Video: Preview of Kimberly vs. Sun Prairie
Kimberly entered Friday's state championship game with nation's best win streak at 69 games.
It was all supposed to end Friday night in Madison, Wi.
The football team at
Kimberly (Wis.), winners of a national best 69 straight games and four consecutive state championships, faced a bigger, taller
Sun Prairie (Wis.) with an equal 13-0 record.
The
Papermakers, who returned just five players from last years team,
struggled by their standards just to reach Friday's state Division I
title game.
Kimberly fell behind 7-0, but slowly methodically
took control with its running game to post a 27-7 victory at Camp
Randall Stadium to win their 70th straight game and fifth straight
title.
A 50-yard touchdown keeper by quarterback
Alec Rosner
gave the Papermakers (14-0) their first lead 14-7 with 10 minutes left
in the third quarter.
Just before the end of the quarter,
DJ Stewart
capped a 78-yard drive with a 22-yard touchdown scamper, and Kimberly
took control, leading 21-7 heading into the fourth. That TD was set up
on a 35-yard run by
Johnathan Nett, who started Kimberly's scoring with a
30-yard TD run.
Stewart added a second TD run, this one from 4 yards out in the final two minutes to ice the game.
According to the
Post-Crescent
newspaper, Stewart came into the game with 1,853 rushing yards and 24
touchdowns. Rosner entered with 1,984 passing yards and 24 more scores.
Kimberly's
defense stepped up to the challenge against a team that had outscored
opponents 512-99 entering the game. The Pacemakers had three games this
season winning by a touchdown or less.
The next longest win streak in the nation is 59 by Soldotna (AK), but the Pacemakers are well off the national record of 151 by De La Salle (Concord, Calif.).
"It's been an incredible
journey," Kimberly coach Steve Jones told the Post-Crescent before the
game. "You see it (growth from players) all over the place, so I think
that's the most rewarding part of coaching to see that growth both as
football players and people."
Kimberly, here with assistant Josh Heisler, huddled up often to slow down a potent Sun Prairie offense on Friday. The Papermakers gave up a first-quarter touchdown, but nothing the rest of the way en route to its 70th straight win.
File photo by Jeanette Merten
Sun Prairie's Cooper Nelson came into Friday's title game with 34 catches for 733 yards and five touchdowns.
File photo by Robert George
