Friday Night Recap: Oconomowoc vs Kettle Moraine

Oconomowoc High School played host to tonight’s Classic Eight Conference showdown between the Oconomowoc Raccoons and the Kettle Moraine Lasers. A steady wind and cold temperatures looked to put a damper on the night, and on my phone’s ability to hold a charge. The two well balanced offenses came out ready to prove that the cold temperatures were not going to slow them down. In the end, only one team was able to consistently move up and down the field and dominate the trench battle leading to a 23 point victory. Let’s take a closer look at what happened throughout the game that led to the big victory. The game started off with Kettle Moraine receiving the opening kickoff. The drive started off quick as QB [player_tooltip player_id="31389" first="Chase" last="Spellman"] showed off his wheels on a nice run off left tackle for a quick first down. After that first down the Oconomowoc defense dug in and started to dominate the line of scrimmage. A few plays after the nice run the Ocon defense stepped up and shut down a 4th down conversion attempt leading to a turnover on downs deep inside of Kettle Moraine’s territory. Oconomowoc came out on their first offensive drive and looked to set the tone early in the trenches on offense just like they did on defense. They pounded the rock over and over as they steadily moved through the redzone. Ocon QB <strong>Jack Hellman</strong> finished off their first drive with a 1 yard TD off of a QB sneak. Hellman and senior RB <strong>Ryan Van Ells</strong> were the key ball carriers on this drive and they ended up being the main engines that moved the ball down the field all night. After those opening drives both teams were forced to punt on their next drives. It was on Oconomowoc’s punt that <strong>Zach Thelen</strong> booted an absolute beauty of a punt. The ball eventually rolled dead at the half inch line after a 65+ yard bomb. With their backs against the wall, Kettle Moraine wasn’t able to move the ball and were forced to punt again. Unfortunately for them, they shanked the punt and gave the Oconomowoc offense excellent field position. On the very first play of the drive, Ocon QB <strong>Jack Hellman</strong> weaved his way through the defense showing some impressive elusiveness on the way to his second TD of the night and a 14-0 lead. Early in the second quarter the Kettle Moraine offense found themselves getting into a groove. They worked their way down the field on the arm of QB [player_tooltip player_id="31389" first="Chase" last="Spellman"]. Spellman ended the drive with a very well thrown ball down the sideline to WR <strong>Luke Danielski</strong> for a touchdown cutting their deficit to one score at 14-7. The Oconomowoc offense wasn’t going to let Kettle Moraine get close for too long though. On their next drive they drove down the field with a well balanced attack. Ryan Van Ells made a nice run to the outside where he consistently found space all night. <strong>Jack Hellman</strong> used his legs as well, but on this drive he showed off what his arm could do. WR <strong>Connor Doyle</strong> made back to back catches showing off really strong hands and the ability to make catches in traffic. Jack Hellman ended the drive on a perfectly thrown ball to WR [player_tooltip player_id="31163" first="Augie" last="Marks"] in the endzone right at the pylon. Augie ran a great route and made an impressive sideline grab to haul in the TD pass to put Ocon back up by two scores at 21-7. Spellman and the KM offense weren’t going to roll over and die. They slowly drove their way into Ocon territory before they were finally stopped and forced to attempt a field goal. Unfortunately, the field goal fell short and they were forced to turn the ball over late in the half. Oconomowoc took over and once again used their balanced attack behind their impressive offensive line to both milk the clock and get down to the goal line. The Kettle Moraine defense did a great job on the goal line to hold them off and force the field goal attempt at the end of the half. Ocon converted the field goal and went into the half with a commanding 24-7 lead. Ocon received the second half kickoff and did exactly what they had been doing all night on offense. They attacked with a balanced offense. On the night, WR [player_tooltip player_id="31162" first="Nick" last="Sulla"] for Ocon looked like the go to receiver for them. He was targeted over and over and he hauled in some impressive catches. He was targeted a few times on this opening half drive in between rushing attempts by Hellman and Van Ells. The key players this half for Ocon was the offensive line. They dominated the whole game and in the second half it allowed them to run out so much clock. Van Ells got into the scoring on this drive as he was able to pound in a short yardage TD for his first score of the game and a 30-7 lead after the missed extra point. The Ocon defense came out and their defensive line did what their offensive line did. Dominated. All night long they got consistent pressure on Spellman and completely shut down the inside run. KM wasn’t able to get anything going on their next drive because of it and were forced to punt following a pass breakup on third down by WR/DB [player_tooltip player_id="31163" first="Augie" last="Marks"]. Ocon’s next drive wasn’t able to translate into much, but once again <strong>Zach Thelen</strong> came out and made a perfect punt that went out of bounds inside the KM 10 yard line. As the third quarter came to an end KM’s offense started to get into a groove as they started using no huddle and attacking heavily through the air. However, the Oconomowoc defense once again stepped up and [player_tooltip player_id="31163" first="Augie" last="Marks"] picked off Spellman on a deep pass over the middle. Oconomowoc’s next drive started as the 4th quarter started. It was impressive to watch. They slowly and methodically drove down the field milking away the clock and giving Kettle Moraine less and less time to make up the three score deficit. They stuck to the ground game and the offensive line, led by [player_tooltip player_id="30969" first="Jackson" last="Hunter"], continued to have their way in the trenches. In the end this drive killed the first 5:32 of the fourth quarter before they eventually punted the ball back to KM. KM came out and had to quickly move down the field, so they took to the air. Ocon’s pass coverage and rush continued to be too much and KM was stopped just short of the line to gain on 4th down resulting in a turnover and essentially ending any hope for a comeback. After a few more Hellman and Van Ells rushing attempts and another defensive stand the game ended with a 30-7 final and Oconomowoc victory! Thank you for reading and make sure to tune back in for the players of the game article coming out on Monday!