For more than two decades the Menomonie High School football team proved to be the preeminent powerhouse program in the Big Rivers Conference and slowly but surely, that has started to change.

The River Falls High School football team defeated Menomonie 20-15 at home on Friday, Oct. 7, which marked only the second victory over the Mustangs since the 1995 season. The Friday night win joined a 2518 victory over Menomonie during the 2018 regular season.

For River Falls, the victory not only symbolized a shift in the larger success trends in the Big Rivers Conference, but it also kept the hopes for a 2022 BRC championship alive. A loss would have moved River Falls out of its current first-place tie with the Hudson Raiders. River Falls head coach Ryan Scherz spoke about beating Menomonie.

“It’s the second time we’ve beat Menomonie since 1995,” Scherz said. “It hasn’t happened around here. They’re one of the best programs in the state.” The game certainly lived up to the expected hype. The first half was a low-scoring defense battle between two gritty Big Rivers defenses. After a scoreless first quarter from both teams, Menomonie started to put a drive together early in the second quarter. However, when senior quarterback Treysen Witt decided to take a shot downfield, River Falls junior defensive back Bryce Bevan jumped the route and picked the pass o, which sparked the Wildcats’ first scoring possession of the ballgame.

On the very first play of that River Falls drive, the Wildcats called a deep play-action pass. The Mustangs bit hard on the run fake which gave senior wide receiver Jordan Karras enough room to slip by the defense and haul in a 53-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Jacob Range. A missed PAT made it a 6-0 game in favor of River Falls with nine minutes left in the second quarter.

After a couple of stalled drives by both teams, Menomonie got the ball back around midfield with just over five minutes left in the first half still trailing by six. The Mustangs then chewed all five minutes o of the clock before scoring a three-yard rushing touchdown on fourth-and-goal on the final play of the first half. A boot through the uprights gave the Mustangs a 7-6 advantage going into the intermission.

“(Halftime) was pretty calm,” Scherz said of the halftime message to his players. “We didn’t really have that many oensive snaps in the first half and we kind of knew what we thought would work, but we knew if we did our jobs we would be OK, and they did just enough.” With three minutes remaining in the third quarter, Menomonie had possession and ran a designed quarterback rollout. As Witt maneuvered out of the pocket, River Falls senior defensive lineman Cade Myszewski hit Witt and forced an errant pass that the aforementioned Bevan picked o and returned for a touchdown. It was Bevan’s second interception of the game. A successful two-point conversion gave River Falls a 14-7 lead.

Menomonie showed great resilience and strung together an eight-minute 80-yard touchdown drive that culminated in a fiveyard touchdown run by junior running back Jack Drout. Menomonie lined up in standard PAT but faked the point after, tossed the ball behind the line of scrimmage to junior tight end Charlie Behrend who then threw the pass to sophomore wide receiver Brody Thornton for a successful two-point conversion.

“We knew it was coming,” Scherz said. “We talk about watching the fake. It was well done and it was well executed. We spent the whole week talking about fakes, stu they do on special teams. That’s what they do and that’s why they’ve been a good football program.” River Falls has also established itself as a good football program, as was evident in the final five minutes of that Friday night ballgame. Even after a demoralizing two-point conversion, River Falls bounced back and put together a scoring drive that kept conference championship hopes alive.

The aforementioned Myszewski got the drive going with a 16-yard catch that helped move the chains for River Falls. The Wildcats got an additional 15 yards because the Menomonie defender brought down Myszewski with a horse-collar tackle. Suddenly, River Falls was deep in Menomonie territory threatening to score with less than four minutes left in regulation.

The Wildcats went back to a steady diet of rushing attempts by junior running back Jonah Severson. Then with less than 30 seconds remaining and the Wildcats with the ball inside the Menomonie 10-yard line, Range connected with Karras, this time for an eight-yard game-winning touchdown pass in the back of the endzone.

The touchdown gave River Falls a 20-15 lead that it held until the end of the game. Coach Scherz spoke about winning a gritty game like that against a well-coached Menomonie squad.

“We knew it was going to be this kind of game. I was trying to figure out how to get 21 points on oense – we didn’t,” Scherz said. “We got 14, but that’s still Menomonie. They still play hard and they still play great defense. Our kids never quit and that’s just what they do.” River Falls wouldn’t have survived that game without another exceptional performance from the defense, which is quickly becoming one of the most illustrious in program history. Players like senior defensive back Wyatt Bell, senior linebacker Gavin Kohel and defensive lineman Myszewski make it a potentially generational defense.

“I would say here in River Falls, it’s probably the best defense I’ve had,” Scherz said. “There are just some really great players and not a lot of holes. We have a really smart team. Our team GPA, we have a bunch of guys with 3.95 GPAs on that defense and that makes a big dierence.” River Falls improves to 7-1 overall with the win and 5-1 in Big Rivers play. The Wildcats currently occupy a tie at the top with the rival Hudson Raiders, even if River Falls owns the non-existent tiebreaker.

“Well we beat Hudson,” Scherz said in a lighthearted, joking manner. “No, it’s 100% co-champs if we take care of business. I’m sure (Eau Claire) North will be fighting for a playo spot, so they’re not going to roll over either. If we don’t beat them, that would be incredibly disappointing. We have to take care of business and you can’t assume anything.” River Falls will look to take care of business and secure a share or potentially outright win the 2022 Big Rivers Conference championship (with a Hudson loss and an RF win). That game against Eau Claire North is on the road on Friday, Oct. 14, and is slated to begin at 7 p.m.

River Falls senior linebacker Gavin Kohel wraps up junior Menomonie running back Steele Schaefer during the second half against the Mustangs on Friday, Oct. 7.Photo by Reagan Hoverman