QUICK NEWS

Dukes Fall to Owls

By Blue Dukes Media Team
Updated: September 24, 2023

The Whitefish Bay Blue Dukes fought hard but ultimately ran out of gas Friday night to the Slinger Owls, falling 35-21. The loss drops the Dukes’ record to 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the North Shore Conference with three games remaining.

Bay jumped out to an early lead after receiving the opening kickoff and marched 80 yards right down the field, with the drive ending in points when Harry Bortolotti found the endzone from 13-yards out.

The Bay D started strong and kept an explosive Slinger offense contained in the first quarter as the Blue Dukes clung to their 7-0 lead. The Owls would eventually tie it up at 7 with just over 5 minutes left in the first half, but the tie would be short-lived. On the ensuing kickoff, the Owls tried a squib kick directly to Quinn “Gator” McCarthy who turned on the jets for a 68-yard house call to put the Dukes back on top, 14-7.

Slinger would tie things up, however, just before the half and it was 14-14 going into the break.

After a quiet start to the third quarter, Slinger turned it on for 21 points within the last 4 minutes to pull away from Bay. The Owls took their first lead of the game with just under 5 minutes left in the 3rd. The Dukes would strike back quickly when Ben Volpe fired a bullet to Ryan Scarlett over the middle to tie things up at 21, but then Slinger hit right back and scored on consecutive drives to make it 35-21 before a scoreless 4th quarter for both teams.

Ben Beckmann led the Bay rushing attack with 121 yards on 7 carries, with Bortolotti adding 107 yards on his 18 attempts. Defensively, Carter Smith finished with 12 total tackles, 7 solo, and recovered a fumble.