Wautoma/Faith Christian senior Jared Abbrederis' last name sounds almost magical. His final prep football game certainly was. Abbrederis made a series of dazzling plays on both sides of the ball, leading the Hornets to their first WIAA state championship with a 20-0 victory over Big Foot in the Division 4 title game Thursday night. At quarterback, Abbrederis ran for one touchdown and threw for another, and at defensive back he intercepted two second-half passes to squash the last two Big Foot drives that encroached into Hornets territory. "He is just unbelievable. He doesn't take enough credit for what he does. I think he doesn't realize what he did," Hornets lineman Luke Roeske said. "He always has some shine. You think you're down and the guy sparks you and gets you going."
Big Foot (12-2) had mustered just 34 yards of total offense until its final drive, when the Chiefs put together an 11-play, 75-yard march in the final three minutes that ended when Abbrederis stepped in front of a Steve Dowden pass at the Hornets' 9-yard line. The Chiefs' last drive was the only time they made it into the red zone. "It was our 'A' game defense exactly. It's been pretty good all year against people on the run," said Wautoma/Faith Christian coach Dennis Moon. "Tonight we had them scouted good. We got a lot of hats to the ball." Abbrederis found the end zone late in the first half on a 9-yard option keeper that almost ended badly. Abbrederis broke a tackle in the backfield before finding an opening off the right tackle, then barely made it across the goal line before a jarring hit from Big Foot safety Michael Walker knocked the ball loose. On his TD pass, he went right out of the shotgun on a planned rollout, then scrambled almost to the sideline before reversing field. He sprinted to the left hash marks before spotting Brett Brown in the end zone for a 5-yard strike to give the Hornets a 13-0 lead with 8:22 left in the fourth quarter. "Everyone started over pursuing. I thought I could run it in," Abbrederis said. "But Brett Brown was waving his arms so I threw it up to him and let him go up and get it." Matt Stepniewski put the game out of reach with a 1-yard TD plunge with 3:05 to go. Both of Abberderis' scores came after Wautoma/Faith Christian got the ball on interceptions. The Hornets fumbled the ball away in their own territory on their first two possessions of the second half, but Big Foot couldn't generate positive yardage on the ensuing drives. "We had two turnovers on their first two possessions and we couldn't punch it in," Big Foot coach Rodney Wedig said. "At this level, you've got to make teams pay for turnovers." (Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) |
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