Oshkosh North football picks up statement victory in Week 2 over crosstown rival West

OSHKOSH – Week 2 in Wisconsin high school football is dedicated to rivalry week amongst the non-conference foes that traditionally face off against each other annually for a uniquely random, yet time-honored prize, nonetheless.

In the city of Oshkosh, the two public high schools play for the Harold J. Schumerth Traveling Cup. Last year, West won it after North brought it back home in 2022 for the first time since 2016 .

This year, the Spartans reclaimed the Cup and left no doubts as to who currently runs this town with a 41-22 statement win over their crosstown archrivals. It was just what North needed to bounce back following a tough Week 1 loss to Ashwaubenon.

"Our players were devasted, last week, because we talked that we were going to win and we were going to believe it, and we had a tough game, so hats off to Ashwaubenon - they got us by one play," said Spartans coach Luke Ott.

"All week it was working quietly to enjoy the ride at the end and that's exactly what they did. We got punched in the face right from the beginning, but we just kept fighting back. I can't be prouder of these guys. It's been a low week and that was perfect senior leadership right there by that group."

Oshkosh West coach Joey Ray tipped his cap in respect to North getting the best of the Wildcats, Friday night, while also pointing out the highlights from his team's performance and the opportunities they have to yet build upon.

"Credit to North on a great gameplan," Ray said.

"Great effort and enthusiasm from their kids and a great game. They were ready to go and executed well on both sides of the ball. Special teams were a bright spot for us, I thought we played well on those. We also had some positives on both sides of the ball but need to be more consistent with our level of play and finish when we have opportunities. As coaches, we have to find ways to put our players in a position to be more successful come Friday night. We will learn from it and get better moving forward as we head into FVA conference play. Excited to see how our team responds."

Standing out for the Spartans, this week, was junior running back Jamare Scott - whose four rushing touchdowns helped carry the offense toward their big win. Scott said he was "feeling great" after having the game of his life and Coach Ott applauded the collective effort of his offense.

"Jamare ran hard," Ott said. "He was a little frustrated last week, obviously just getting 47 yards, but tonight it was hard to bring him down. The other part of (offensive coordinator) Coach Wara's offense is we have some talent on the outside, so defenses are going to have to determine where they want to go. Jamare took advantage of it and our O-line, all five of them, did a great job. We're starting a freshman and a sophomore, and, actually, we don't have any seniors on the offensive line, so it's fantastic."

Accounting for North's other two scores was junior quarterback Bryce Ott, who connected with fellow junior Dalton Clark in the first half and later on in the second half with senior Logan Schettle on a 56-yard touchdown.

"He can throw the ball well, and he had a great ball down the sideline to Logan," Coach Ott said.

"He's got to tuck the ball away - that's one of the things that the father comes out in me - but he's our leader, he brings our energy. The kids respect him because he works hard and he's really seeing things right now with open receivers in Coach Wara's offense and he's hitting them. We had a couple drops, give or take, whatever, but we're in a groove right now."

Bryce commented on the team's ability to shake off the negative from last week, instead focusing ahead on what's left of the season.

"It was a great win just because the game last week was so close," Ott said. "That put us down, but it just shows we're bouncing back already. It's so much joy right now, this is great for the next 24 hours, but we've got a lot of work to do and we're onto the next one. We've got a long way to go; now we get to conference play in a new conference and our motto, this year, is 'What's our name? It's 'Spartans.'' and we proved our name to the city tonight. Now we need to go prove it again in the next conference."

Ott stated that the brand-new way the Spartans are carrying themselves, this year, is what will make all the difference in achieving their team goal of making it back to the WIAA playoffs.

"We're dogs; we're here to fight," Ott said. "That's just what we are. I talked about it before, it's more of a basketball thing, but we have EAT - effort, attitude, toughness - and that was our main thing coming in here. Last year, when we got blown out to this team, it's the same team we had but just completely different mindsets. We didn't have much momentum coming from last week, but we'll carry this edge now into next week and it'll be great now that we're on a roll."

To contact Lance LeQue, email him at LLeQue@gannett.com , or follow him on Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter, @LanceLeQue .

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This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: Oshkosh North football picks up statement victory in Week 2 over crosstown rival West