Gray scores four touchdowns as Whitefish Bay thrashes Cedarburg

There was a whole lot of Gray Friday night in Whitefish Bay despite the end result being black and white as the Blue Dukes dismantled Cedarburg, 38-8.

The victory for Whitefish Bay avenged last year’s meltdown loss to the Bulldogs when the Blue Dukes conceded 22 fourth quarter points.

It would not come to that this year. Senior running back Rashadeem Gray made sure of it.

Gray scored four touchdowns and piled up more rushing yards to add to his strong early-season statistics and also did some damage as a receiver throughout the game.

Gray caught a first-half touchdown pass from fellow senior Grant Menard to cap a drive that featured a 56-yard connection. The touchdown reception for Gray was sandwiched between an earlier 31-yard touchdown run and a pair of fourth-quarter scoring gallops.

“I was open deep because they were playing man coverage on me and we actually ran the ball more than I expected,” said Gray of his receiving score. “They play a lot of man coverage and I think we have more speed than they do.”
Gray added: “It feels nice to beat Cedarburg. The varsity team has never beaten them since I’ve been here so we are excited about it.”

Whitefish Bay scored first in the game on a drive that didn’t have much to do with Gray but did include another huge passing play from Menard.

During the Blue Dukes’ second drive while facing a third and long, Menard found senior Jackson Weber wide open over the middle. Weber hauled in the pass and scampered 72 yards taking the ball inside the Cedarburg 10.

After a penalty pushed Whitefish Bay back, Menard found Weber again on a 16-yard touchdown pass to give the Blue Dukes an early 7-0 lead.

Cedarburg never led in the game but the thought of last year’s comeback win was on the mind of both sidelines as the game reached the fourth quarter. A repeat of that thriller was not to be, even as a safety brought the game to within two scores in the second half.

“Absolutely, we thought about it,” head coach Jim Tietjen said. “We dominated for three quarters up there and then let it slip away and our kids tonight just were not going to let it slip away again.

“It’s a great win because our first goal is to always make the playoffs and beating Cedarburg is big but our conference doesn’t really have any weak teams, so our work is still cut our for us,” added Tietjen.

Cedarburg was held to just eight points after scoring more than 30 points in each of the first two games this season.

“Last year was quite a comeback so you always hope that your kids have it in them,” Cedarburg head coach Brian Leair said. “It’s high school football, so big plays can happen either way at any time, but tonight they got the better end of it.”