Plum City grids to face stern test in Level 2 playoff match-up with McDonell

• Plum City Blue Devils

Plum City Blue Devils
• Plum City's Alex Hartung

Alex Hartung carries the ball against Turtle Lake. Photo courtesy of the Red Wing Republican-Eagle.
• Chippewa Falls McDonell

Chippewa Falls McDonell

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No. 5 ranked Plum City High School's football team has a tough task ahead of it as goes on the road to take on a tough No. 9 ranked Chippewa Falls McDonell squad in Saturday's Level 2 match-up.

Kick-off is at 1 p.m. at the Mighty Macks' home Dorais Field in Chippewa Falls, right behind Chippewa Falls High School and not too far from McDonell High School as well.

Plum City, 10-0 overall, put away Turtle Lake in its Level 1 match-up Tuesday. The Blue Devils led the contest 35-0 with six minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Only a late rally against PC's reserve made the score closer than it was.

McDonell, 7-3 overall, struggled for three quarters with Elmwood but put the Raiders away by scoring 22 unanswered points in the second half for a 42-13 win.

The Mighty Macks will have the size advantage up front in this contest again but even so Elmwood still moved the ball to the tune of 377 yards of total offense. The Raiders successfully spread the field on offense and used option and short passes to the running backs. Elmwood's defense also forced five McDonell turnovers.

But the Macks have plenty of options of their own when it comes to offense. Despite not having leading ground gainer Alex Hiess, McDonell still ran the ball well behind running backs Landon Bresina, Luke Ryba and Lucas Roth. Quarterback Alex Davis runs well himself but he also has quite an arm as he threw for 208 yards on 11-of-18 passing. Plum City's pass defense will get a stern test from McDonell wide out Derek Watton, a 6-4, 200 pound receiver who caught three passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns. Elmwood simply could not match-up with him and he scored two key touchdowns immediately after Elmwood scores that kept the Macks in front.

The winner of Saturday's game will play the winner of the No. 7 Shell Lake/Frederic match-up next weekend in a Level 3 contest.

Tags: youth sports, sports, football, plum, city