Bush, Bailey Score Wolfpack Touchdowns Against CWCE

ELGIN — Held scoreless for the first 10 quarters of the season, Elgin Public-Pope John lit up the scoreboard in the second half of a 54 to 12 loss to Chambers/Wheeler Central/Ewing (CWCE).
Kenny Bush, seeing his first action at running back, lunged into the endzone with 47 seconds left in the third quarter to give Wolfpack fans something to celebrate.
Then, with the clock winding down in the fourth quarter, sophomore Joseph Bailey went left, then cut back right and outraced Renegade defenders to the endzone for the team’s second touchdown of the night.
That proved to be all the offensive highlights for a Wolfpack team, decimated by injuries, missing four of the eight players who started the season. On this night the Renegades, who reached the Class D-2 state championship game last year, were the better team. They scored the first two times they touched the ball on offense as the Wolfpack fell behind early in the game.
Capitalizing on a Wolfpack fumble, the Renegades’ first touchdown came when quarterback Carter Croxen connected with Daniel Libolt on a 63-yard touchdown pass. Libolt scored the second touchdown on a 52-yard run, making the score 16 to 0 with 7:23 left in the first quarter.
Two more touchdowns before the end of the quarter gave the Renegades a 32 to 0 lead.
A Wolfpack fumble gave the Renegades the ball on EPPJ’s 26-yard line early in the second quarter. CWCE took advantage with their third one-play scoring drive of the game, a Croxen to Connor Croxen pass for a 40 to 0 lead.
The Wolfpack offense showed a spark on their ensuing possession as Conor Ramold connected with Kyle Schumacher on a 21-yard reception past midfield. A penalty stalled the drive and it came to an abrupt end with a Connor Croxen interception.
The Wolfpack got the ball back on the next play when Schumacher recovered a Renegades’ fumble on the CWCE 14-yard line. The Wolfpack’s best chance to score in the first half came up empty as Nicholas Haburchak picked off Ramold.
The Wolfpack defense stiffened after the Renegades moved the ball across midfield. The teams then took turns with fumble recoveries to quash drives thus ending the first half.
The Renegades took the second half kickoff and went 55 yards in four plays, scoring on a Croxen to Croxen 41-yard strike. Leading 54 to 0, the Renegades were then picked apart by the Wolfpack on a 5-yard scoring drive.
The drive appeared to be going nowhere when the Renegades were flagged for a roughing-the-punter 15-yard pe-nalty. That put the ball on the Renegades’ 36-yard line.
The Wolfpack got big runs from Bush and Carter Schindler to get the ball down to the five-yard line where, on the next play, Bush took a pitch and beat two tacklers to the pylon for EPPJ’s first score.
Wolfpack reserve running back Joseph Bailey gave the team a spark with a 31-yard run deep into Renegades territory midway through the fourth quarter. Four plays later, Bailey got the Wolfpack’s second touchdown.
Renegades 54, Wolfpack 12
Renegades……32  14  8  0 — 54
Wolfpack……….0    0   6  6 — 12
CWCE — Carter Croxen 63 pass to Daniel Libolt (2-pt conversion good)
CWCE — Libolt 52 run (2-pt conversion good)
CWCE — Croxen 9 pass to Libolt (2-pt conversion good)
CWCE — Libolt 34 run (2-pt conversion good)
CWCE — Croxen 26 pass to Connor Croxen (2-pt conversion good)
CWCE — Carter Croxen 51 interception return (PAT failed)
CWCE — Croxen 41 pass to Croxen (2-pt conversion good)
EPPJ — Kenny Bush 5 run (PAT failed)
EPPJ — Joseph Bailey 16 run (PAT failed)
Team statistics        EPPJ
Total plays           48
First downs           10
Penalties/Yds          5/35
Rushing/Yds        36/119
Passing         3/11/3
Passing Yds           72
Total Off.          191
Fumbles lost            2
Fumbles recovered        2
Individual statistics
Rushing — Conor Ramold 4/-2, Joseph Bailey 4/50, Kyle Schumacher 3/-1, Kenny Bush 20/30, Carter Schildler 5/42
Passing — Conor Ramold 3/11/3 — 72
Receiving — Kyle Schumacher 2/62, Liam Heithoff 1/10
Tackles (solo/assists) — Cameron Nielsen 2/2, Conor Ramold 0/3, Joseph Bailey 4/0, Miles Schrage 8/4, Kyle Schumacher 9/1, Cory Romej 4/0, Kenny Bush 6/6, Liam Heithoff 4/3, Lane Bartak 2/2, Austin Bauer 3/1, Tyler Iburg 1/0
Tackles for loss — Joseph Bailey 1, Kyle Schumacher 1, Kenny Bush 1
Fumble recoveries — Miles Schrage 1, Kyle Schumacher 1