Football: Despite a pair of long Eli Feit touchdowns, Athens run game too much to overcome for Newman Catholic.

The Athens High School football team ran for 370 yards and 7 touchdowns and beat Newman Catholic 60-20 on Friday night in a game broadcast on Wausau Area Sports. Athens took charge early with a score on the opening drive of the game. The Bluejays went 55 yards on 8 plays after receiving the opening kickoff and scored on a 2 yard touchdown run by Cris Valasquez to lead 8-0 after the 2-point conversion with 8:40 to go in the first quarter.

After a defensive stop and good punt return that put the ball into Newman territory at the 27, Athens would add to the lead on the next drive. From the Cardinal 25, quarterback Garrett Frahm hit Nick Paul on pass to make it 14-0. Two Athens scores in the final minute of the quarter were a big blow to the Cardinals. First it was Frahm taking it 26 yards for a touchdown and, with the 2-point conversion, the Athens advantage was 22-0 with just over 30 seconds left in the 1st quarter. On the 2nd play of the ensuing drive, Newman QB Michael Fox flipped a pass to his right towards Eli Feit that was ruled a lateral and recovered by Athens at the Newman 13. The next play saw Athens' Isaac Bingham rush into the end zone and it was quickly 30-0 at the end of the 1st quarter.

On the Cardinals first drive of the 2nd quarter a 42 yard connection from Michael Fox to Jacob Fox sparked the Newman offense put the ball into Athens territory at the 35. The next play had a 12 yard pass to Joe Radtke for another Newman first down at the 23. After a penalty, Carter Czerwonka caught a pass and gained 12 yards to set up a 3rd and 5 for Newman. Fox to Radtke then connected for 6 yards and another 1st down to the 12. However, the drive would bog down there and Newman was stopped on downs. Athens would then drive the ball about 85 yards for another score as Bingham broke 3 tackles to score from the 8 with 5:44 left in the half and lead 38-0.

Newman was able to continue to move the ball on the next drive and were able to get on the board before the end of the half. 7 and 11 yard completions to Carter Czerwonka started the drive to push the ball near the midfield stripe. Two plays later Michael Fox stayed strong in the pocket, took a hit and found a wide open Eli Feit for a 52 yard touchdown pass to make it 38-7 with 1:45 left in the 2nd quarter.

The second half saw plenty of scoring as well. Cris Valasquez scored his 2nd rushing touchdown of the night, this time from 32 yards, with 9:09 to go in the 3rd quarter and Athens led 46-7. Each team would score two touchdowns in the 4th quarter. Connor Ebben would run 16 yards for a score with 9:41 left in the game to make it 54-7. However, Myles Serwa would return the kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown for the Cardinals and it was 54-14.

Athens final score came as Nick Paul took it down the right hand side for 50 yard touchdown run. Newman would get a second long Eli Feit touchdowns, this time on the ground from 68 yards out to finish the scoring with Athens winning 60-20.

Four different Athens players recorded at least 71 yards rushing. Freshman Isaac Bingham carried the ball 15 times for 111 yards and 2 touchdowns. Velasquez finished with 91 yards on 8 carries with 2 scores as well. Garrett Frahm had 72 yards and Nick Paul 71 for the Bluejays, who improved to 5-2 on the season heading into a week 8 match-up with Owen-Withee that will have significant seeding implications in the 8-Player playoffs that begin in two weeks.

Michael Fox was 14 of 28 passing for 196 yards and a touchdown for the Cardinals while Eli Feit had 3 carries for 66 yards. Newman Catholic is now 1-6 heading into a home match-up with Assumption next Friday night. The Cardinals-Royals game will again be live on Wausau Area Sports with the pregame at 6:40 pm and kickoff at 7.