BEAVER DAM -- Josiah Barnes, Broc Mullenbach and Brandon Morrisey scored two touchdowns apiece as Beaver Dam beat visiting Fort Atkinson 48-21 in a season-opening nonconference football game on Friday.
"Beaver Dam is aggressive and confident in what they do offensively," Fort football coach Nick Nelson said. "Their kids don't false step or play too high or slip off blocks. It's a very efficient run game they have."
The Golden Beavers capitalized on a first quarter blocked punt, scoring on the short field as Mullenbach scampered around the left side for a 24-yard touchdown.
The Blackhawks countered with a 16-play, 73-yard march, tying it up on senior quarterback Rocco Foelker's 11-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Braeden Hoth.
"We did a lot of different things on that drive really well," Nelson said. "There were two fourth downs where we kept ourselves alive and we also got a lot of different guys touches. Our quick pass plays were effective, we had success with medium-length passes and ran the ball a little too.
"A 16-play drive is something you take a lot of pride in. I credit coach Drew Dunkleberger and his play calling. He strung that series together, setting things up, which led to the touchdown.
"Rocco hit Braeden on a corner route. They were following our motion and we set that up. Rocco threw a great pass to Braeden in the back."
Just into the second quarter, Barnes punched it in from three yards away.
Fort wasted little time finding the end zone for the equalizing score. Foelker connected with senior wide receiver Mason Ketterhagen on a 48-yard strike down the right sideline.
"Mason had a heck of a night making toe-tapping catches on the sideline and he was always in the right spot it felt like," Nelson said. "Rocco did a good job looking off the safety left and went back to Mason right and hit him right in stride. Mason has worked really hard this offseason to make himself a pretty dynamic athlete."
Beaver Dam, in just 58 seconds, responded with the go-ahead score as Morrisey found paydirt from the 2-yard line. The Golden Beavers took a 28-14 lead to halftime after Morrisey caught a pass near the end zone, fumbled, picked up the loose ball and scooted in.
The Golden Beavers carried their momentum into the second half, when Parker Blank took the opening kickoff to the Fort 5-yard line. Mullenbach quickly stuck it in from there to push the margin to 35-14.
Later in the third quarter, Beaver Dam converted a 4th and 4 situation with quarterback Eli Bryant connecting with Jeff Freund on a 10-yard TD pass.
In the fourth, Foelker hooked up with Ketterhagen for another scoring strike, this one from 44 yards out.
Barnes' touchdown run later in the frame capped the scoring. He finished with 188 yards on 23 totes.
"Beaver Dam made fewer mistakes than us," Nelson said. "We told our guys these early-season games were going to be determined by fundamentals, special teams and not shooting yourself in the foot. We couldn't help ourselves at times. There were too many simple mistakes that ended up really hurting us."
For Fort, Foelker finished 19-for-33 and passed for 240 yards, throwing three touchdowns and one interception. Ketterhagen hauled in six receptions totaling 147 yards and scored twice. Senior running back Jack Kammer ran it 11 times for 37 yards and senior tight end Jaren Strasburg caught four passes for a total of 36 yards.
Defensively, Kammer, also a linebacker, made a team-high eight tackles, including three for a loss.
Fort travels to face Jefferson next Friday.
BEAVER DAM 48, FORT ATKINSON 21
Fort 7 7 0 7 -- 21
Beaver Dam 7 21 13 7 -- 48
First quarter
BD -- Mullenbach 24 run
FA -- Hoth 11 pass from Foelker (Ketterhagen kick)
Second quarter
BD -- Barnes 3 run
FA -- Ketterhagen 48 pass from Foelker (Ketterhagen kick)
BD -- Morrisey 2 run
BD -- Morrisey run
Third quarter
BD -- Mullenbach 5 run
BD -- Freund 10 pass from Bryant
Fourth quarter
FA -- Ketterhagen 44 pass from Foelker (Ketterhagen kick)
BD -- Barnes run
Team statistics
Total yards: BD 344, FA 292; Rushing yards: BD 282.
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