Blue Dukes Survive Germantown's Last Gasp, 21-17

With 2.2 seconds left to go in the game and his team down by 4 points, Germantown quarterback Josh Mongan fired a laser into the Whitefish Bay end zone.

Mongan had been a stellar performer all game long, generating 358 yards of total offense. But linebacker Jeramiah Holt denied him the final 2 yards, knocking down the pass to give the Blue Dukes a thrilling, 21-17 victory in both teams' North Shore Conference opener.

Germantown had outscored two opponents by a 98-0 total, but fell to 2-1 overall. Whitefish Bay also is 2-1

“It was our night,” said Blue Dukes coach Jim Tietjen. “There was nothing special we did, we played our type of football and things just went our way.”

Down 3-0, the Blue Dukes converted two fourth downs, both on rushes by Rashadeem Gray, on a 68-yard drive to score on Gray's 1-yard run and take the lead.

Another break came the Blue Dukes way in the second quarter.  After an unsuccessful drive by the Blue Dukes which led to a punt, a Warhawk player touched the ball, thus making it live and Graydon Peterson recovered the ball for Whitefish Bay on the Warhawks' 39-yard line.

The Blue Dukes took advantage and found the endzone six plays later.  Gray helped convert another fourth down, this time a 10-yard gain on fourth and three from the Germantown 34.  Then junior Julian Posey rushed for a 22-yard gain and on the next play, scored from two yards out.  With the extra point good once again from Colin Downing the Blue Dukes went up 14-3.

The Warhawks continued to fight and regained the lead in the third quarter as Mongan took a quarterback keeper up the middle 44 yards for a score.  With the extra point good they regained the lead 17-14.

“That was a scheme issue,” Tietjen said.  “They saw what we were doing defensively and we did not contain the middle.”

Whitefish Bay took back the lead late in the third quarter and made it stick.  On the first play after taking over on downs, sophomore Turner Demuth took an outside handoff and scampered 75 yards into the endzone.  With the extra point good again the score became 21-17.

Germantown's last drive began on its own 16 with just less than 5 minutes left. Mongan took his team to the 32, then connected with Ben Holcomb on a 27-yard play to get the ball inside the Whitefish Bay 5-yard line with only 5 seconds left. After a spike to stop the clock, Holt knocked down the game's last pass.

Gray ended the night with 17 carries for 119 yards and one touchdown.

The Blue Dukes will attempt to continue their winning ways on Thursday night at Cedarburg.