Posted: Sept. 12, 2009 |(0) Comments

Someday, Nicolet football coach Everett Jenkins would like to see his team be on the same level as his old employer, Homestead, competing for conference honors and state titles every year.

For now, he would settle for the level of the efficient, playoff-bound Whitefish Bay team, which despite having a number of two-way players, manhandled the Knights upfront in a 38-7 North Shore Conference opening rout Friday.

"We have a lot of work to do," Jenkins said, "and we need a lot of help. We just lost to a better team tonight - a team that was much better on the line of scrimmage."

For Bay coach Jim Tietjen and his players, who always seem to be battling numbers problems (less than 45 sophomore-through-senior players), it's a matter of keeping things simple as they strive to line up with the likes of Homestead, Cedarburg and Germantown.

"Our first goal is to win four (conference) games and get into the (WIAA) playoffs," he said. "Then it's to win one more than that and then it's too compete for the conference championship."

The formula worked again last year for the Blue Dukes (2-1 overall), as they made the state tournament series for the second season in a row.

Bay players want that streak to continue.

"Our guys are really tested," said junior quarterback Cal Ehrke, one of the few Blue Dukes who doesn't play on both sides of the ball. "They really know what they're doing both offensively and defensively."

Ehrke was an impressive 13 of 15 passing for 156 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. His efforts helped the Blue Dukes outgain the Knights by a 346-214 count

The Blue Dukes earned a 21-0 first half lead on a 12-yard run by Ehrke, a six-yard pass to Justin Alt and a 22-yard pass to Paul Davis, the latter coming with just 2.5 seconds left in the half.

Brian Kroll, one of Tietjen's two-way aces, stymied Nicolet's only good scoring chance in the first half, picking off a second-quarter Brandon Kappel pass at the two-yard line. Kroll hurt the Knights on offense as well, rushing for 94 yards on 10 carries and catching four passes for 57 yards.

"We all have different things to do," Kroll said. "It's whoever gets the job done."

Davis, who finished with four catches for 66 yards, caught a 15-yard TD pass from Ehrke to start the second half. After Kappel (15 of 27 for 154 yards and three interceptions) scored Nicolet's only TD on a two-yard run immediately following the second Davis strike, Bay ended any drama when senior safety Gabe Aleman returned an interception 55 yards for a touchdown.

"We put ourselves in tough situations in practice, so we don't panic when we face a little adversity," Kroll said. "That's where that play came out of."

Kicker Will Hagerup finished off the scoring with a 29-yard field goal. Bay also got 84 yards rushing on 18 carries from Deontaye Brown and another interception from freshman Jackson Weber. The Knights got eight catches for 85 yards from Shane Wilson and several big plays, including at least two sacks, from defensive end Desmond Fowler.

But in the end, the formula worked for Bay again.

"We made some plays tonight," said Tietjen.

Bay strikes first blood in NSC play

Blue Dukes rout Knights

Up next: Due to the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana, the league schedule will be played largely on Thursday this week (all games at 7 p.m.). Bay will entertain Germantown (3-0, beat Port Washington 16-0); while Homestead (3-0, 49-7 over Grafton) will be at Milwaukee Lutheran (1-2, 63-40 losers to Cedarburg); and Nicolet (1-2) will host Port (1-2).