Stratford dominates Antigo
By Hub City Times staff
ANTIGO – The Stratford Tigers are now 2-0 after the first two weeks of the high school football season following a 55-0 win in Antigo on Aug. 30.
The Tigers scored early and often, putting up 29 first-quarter points and 42 by halftime, including an 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Chase Flink to start the game for Head Coach Jason Tubbs.
“Any time you get on a bus and drive for an hour and 20 minutes, you never know what your athletes are going to do in response to the competition level, but I think it got our guys going and got their blood flowing a little bit and got them excited, which kind of gets that momentum thing going, and momentum is an important tool in high school football,” Coach Tubbs said.
Quarterback Max Schwabe added touchdown passes of seven and 30 yards to Teddy Redman, and Matt Handrick tacked on a 32-yard TD run to cap the first-quarter scoring frenzy.
“I really thought Matt Handrick had a nice game running the ball,” Tubbs added. “He didn’t get a ton of carries, but the runs that he was making were very important to us opening up the outside game for Teddy Redman and Chase Flink as well. And then we got our Air Force package going, and Chandler Schmidt throws a nice long touchdown pass to Chase Flink as well, so we were hitting on all cylinders on the offensive side.”
Flink hauled in a 66-yard touchdown pass from Schmidt for one of two Tiger TDs in the second quarter. Justin Schoenherr added a two-yard TD run near the end of the first half.
With a running clock in the second half, offensive plays for both teams were somewhat limited, but Stratford did manage two more scoring drives – both capped off by TD runs by Kainoa Gouveia, who scampered for a 23-yard score late in the third quarter and a one-yard strike with 4:14 left in the game.
Five of Stratford’s seven touchdown drives started in Antigo territory, and the Tigers outgained the Red Robins 294-25.
Handrick carried the ball three times for 54 yards and a touchdown. Redman had five carries for 49 yards. Gouveia rushed for 39 yards and two scores on four carries. QB Max Schwabe was 4-for-9 for 48 yards and two touchdowns. Redman hauled in three passes for 55 yards and two scores.
The win was the third-straight, week-two win by Stratford over Antigo in the last three seasons. The Tigers host Tomahawk Sept. 6, followed by road games at Columbus on Sept. 13, Rib Lake/Prentice on Sept. 20, and Auburndale on Sept. 27.