Red Raiders head into playoffs on a roll

As good as the Pulaski High School football team’s offense looked in its final game of the regular season, its defense and special teams were just as impressive.

The Red Raiders wrapped up the regular season and tuned up for the WIAA playoffs Oct. 16 with a 49-0 Fox River Classic Conference-North win over Appleton West.

Now that they have finished the season with a 7-2 overall record and a 5-2 mark in conference play, the Red Raiders can focus on Ashwaubenon, a team that Pulaski will host at 7 p.m. Oct. 23 in a Level 1 playoff game.

Pulaski is a No. 3 seed in its Division 2 bracket, while the Jaguars received a No. 6 seed. The Red Raiders defeated Ashwaubenon 35-0 in a FRCC-North matchup in September.

The Red Raiders scored touchdowns on their first six possessions, with four of those scores coming in the first quarter.

Trentyn Linz opened the scoring with an 11-yard run less than three minutes into the game and after the Terrors’ first possession ended with a punt, Bohdan Schmidt added to Pulaski’s lead by returning the punt 56 yards.

The Red Raiders added to their lead later in the opening quarter with Schmidt’s 9-yard run. Appleton West’s Carlos Nunn fumbled the ball on the kickoff return, Braun Wotruba’s recovery set the Red Raiders up at the Appleton West 20-yard line, and Schmidt connected with Logan Clauss for a 14-yard touchdown pass on the drive’s second play.

The Red Raiders’s fifth and sixth possessions in the second quarter also ended with touchdowns, as Andre Burnett scored from 6 yards out and Schmidt scored on a 50-yard run on the first play of their next drive.

A running clock during the second half limited possessions for both teams, but Pulaski had the only score of the half on Parker Engels’ 1-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Appleton West’s best chance to avoid a shutout came on its first drive of the second half, but the Terrors turned the ball over on downs inside the Pulaski 15-yard line.

Schmidt led Pulaski with 123 rushing yards on eight carries and also completed four of five passes for 53 yards.

The Red Raiders played without one of their leading rushers, Anthony Ficarri, who was injured during a 17-14 win over De Pere.

Coach Jerad Marsh hopes the senior will be back in the lineup against the Jaguars.

“We’re planning on him being back,” he said. “You’d have to talk to the athletic trainer on the extent of the injury, but we’re always hopeful that a senior can come back and finish the season off, and I think he’s in a good position to do that.”

Marsh said the opportunity to host a playoff game is a big deal for his team.

“One of the goals for the team was to be able to host a playoff game, something we haven’t done in awhile and something we’d love to be able to give the community and get people excited in October and November for football,” he said. “We haven’t been able to do that in three or four years.”

Although Pulaski’s offense was able to score on six of its seven drives in the first half, the defense also chipped in with a pair of interceptions by Keaton Dauk and a goalline stand to start the second half. The special teams unit also recovered a kickoff return that gave the Red Raiders a short field and led to Pulaski’s fourth touchdown.

“They’ve really come together as a group,” Marsh said of his team’s defense. “It’s been fun to watch them mesh into what they’ve become. They have a lot of trust in each other, they play fast, they play physical and hopefully, that’ll pay off in the playoffs where they are close games every time.”

Marsh didn’t know who the Red Raiders would face in their Level 1 playoff game after the win. In Ashwaubenon, Pulaski will match up against a team it sees every season.

“I guess it’s like every week,” Marsh said. “We try to train during the season to be prepared for whatever it is we’re going to see. If it’s a conference school, you’re going to have film on them. We really try to work on being able to handle anything that somebody’s going to throw at us.”