Dukes Trample Suns
- Updated: September 17, 2023
Photo Courtesy of Rod Brower
The Whitefish Bay Blue Dukes watched the sun set in West Bend on Thursday with a 37-29 victory over the East Suns. The win moves the Dukes to 3-2 overall and 2-1 in the North Shore Conference.
There was a lesson at Buck Sweep University and Professor Rathkamp’s class was in session as the Bay line of Jack Sievert, Carter Smith, Mitch Schoen, Nick Bakken, Rowan Hodges, and Bob Grano led a Duke rushing attack to the tune of 410 yards on 56 carries. The rushing total fell 4 yards shy of tying the school record set by the 2001 team against Nicolet. Junior Harry Bortolotti was the main benefactor of the great line play as he set a career high in carries, yards, and touchdowns, going off for 274 yards on 35 attempts with 5 scores.
The Dukes D set the tone early as they forced a Suns 3-and-out to start the game. The Bay offense took it from there as they marched down the field on 14 plays capped off by a Bortolotti 7-yards touchwon with 1:49 left in the opening quarter. East would tie the game at 6 on their next drive and that would be the closest they’d get all night.
Bortolotti would tack on two more scores in the second quarter as Bay held on for a 20-12 lead at the break. They would come out of the half with the ball and find the endzone again as Ben Volpe snuck it in from a yard out.
The Suns battled all night and responded with a score on the next drive to make it 26-20 with just over 3 minutes remaining in the third quarter. The Blue Dukes, like they did all night, would respond with another rushing touchdown to make it 32-20 before having arguably their best offensive and defensive series of the night.
Facing a crucial 4th and 5 around midfield, the Dukes D flushed the Suns QB out of the pocket where Volpe would come up from his safety position and make a huge tackle a yard short of the marker to essentially seal the game. Bay would then grind up more than 7 minutes of clock on a 14-play drive in which they’d convert three 4th downs before Bortolotti finished it off with his 5th and final touchdown of the night with 1:50 left in the game. The Suns would score with just seconds left in the game to bring the final score to 39-27.
Volpe finished the game 2 of 3 for 16 yards in the air in addition to 49 yards on 10 carries on the ground. Senior Ben Beckmann broke loose for a couple runs and added 69 yards on 8 rushing attempts. Junior Joseph Lee toted the rock 3 times for 18 yards for a lethal Bay offense that scored all 6 times they possessed the ball.
Defensively, Smith and Brodie Gann-Dudgeon led the team with 6 tackles each. Quinn “Gator” McCarthy and Beckmann, who starred on both sides of the ball, added 5 tackles apiece.
Box Score Ι Photo Gallery
Statistics courtesy of Brandon Rindfleisch
Photo Gallery courtesy of Rod Brower
Next Up…
The Blue Dukes return to Lubar and welcome in the Slinger Owls (4-1, 2-1) on Friday, September 22nd for a pivitol NSC match-up at 7pm. It will also be Jr. Dukes Night.
