Football: Wausau East starts season with shutout win over Shawano.

Both the offense and the defense stepped up for the Wausau East football team in their season opener on Friday night at the Thom Field. The Lumberjacks beat Shawano 28-0 in the first shutout win for East since they beat Appleton West 44-0 on September 15, 2023.

The Lumberjacks also got solid offense with one touchdown scored in each of the four quarters. East got on the board first when Cash Ryan Seefeldt plowed in from two yards out with 8:43 left in the first quarter and it was 7-0. It would stay 7-0 until late in the 2nd quarter when the East defense set up a score. Aiden Kilde intercepted a Shawano pass at the Hawks' 18 yard line with 2:19 to go. Quarterback Cam Rye followed with a 16 yard run to the Shawano 2. On 1st and goal Seefeldt made it a pair of 2 yard TD runs with 1:52 left in the half to make it 14-0 Lumberjacks.

To start the 2nd half, Henry Maahs returned the kickoff to the 48 yard line and the Lumberjacks would drive 52 yards for a third touchdown of the night. East had 3 3rd Down conversions on the 9 play drive, including a 19 yard pass to Tanner Kostroski that moved the ball to the Shawano 11, and a 3rd and 13 pass from Rye to Kilde for a 14 yard touchdown to extend the Lumberjack lead to 21-0.

East would put the exclamation mark on the win with a 15 play, 95 yard touchdown drive that culminated with a 19 yard touchdown pass from Rye to Maahs with 8:07 to go in the 4th quarter. The Lumberjack defense then completed the shutout in the 28-0 victory.

Cash Ryan Seefeldt finished the night with 26 carries for 110 yards and 2 TD's as East finished with 181 yards rushing as a team. Cam Rye had 56 yards on 8 carries to go with 8 completions on 15 pass attempts for 152 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. Both Aiden Kilde and Henry Maahs caught 3 passes in the game. Kilde for 62 yards and Maahs for 58 and each caught a touchdown pass. The Lumberjacks will look for a 2nd straight win on Friday night at 1-0 La Crosse Logan at 7 pm.