Friday Afternoon Lights: Muskego vs Hudson Recap
Two of the best teams in Division 1 and the state met at Sauk Prairie High School for a neutral site showdown Friday afternoon. The #1 team in Division 1, Muskego, played as the home team while Hudson manned the…
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Continue ReadingTwo of the best teams in Division 1 and the state met at Sauk Prairie High School for a neutral site showdown Friday afternoon. The #1 team in Division 1, Muskego, played as the home team while Hudson manned the visitor side. I was pumped when this matchup was announced last week and made sure I was going to be able to cover it for Prep Redzone Wisconsin. This game had the most college talent I have ever seen in one high school game. In the end though, one team was able to impose their will on the other leaving me with the belief that they are one of the best high school football teams Wisconsin has ever seen. Read through the rest of the recap below and you will see what I mean. Thank you for reading!
The game actually started off very evenly matched. The teams went back and forth trying to establish a rhythm and hold the momentum of the game in their favor. Muskego started the game on offense. They did what they have done over and over for the past few seasons, yet nobody has been able to stop them. They ran the ball. Then they ran it some more. Alex Current Alex Current 5'11" | 180 lbs | RB Muskego | 2021 State WI and Josh Bulski Josh Bulski 5'10" | 180 lbs | RB Muskego | 2021 State WI took turns gaining 5-10 yard chunks on the opening drive. The biggest play of the drive, surprisingly enough, came through the air when Dylan Krause connected with his receiver deep down the middle of the field. It was a well thrown ball by the junior on a day where the wind was making it hard to do anything through the air. After the completion Muskego went right back to the ground game. It was a very evenly matched trench battle early on. Muskego slowly pounded their way inside the 10 yard line. Once inside the 10, Muskego turned to Bulski and let him show off his power as he rumbled up the middle for 6. Hudson managed to block the extra point leaving us with a 6-0 Muskego lead.
After a nice return by Hudson they took over on their 29 yard line for their first drive of the game. The drive started off hot as RB/WR/Playmaker Matteo Bonnin Matteo Bonnin 6'3" | 210 lbs | WR Hudson | 2021 State WI took the handoff ran hard for a 9 yard pick up. Matteo did well to stay on his feet as he bounced off a couple of tackle attempts on the carry before Hunter Wohler Hunter Wohler 6'2" | 190 lbs | DB Muskego | 2021 State WI finally brought him down. Unfortunately, the drive stalled three plays later when on third down Evan Huckstorf Evan Huckstorf 5'11" | 190 lbs | LB Muskego | 2021 State WI sacked Hudson QB Owen Anderson Owen Anderson 6'1" | 200 lbs | QB Hudson | 2021 WI and Hudson was forced to punt the ball back to Muskego. After this drive you started to get the feeling that this game was going to go quick because both teams wanted to keep it on the ground.
The back and forth continued as Muskego took over on offense. On the first third down of the drive Carson Holman fumbled the ball after a good hit by the Hudson defense. There was a big fight for the ball, and when the refs finally cleared the pile they declared it to be Hudson’s ball. The momentum swung back and forth through the first quarter and it really felt like we were building towards a very back and forth game just like I was expecting.
However, on their drive after the turnover Hudson’s offense couldn’t find it’s groove. They were quickly forced to punt the ball right back to Muskego as the first quarter came to a close with Muskego still holding onto their 6-0 lead. After the first quarter, it seemed like both defenses had come to play. Both offenses consistently tried to break contain and get to the edge, but neither team was allowing it. The yards were hard to come by early on in this one.
On Muskego’s first drive of quarter #2 they showed that they were more of a three headed monster backfield instead of two. Holman redeemed himself on this drive after the fumble on the previous drive. Muskego went right back to him and he picked up a nice chunk of yards. After he made a nice gain Josh Bulski Josh Bulski 5'10" | 180 lbs | RB Muskego | 2021 State WI took his turn and almost turned it into six points if not for getting tripped up and brought down by the last defender between him and the endzone. A couple plays later they went to the air, but it was still one of the three beasts in the backfield that made the play as Alex Current Alex Current 5'11" | 180 lbs | RB Muskego | 2021 State WI went deep down the field on a post route and hauled in the TD catch. It was a great play by Current and the QB Krause. The pass made it perfectly over the hands of the DB as he leapt in the air to try and make the pick, and Alex found himself in perfect position right behind the defender to go up himself and bring it down at the goal line and into the endzone. This pushed the Muskego lead to 13-0 and put the pressure on Hudson to keep up because Muskego was starting to find their rhythm on offense.
Hudson wasn’t able to manufacture much on that next drive as they quickly went three and out and had to punt the ball back to Muskego. This was starting to become an issue. They weren’t generating much offense, and they were starting all of their drives at the 20 yard line due to touchbacks on the kickoffs, so they were too deep in their own territory to risk going for it and it was starting to catch up to them.
Muskego came out on offense looking to really pour it on Hudson. They started the drive on the back of Josh Bulski Josh Bulski 5'10" | 180 lbs | RB Muskego | 2021 State WI as he ran his way to back to back nice chunk plays right up the middle. Bulski does such a great job of making subtle lateral adjustments in his runs to hit openings that leads to bigger runs than expected. Add in the fact that he finishes his runs well and you get a back that can handle the workload. Later in the drive, Current made another nice run to keep the drive progressing down the field. Right after that carry Bulski took the handoff, cut to the outside after he broke through the line, and ran in for the score. This pushed the score to Muskego: 20 Hudson: 0.
On the next drive, Muskego’s defense really clamped down. DB Mason Buehler Mason Buehler 6'1" | 185 lbs | DB Muskego | 2021 State WI made an impressive play against the run to force another punt by Hudson. Hudson ran an option to Buehler’s side and after the pitch he came flying up as the ball carrier was trying to make it around the corner and delivered a perfect hit that put the ball carrier down right at the line of scrimmage. As dominant as the Muskego offense was their defense might have had the better game. They dominated. They set the tone, owned the trenches, and shut down the passing game. On the punt, the wind again led to a less than ideal punt and gave Muskego the ball right at the 50 yard line with less than 4 minutes to play in the half.
Muskego’s offensive drive lasted one minute and it’s no surprise how it went. They kept it on the ground and a couple plays in Alex Current Alex Current 5'11" | 180 lbs | RB Muskego | 2021 State WI broke through to the outside and weaved his way through the defense making several DBs miss and then raced into the endzone for the 26 yard TD. With 2:55 left in the first half Muskego held a 26-0 lead over Hudson. The first half fireworks weren’t done there, though. Far from it.
On Hudson’s next drive they started off on the ground. Muskego quickly shut it down. The way the defense flew around and played as a unit was awesome to see. It was textbook do your job and trust your teammates to do theirs. They also did a great job of getting 11 defenders to the ball when Hudson took to the ground. It wasn’t the ground defense that ended this drive, however. It was future Wisconsin Badger, Hunter Wohler Hunter Wohler 6'2" | 190 lbs | DB Muskego | 2021 State WI as he made the interception on an Owen Anderson Owen Anderson 6'1" | 200 lbs | QB Hudson | 2021 WI pass deep down the middle of the field. Wohler, already in good position, jumped in front for the pick. On the return, he almost broke free for 6, but he was finally brought down inside the 10 yard line.
Muskego wasted no time punching it in for 6 on the next play. Carson Holman sprinted to the left side of the field with the ball and was able to get the ball across the goal line for the score as defenders closed in on him. Muskego did such a great job of hiding the ball in the backfield. It’s no wonder they have so much success with the offense because unless every defender does their job there is a good chance the offense will be able to slip the ball carrier through for a big play. After the score, and the extra point, Muskego led 33-0 as the half was winding down.
Hudson wasn’t ready to just go into the half. They came out and one of their RBs, Jaiden Warner, picked up back to back big chunk plays on the ground of 10+ yards. On both carries he showed off some nice vision as he picked his way through the Muskego front seven. Something the Hudson offense wasn’t able to do this far in the game. Unfortunately, Muskego wasn’t going to let that momentum stay with Hudson for long. Owen Anderson Owen Anderson 6'1" | 200 lbs | QB Hudson | 2021 WI rolled out to his right and fired a deep pass down the sideline to the pylon. DB Mason Buehler Mason Buehler 6'1" | 185 lbs | DB Muskego | 2021 State WI did a great job running with the receiver and then at the catch point turned into the receiver as he went up in front of the intended target, made the interception, and came down with his feet in bounds to create the turnover. After a quick kneel down, Muskego went into the half with their 33-0 lead.
Quick note that I recorded in the twitter thread of my live tweeting while at the game. During halftime, Muskego’s kicker, Nikita Gladkov, was out on the field kicking field goals from the 50 yard line. He was connecting on a lot of them too. The ball really jumped off his foot and you could really hear the impact of when he connected with the ball. He’s only a junior, so make sure to keep an eye on him.
I was really looking forward to how Hudson was going to respond in the second half after the rough first half. They came out and received the opening kickoff. After the touchback they took over on the 20 and started the drive with back to back carries to Matteo Bonnin Matteo Bonnin 6'3" | 210 lbs | WR Hudson | 2021 State WI . Bonnin ran hard and picked up 9 yards on those two carries combined leaving them with a third and short. They weren’t able to convert the third down, and because of where they were on the field, felt it was best to punt instead of going for it.
It didn’t take long for Muskego to pick up right there they left off. The offensive line really had their way in this game from the second quarter on and it led to some huge performances for the RBs. Three plays into the drive Alex Current Alex Current 5'11" | 180 lbs | RB Muskego | 2021 State WI exploded for another huge play. Once again he used his elite speed to get to the outside and then weaved his way through the defensive backfield on his way to a 53 yard TD run. Current is a special talent. He is so electric with the ball in his hands. The change of pace he brings to the team to partner with Bulski’s style is hard to handle and contain. This score pushed the score of the game to 40-0 meaning that there would be a running clock.
Hudson took over with 8:46 to go in the third quarter, and two plays into their drive they fumbled the ball on a carry up the middle. The ball was bounced around a bit after several players tried to jump on it, but Muskego ended up corralling it for the turnover giving their offense the ball on the Hudson 16 yard line.
The scoring happened quickly after that. It wasn’t one of the big three backs that finished the drive off this time. Instead it was the next man up, Landyn Rogers who powered his way in for the score. It was some tough running and an impressive finish to the run as he was hit low and somersaulted into the endzone over the defender. This really showed off just how deep the Muskego team is. Even as they rotated in guys they still kept generating points against a very talented Hudson defense. So, with 6:33 remaining in the third quarter Muskego pushed their lead to 47-0.
It was more of the same for Hudson on offense. They again couldn’t get a rhythm going. They kept getting stuck going three and out deep in their own territory, and Muskego was moving the ball so well that they couldn’t risk giving up the short fields so they had to always punt the ball back to them and hope to flip the field with a good punt then hold them on defense. It never came to fruition though. Muskego proved to be way too much.
The third quarter came to an end with Landyn Rogers and Max Schmitt picking up nice chunk plays for the Muskego offense. Even with the new players in the game on offense Muskego didn’t miss a beat. They continued to run their way down the field. This time it was Hunter Logan who broke contain to the outside, made a defensive back miss and then ran in for the score and the 54- 0 lead.
When Hudson came out on offense they finally had a play go right for them. QB Owen Anderson Owen Anderson 6'1" | 200 lbs | QB Hudson | 2021 WI found Troy Bounting Troy Bounting 5'11" | 175 lbs | ATH Hudson | 2022 State WI down the sideline for the deep completion. Bounting turned on the jets and raced down the sideline for Hudson’s first score of the game. On defense, they held that momentum and caused Muskego to punt the ball, but on the punt the momentum was again lost as the ball touched a Hudson blocker and Muskego recovered the ball. From there the clock ran out leaving us with a 54-7 final score and Muskego victory! Thank you for reading and make sure to come back for my players of the game article!