By Reagan Hoverman

The River Falls Wildcats improved to 6-0 for the season after defeating Superior 28-7 in front of a raucous homecoming crowd at David Smith Stadium on Friday, Sept. 23.

Going into the game, River Falls was ranked as the No. 3 team in the state for Division 2 and after the blowout win over Superior to remain unbeaten, the Wildcats have a chance to move even higher in the Wissports. com weekly coaches’ poll.

The homecoming victory featured a little bit of everything that makes River Falls one of the top five teams in the state. Junior running back Jonah Severson broke loose for a long touchdown. Junior quarterback Jacob Range connected with receivers for big plays down the field and the defense continues to be a brick wall for the opposition.

While it’s easy for media members and the public to buy into state rankings, River Falls head coach Ryan Scherz stated that his coach- ing stau and the boys in the locker room look at the rank- ings a little diuerently.

“I don’t put much stock into the rankings, but I’m glad our kids are being recognized for the great work they’ve done,” Scherz said. “I don’t know if we are the third best team in the state. I do know that if we go out and play well, we can play with anyone. If we don’t play well, we can certainly lose to anyone. Our kids know both of those things to be true as well, and we prepare really hard to make sure the latter doesn’t happen.” River Falls entered the game with a perfect 5-0 record, whereas Superior went to River Falls as a winless 0-5 squad. That didn’t stop the Spartans from getting on the board early in the homecoming contest, which sent the Wildcats a message that Superior wouldn’t just roll over.

Superior jumped out to a 7-0 lead after senior quarterback Carson Gotelaere scored on a seven-yard quarterback keeper. River Falls responded with a quick scoring drive of its own, as the aforementioned Severson hit a hole, shed a few tacklers, and scored a 62-yard rushing touchdown to tie the contest 7-7.

Three minutes later, the River Falls defense forced a turnover on downs by stuu ing a Superior running back dive play on fourth-and-one around the Wildcat 30-yard line. The Wildcats began the drive with three straight handous to Severson which got River Falls into Superior territory.

After a couple of short gains, River Falls found itself in a fourth-and-six at the Superior 38-yard line. That’s when Range dropped back to pass, rolled out to his right, and fired a missile down the sideline to senior wide receiver Wyatt Bell who hauled in the pass and strolled into the endzone to make it 14-7 shortly before the halftime intermission. Scherz spoke about Range continuing to improve as a passer each week.

“Jacob is always looking to improve. He’s never rat- tled,” Scherz said. “You can sense him getting more con- fident each week, and he’s giving us exactly what we need. His athleticism was always there, and he’s improv- ing as a passer.” Although Superior entered the contest as a winless program this season, River Falls and coach Scherz knew it was going to be a tough battle. Even at halftime the game was still very much hanging in the balance as River Falls only led by one score. He spoke about Superior playing a close game with New Richmond last week, a team that pushed River Falls to the brink earlier this season.

“Superior has kids that play really hard for coach Bob DeMeyer,” Scherz said. “They were within a score of New Richmond in the fourth quarter in the previous week, so I felt they would battle with us as well. The Big Rivers Conference doesn’t have any bad teams.” That battle essentially ended in the third and early fourth quarters as River Falls put together a 13-minute drive that culminated in a two-yard touchdown run by Severson, his second rushing score of the game.

The Wildcats demonstrated outstanding poise and clock control by receiving the second-half kick and methodically driving down the field for a touchdown. By the time the scoreboard read 21-7 in favor of the Wildcats, River Falls had chewed away the entire third quarter and the first minute of the fourth quarter. Scherz spoke about eliminating mistakes from the first half and putting together that strong scoring possession.

“We felt like we could get into our two tight end personnel and grind out a touchdown,” Scherz said. “We talked at halftime about eliminating mistakes, as we had kind of hurt ourselves in our last two drives of the first half. If we didn’t hurt our- selves, we were confident we could put a drive together.” River Falls added an insurance touchdown later in the fourth quarter to solidify the 28-7 victory over Superior to remain undefeated through the first six weeks of the season. The Wildcats improved to 4-0 in Big Rivers Conference play, sole pos- session of first place in the league standings.

River Falls will look to remain unbeaten on Friday, Sept. 30, when the Wildcats travel to Chippewa Falls for a contest with the 4-2 (22) Cardinals. That game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

It was a cool and damp night, but there were still over 100 people who attended the RFHS Alumni Association tailgate gathering honoring the 1969-1974 football programs. Players, cheerleaders, coaches, and fans all attended prior to the homecoming battle between Superior and River Falls. Photo by Jeff Bjork