Campbellsport Football Downs Spartans 25-14 on Senior Night

On October 17, Campbellsport defeated Laconia 25-14 on Senior Night for Blake Heltemes, Trent Schladweiler, Kenneth Hermann, Cayden Flasch, Zach Zimdahl, Cullen Reis, Colyn Hermann, Jack Wettstein, and Spencer Immel.
“First off, I want to say thank you to our seniors; their group was an extremely fun group to be around, and they continue to work hard and never give up,” said Head Coach Todd Wondra. “Eight of the nine seniors were four-year players, and all have come far since their freshman year, with Cayden Flasch deciding to give football a try after not playing, and he was a big contributor to our team this season.”
“I love every player that comes through this program, and when their senior season is finished, it’s always tough on them as well as us as a staff,” said Wondra. “These kids become family, and it’s tough, especially when the season doesn’t go quite as you had hoped.”
Campbellsport (4-5, 3-4) started the game with two first downs on the first two plays of the game, with a 20-yard rush from Trent Schladweiler and a 16-yard rush by Blake Heltmees before they were stopped on fourth down at the Laconia (2-7, 1-6) 40-yard line.

The Cougars’ defense shut down the Spartans on three plays, highlighted by a strong combined tackle of the Laconia running back by linebackers Carte Gellings and Heltemes.
Laconia scored on a 38-yard rushing touchdown after the Campbellsport offense went three-and-out, giving the Spartans a 7-0 lead with 4:57 on the first quarter clock.
Campbellsport went on an 80-yard drive, highlighted by a big third-down conversion when Gellings was scrambling, then reversed field to connect with Cullen Reis for an 18-yard completion.
“I thought Carter played well stepping in at quarterback after playing some quarterback earlier in the season,” said Wondra. “Carter’s a very talented kid and was open to trying it when we asked him.”
Schladweiler went up the middle of the Laconia defense thanks to a strong push from offensive linemen to get the ball at the Spartans’ six-yard line, and the drive was capped off by Heltemes for a four-yard rushing touchdown on the first play of the second quarter, putting the score a 7-6 in favor of the Spartans after a failed two-point conversion.
The Spartans were driving against the Cougars’ defense before Reis caused a fumble, which was recovered by Gellings for Campbellsport at their own 37-yard line.
The Cougars took over at the 50 after the two teams traded punts on back-to-back possessions, and Campbellsport got a first down from their passing game when Gellings found Pierce Kahene for 18 yards.
Campbellsport got into the red zone thanks to a personal foul on the Spartans, and the Cougars were facing fourth down when Gellings was able to loft a pass through a sea of hands to Heltemes in the end zone for a five-yard passing touchdown to give Campbellsport the 12-7 lead with 2:35 left in the first half.
Laconia had another offensive drive stalled by a turnover thanks to Gellings intercepting the Spartans quarterback by leaping towards the fall sky and coming down with the ball at the Cougars’ 26-yard line to keep the 12-7 lead for Campbellsport at halftime.
The Spartans went 69 yards on the opening drive of the second half to take a 14-12 lead, which was finished off with a seven-yard rushing touchdown.
Campbellsport was forced to punt on its next offensive possession to give the ball back to the Spartans.
Laconia drove 53 yards to the Campbellsport four-yard line before the Cougars’ defense rose to stop the Spartans on fourth down when Schladweiler and Heltemes combined to tackle the Laconia running back for a six-yard loss, giving the ball back to Campbellsport at their own 10-yard line.
The Cougars got an explosive play on the third play of the possession when Heltemes got loose in the open field by making a nice cutback and sprinted away from the rest of the Spartans’ defense for a 73-yard rushing touchdown to give the lead back to Campbellsport at 18-14 with 9:27 on the third quarter clock.
“You have to be patient offensively and eventually capitalize with some big plays, and we were able to do that on the ground,” said Wondra. “The Wing-T offense isn’t flashy, but with the kids we get, it’s a great offense for us, and I’m very proud of how our whole offense kept fighting for 48 minutes, and it showed with the outcome.”
Campbellsport’s defense was able to keep the momentum on their sideline by forcing Laconia to punt, featuring a 5-yard tackle for a loss by Keegan Sabish.
Laconia pinned the Cougars at their six-yard line to drive their offensive drive, and after getting two first downs, Campbellsport was facing a third down and seven with three minutes left in the game.
Heltemes took the handoff on third down with the game hanging in the balance and broke a tackle to burst through the first wave of Spartans defenders, then went down the right sideline before giving a strong stiff-arm to the last remaining Laconia around the 20-yard line to score a thrilling 65-yard rushing touchdown which caused the Campbellsport sideline and crowd to erupt into a thunderous celebration and giving the Cougars a 25-14 lead with 2:52 left in the game.
The touchdown was Heltemes fourth touchdown of the game to go along with his 225 rushing yards and 15 tackles in the game.
“Blake is an extremely talented kid and plays with his heart,” said Wondra. “Blake worked extremely hard after last season to make sure his senior year was a success for him personally, and he didn’t let himself down.”
The Spartans’ last opportunity of the game was disrupted by a 15-yard sack by Braden Ebert for Campbellsport, then finished off when Reis intercepted an errant Laconia pass at the Cougars’ 40-yard line to secure the 25-14 conference win on senior night and keeping them on the playoff bubble for one of the final playoff spots in Division 4.
“Defensively, our kids played hard all season, and the whole defense did a fantastic job again this week,” said Wondra.
The Cougars didn’t receive good news on Saturday morning when the playoff seeds were announced, which left Campbellsport out as the last team out and ended their season with a record of 4-5, but winning three games out of their four games in the Flyway.
“Unfortunately, the season ended short of the playoffs, which is a goal we set for each season, but we had a slow start to the year and didn’t play well in all phases at the beginning of the season,” said Wondra. “ As the season went on, we continued to work and made some adjustments and were playing better football late in the season.”
“Again, I can’t state it enough, this team never quit and came to practice every day and continued to work hard and kept fighting,” said Wondra. “This whole team was a good group to coach and be around, and that’s what you want as a coach.”
“I want to say thank you to everyone who supports this program,” said Wondra. “I want to say thank you to my staff for everything they do all season to help make each season as successful as it can be.”
“Lastly, thank you to my wife and the wives and families of all my staff because there are lots of sacrifices made by all of you to allow us to coach these kids.”

Game Summary
Friday, October 17

Laconia 7-0-7-0 14
Campbellsport 0-12-0-13 25
Final

First Quarter
Laconia: Nitz 38-yard rushing touchdown (Van Beek XP) 4:57 Laconia 7-0

Second Quarter
Campbellsport: Blake Heltemes 4-yard rushing touchdown (2pt run failed) 11:56 Laconia 7-6
Campbellsport: Carter Gellings to Blake Heltemes 5-yard passing touchdown (2pt run failed) 2:35 Campbellsport 12-7
Third Quarter
Laconia: Larson 7-yard rushing touchdown (Van Beek XP) 7:04 Laconia 14-12
Fourth Quarter:
Campbellsport: Blake Heltemes 73-yard rushing touchdown (2pt run failed) 9:27 Campbellsport 18-14
Campbellsport: Blake Heltemes 65-yard rushing touchdown (Stoffel XP) 2:52 Campbellsport 25-14

Game Stats
Laconia: Total Yards: 195 Passing: 9-20-122-0-2 Rushing: 27-73-2
Campbellsport: Total Yards: 427 Passing: 5-8-65-1-0 Rushing: 40-362-3

Individual Stats
Passing: Carter Gellings 5-8-65-1-0
Rushing: Blake Heltemes 13-225-3. Trent Schladweiler 8-61. Chris Taddey 15-53. Pierce Kahene 3-14. Carter Gellings 1-9
Receiving: Trent Schaldweiler 2-39. Cullen Reis 1-16. Blake Heltemes 2-10-1
Tackles: Blake Heltemes 15. Carter Gellings 11. Trent Schladweiler 5. Wyatt Loehr 5. Zach Zimdahl 3. Cullen Reis 3. Levi Bentz 3. Keegan Sabish 3
TFL: Blake Heltemes 3. Braden Ebert 1. Keegan Sabish 1
Sacks: Braden Ebert 1
Int: Carter Gellings 1. Cullen Reis 1
FR: Cayden Flasch 1
FF: Carter Gellings 1

Season Stats Leaders
Passing: Jackson Straub 22-60-366-4-6. Carter Gellings 6-9-68-1-0. Kenneth Hermann 1-5-34-1-0
Rushing: Blake Heltemes 45-555-10. Chris Taddey 108-394-4. Pierce Kahene 21-156-2. Carter Gellings 34-128-1. Trent Schladweiler 15-71. Trayton Rendermann 7-59-1. Jackson Straub 24-47-1. Kenneth Hermann 7-27. Cullan Flasch 2-23. Gavin Fleischman 2-21. Kaleb Nenning 2-10-1. Elliott Fleischmann 1-6. Wyatt Loehr 5-4
Receiving: Blake Heltemes 7-67-1. Trent Schladweiler 5-94. Cullen Reis 5-67-1. Pierce Kahene 4-117-2. Levi Bentz 2-59-1. Wyatt Loehr 2-20. Zach Zimdahl 2-19. Chris Taddey 1-20. Carter Gelling 1-5
Tackles: Blake Heltemes 124. Carter Gellings 91. Levi Bentz 51. Trent Schladweiler 37. Spencer Immel 32. Braden Ebert 22. Zach Zimdahl 21. Cullen Reis 20. Jack Wettstein 20. Colyn Hermann 20
TFL: Blake Heltemes 15. Braden Ebert 2. Keegan Sabish 2. Zach Zimdahl 1. Pierce Kahene 1
Sacks: Blake Heltemes 6. Braden Ebert 2
Int: Carter Gellings 3. Cullen Reis 1. Pierce Kahene 1
FR: Carter Gellings 2. Blake Heltemes 1. Cayden Flasch 1. Trayton Rendermann 1. Cullen Reis 1. Wolfgang Stoffel 1. Spencer Immel 1. Levi Bentz 1. Keegan Sabish 1