Wildcats defeat Baldwin, lose Doles to injury

Louisburg quarterback Weston Guetterman sheds a tackler during Friday’s game with Baldwin.

As happy as Louisburg was following its 32-6 win over Baldwin on Friday, there was still a level of concern over one of their teammates.

Junior Brandon Doles, the team’s starting tight end and linebacker, had to be taken off the field by an ambulance in the first quarter due to a leg injury. Doles sustained the injury following a 40-yard pass play.

Further tests revealed that Doles suffered a broken fibula and a dislocated ankle. He will be out for the season.

“Brandon going down is a huge loss for us,” Louisburg coach Robert Ebenstein said. “He is a great kid and always has a fun, upbeat presence, and a good leader on and off the field.  As for football, he started both sides of the ball as well as he was our long snapper. Those are some big shoes to fill.” 

Other than Doles’ injury, it was a successful night for the Wildcats as they were able to bounce back after suffering their first loss of the season to Tonganoxie. Louisburg scored three second quarter touchdowns and held the Bulldogs to just a single score late in the game.

Louisburg’s defense came up big throughout the game as it forced two turnovers, one of which was a touchdown. The Wildcats held Baldwin to 171 yards of total offense, many of those coming late in the contest.

“Coach (Drew) Harding is doing a great job organizing a game plan and teaching it to our kids,” Ebenstein said. “The kids had a great week of practice and film study and did a solid assignment job all game long.”

The Wildcats put together a strong opening drive that ended on a 2-yard run from Andy Hupp and quarterback Weston Guetterman ran in the 2-point conversion. It was all set up on the 40-yard pass from Doles before his injury.

Louisburg (2-1) put the game out of reach in the second quarter as it found the endzone on three different occasions.

Senior Konnor Vohs set up the first score as he hauled in a 47 yard pass from Guetterman to give the Wildcats a first-and-goal from the 3. Junior Kolby Kattau took it from there for the touchdown.

Normally a team that likes to run the ball, the Wildcats were able to take advantage of some things through the air as Guetterman threw for 148 yards. Vohs was his main target as he had three catches for 86 yards.

“We do want to run the ball and control the tempo of the game,” Ebenstein said. “We honestly want to take what people will give us, and if teams want to challenge us one on one on the outside, we take those chances.”

After the Wildcats threw an interception on their next drive, it was Vohs who picked off a Baldwin pass to give Louisburg the ball back. Vohs also ignited the offense once again as he broke free for a 35-yard run and the drive ended on a 6-yard touchdown run from Guetterman.

The Louisburg defense came through again for the Wildcats as Hupp scooped up a fumble caused by senior Jay Scollin and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown to give Louisburg a 26-0 halftime lead.

Senior Justin Collins added a 21-yard run in the fourth quarter to take 32-point advantage to all but seal the win for Louisburg.

A few days after the game, the team was informed that all but 15 players will have to quarantine due to a positive case of COVID-19. With Doles being out with an injury and another player out with an illness, the Wildcats will have 13 rostered players for Friday’s game with Piper.

Many of those are varsity players and Louisburg will have a challenge ahead of itself at home against the Pirates.

“As for Piper they are big, strong, athletic and fast,” Ebenstein said. “My biggest concern right now is that we only have 13 players. As for difficulties for this week, one injury we are in trouble, two injuries and we are out of subs, three injuries and we are playing with 10. Not having a scout team all week is not ideal.”

LOU               8             18           0             6 – 32

BAL                0             0             0             6 – 6

SCORING SUMMARY

First quarter

L: Andy Hupp 2 run (Weston Guetterman run)

Second quarter

L: Kolby Kattau 3 run (conversion failed)

L: Weston Guetterman 6 run (conversion failed)

L: Hupp 25 fumble return (conversion failed)

Fourth quarter

L: Justin Collins 21 run (conversion failed)

B: Cole Mahaffey 40 run (conversion failed)

STATISTICS

RUSHING – Weston Guetterman 9-69; Ben Wiedenmann 6-46; Konnor Vohs 1-35; Justin Collins 1-21; Andy Hupp 6-20; Kolby Kattau 8-16; Carson Wade 1-3.

PASSING – Weston Guetterman 5-14-148

RECEIVING – Konnor Vohs 3-86; Brandon Doles 1-40; Mason Dobbins 1-25

TACKLES – Ben Wiedenmann 6, Jase Hovey 5, Aiden Barker 4, Jay Scollin 4, Will Patterson 4, Konnor Vohs 3, Justin Collins 3, Andy Hupp 3, Nathan Vincent 2, Weston Guetterman 1, Kolby Kattau 1, JR Rooney 1