Cardinal Victory on Omer Benefit Night
by B. J. Royes
Mayville fans and well over 200 former players and cheerleaders gathered at Firemen's Field last Friday to pay tribute to Mayville' most victorious football coach ever, the late Jack Omer. Player representing each of Omer's 20 seaons of coaching Mayville football were present to show their appreciation to this great man. Coach Omer's record in Mayville is phenomenal: 119 wins, 42 losses and 3 ties, in combination of three conferences; the Wisconsin Little Ten, Scenic Moraine and Wisconsin Flyway conferences. Presented to Mrs. Donna Omer was a check to establish a scholarship fund in her husband's name and another check for development of the future athletic complex.
The game was also Mayville's Homecoming and the Cardinals faced the tough Laconia Spartans. The Cards took the game into their hands with a 5 play, 63-yard opening drive, led 7-0. The score came on a 35 yard John Preston run. Perrie Apfelbeck added the extra point. Toward the end of the period, Laconia, who had earlier established an effective running attack, scored on a 26-yard run. A two-point conversion gave the Spartans an 8-7 lead through the remainder of the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter, Apfelbeck was able to score from 14 yards out with Preston adding the two-point conversion. Later in the same period, Preston scored his second touchdown of the game on a two-yard spurt, thatnks to a lead block from Doug Hurst. Apfelbeck's extra point was good to give Mayville a 22-8 lead with 6:04 left in the half.
All year the Cardinals have been excellent against the run, but in this game they appeared to give a little more in the middle than in the past. Eveidence of this was another long run of 36 yards by Laconia for a touchdown. The two-point conversion tightened the score to 22-16.
With little time in the half, Preston again scored and had long capped the century mark for rushing yardage for the game. Apfelbeck's extra point was good to give the Cardinals a 29-16 lead at halftime.
Early in the 3rd quarter, Laconia again struck for a long-gain touchdown on a punt play. The runner never slowed down as he scooped up the ball while in full stride and sprinted down the left sideline for a 56-yard touchdown. Again, the two-point conversion was successful to make the score 29-24.
The next score came late in the 3rd when Apfelbeck scored from 3 yards out on a posession set up by a muffed punt recovery by Bill Dorst. Perrie also scored on the two-point conversion and extended Mayville's lead to 37-24.
Apfelbeck scored once more for the Cardinals in the 4th period, on a 22-yard strike from Craig Walters. With Apfelbeck's PAT, the Cards locked their victory at 44-24.
All of the Cardinals' scoring came from two players, as John Preston scored 3 touchdowns and a two-point conversion, and Perrie Apfelbeck also had 3 touchdowns, a two-pointer and kicked 4 extra points. Preston rushed for 170 yards on 28 carries, Apfelbeck gained 107 on 18 carries. Junior Tim Blair intercepted a pass to raise his season total to 4, and returned it 47 yards. Roy Surita had an oustanding defensive game, leading the Cardinals with 31 defensive points.
DEFENSIVE POINTS: Surita 31, Buschke 20, Blair 19, Clark 18, Kaiser 18, Soulati 18, Klopfer 15, Pugh 13, Breselow 12, Frane 9, Apfelbeck 7, Dorst 5, Buchta 4, Hurst 4, Bauer 4, Cundy 2;
