Blue Dukes Trounce Brookfield Central to Advance in Playoffs

Scoring was slow in the first half of the Saturday afternoon game, with a field goal by Brookfield Central on their first possession and a 19-yard touchdown run by Rashadeem Gray in the second quarter.

Then in the third quarter, momentum really swung in the Blue Dukes favor, when Whitefish Bay quarterback Grant Menard connected with backup receiver Ian Buchanan for a 40-yard pass on third and 8 that brought them within 10 yards of the goal line. Jeremiah Holt ran the ball in on the following play.

"That was a game changer," Menard reflected after the game. "It was 7-3 at the time, and we scored the next play (after the 40-yard pass). It was over after that. I couldn't be more proud of the effort we gave and the heart we had the entire game."

Whitefish Bay coach Jim Tietjen said that play was the tipping point in the Blue Dukes victory Saturday in front of an energetic home crowd.

"At that point when we got in the end zone, we actually started to feel like we could win the ball game," he said.

Gray, who ran for a total of 137 yards, brought the score to 21-3 after a 26-yard run that brought the home crowd to its feet early in the fourth quarter. Later on, with just five minutes remaining in the game, Menard connected with Jackson Weber for a short pass in the end zone to bring the final score to 28-3.

Now the Blue Dukes (10-1) advance to the third round of the playoffs for the second straight year. The third round is the farthest the Blue Dukes have ever advanced in the playoffs.

Whitefish Bay, the second seed in its bracket, will face off against top-seeded Brookfield East at 7 p.m. Friday at Brookfield East.

Whitefish Bay beat Brookfield East last year, and this year Brookfield East is undefeated, with 11 wins. Tietjen said his team has big hopes in this year's playoffs, but his philosophy is to take one game at a time.

"It's going to be a heck of a ball game," he said.

 

BLOG REPLAY:

4:04 Duke Pride Sports@DukePrideSportsBlackout DUKES Playoffs pic.twitter.com/GixDcYmB
  4:06
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: The Lancers have first possession, currently on their own 42 yard line
  4:08
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Brookfield advances to just inside Whitefish Bay's 41 yard line.   4:09
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Brookfield comes up short on last carry. 4th and 2 on the 39 yard line   4:10
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Lancers first down on WFB 36 yard line.   4:10
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Incomplete pass to Brookfield's Ross Miller. 2nd and 10   4:11
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: 4th and 8 for Brookfield on Whitefish Bay's 35 yard line   4:13
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Short run by Brookfield quarterback is enough for the first down inside the 30 yard line   4:13
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: 2nd and 10 for Lancers after WFB's Jackson Weber breaks up a pass   4:14
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: 3 yard run by BC brings the Lancers to 3rd and 7   4:15
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: First down for the Lancers on WFB 14.   4:16
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: 2nd and 3 for the Lancers. Short carry for 1 yard. 3rd and 2 for Lancers   4:16
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Harris on the carry. 1 yard loss. 4th and 3 Lancers near the goal line. Forcing Brookfield to take a field goal   4:17
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Kick is good. With 3:38 to go in the first quarter. Brookfield Central 3-Whitefish Bay 0   4:18
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Bay's Jackson Weber returns the punt. 1st and 10 on the Whitefish Bay 29.   4:19
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Rashadeem Gray loses a yard on the last run. 2nd and 11   4:20
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: "RaRa" Rashadeem Gray gets a big 20 yard run for Whitefish Bay. On Whitefish Bay's 49 yard line   4:20
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Big pass to Whitefish Bay's Walker. Down to the Lancer 9 yard line.   4:22
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: 3rd and goal on the 3 yard line for Whitefish Bay   4:22
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Loss of 2. 4th down the 5 yard line.Field goal blocked by Brookfield's Terry Wallin!   4:23
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Lancers take over on their own 10 yard line.   4:24
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: 2nd quarter starting. Play will resume at 3rd and 2 for Brookfield   4:26
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: First Brookfield play of the 2nd quarter. Fumble by Brookfield recovered by Rara on the Lancer's 19 yard line!   4:27
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Big 19 yard run for Rara. Touchdown Whitefish Bay!   4:29 Duke Pride Sports@DukePrideSportsWFB FOOTBALL 7- Brookfield Cent. 3 #wisfb   4:30
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Brookfield will take possession on the Lancer's 22 yard line. 1st and 10 Lancers.   4:30
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: 3 yard gain thwarted by WFB's Ben Lehrmann   4:31
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Big gain by the Lancers. WFB's Jackson Weber tackles BC's Harris on the WFB 48 yard line.   4:32
Comment From Guest hows the crowd?   4:32
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: @Guest: The crowd is fired up! full house!   4:33
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Whitefish Bay's Jeremiah Holt comes up with big tackle for 6 yard loss for Brookfield. 4th and 15 forces Broookfield to punt   4:33
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Brookfield punt goes into the end zone. After touchback, Whitefish Bay will start its next possession on the 20 yard line   4:35
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: 3rd and 2. Ball on WFB 28 yard line   4:35
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: WFB's Rashadeem Gray breaks multiple tackles for huge gain!   4:35
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: 27 yard gain down to Lancer 44 yard line   4:37
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Rashadeem Gray with another huge gain. Breaks multiple tackles. Ball on Lancers 17 yard line . 1st aand 10 Bay   4:37
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Blue Dukes fumble. Lancers recover   4:37
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Ball placed on Whitefish Bay's 13.. 1st and 10 Lancers   4:40
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: 2st and 10 Lancers on their own 33. Big gain by #10 quarter back Riley Richarz . 37 yard gain.   4:40 Duke Pride Sports@DukePrideSportsRT @lizinwfb: Way to go XC ladies! 6th place D-1!!! @DukePrideSports   4:42
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Face mask call against Whitefish Bay. Ball placed on Whitefish Bay's 4 yard line now. 2nd and goal now.   4:42
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: 3rd and goal on the 3 yard line for BC   4:43
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Handoff to BC's Austin Pegg thwarted to 1 yard gain. 4th and goal on the 2   4:45
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Crowd stomping their feet to fire up the Blue Dukes defense. Weber and Monaghan stop them short on 1 yard line. Whitefish Bay takes over possession   4:46
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Gray loses 4 yard on carry. on the 2fg 1 yard line. 3rd and 12. Doesn't look good here.   4:47
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: 2fg=WFB   4:47
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Illegal formation call against Blue Dukes declined by the Lancers. 4th and 6 on the WFB 7 yard line   4:48
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Illegal substitution call against WFB. 4th and 8 on 4 yard line   4:50
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Short punt for Blue Dukes. Returned to WFB's 22 yard line   4:51
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Richarz with a 9 yard gain for BC. 1st and goal around the 13 yard line   4:52
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Lancers flagged for holding. Ball placed on WFB's 20 yard line. 1st and goal Lancers   4:53
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Another holding call against the Lancers. Pushes them back to the WFB 29 yard line. Still 1st and goal.   4:54
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Incomplete pass for BC. 2nd and goal on WFB 29   4:57
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Pass interference call against the Lancers. 15 yard loss to WFB 43 yard line. 4th and goal for BC   4:57
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Incomplete pass for BC. End of first half.   5:15 Duke Pride Sports@DukePrideSportsStart of 2Nd half WFB Dukes 7 Brkfld Central 3 #wisfb   5:26
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Blue Dukes have possession on the 50 yard line. 2nd and 9.   5:26
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: It's getting a little chillier here at Lubar. Hot chocolate sales are up at least   5:28
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Blue Dukes punt 51 yards. Rolls out of bounds at the 1 yard line. Big cheers from the Dukes cheering section!   5:29
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: 3rd and 1 for Brookfield. Jeremiah Holt from Whitefish Bay gets a big tackle for a loss of 2 yards for Brookfield   5:30
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Brookfield punting already. WFB's Jackson Weber calls for a fair catch at the Lancer's 41 yard line.   5:32
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Incomplete pass from Grant Menard to Darien Walker. 3rd and 7 on the Lancers 41   5:32
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: 4th and 10 for the Blue Dukes on Lancers 42. Whitefish Bay punting   5:32
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Lancers call for fair catch on their own 14 yard line.   5:33
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: 2 yard gain for BC. 2nd down   5:34
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Incomplete pass from Richarz to Meyer. 4th and 4 for Lancers on the 21 yard line   5:36
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Brookfield punts the ball away. Whitefish Bay was initially going to let the ball go, but then Whitefish Bay unexpectedly picks it up. Refs are conferring on something...   5:37
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Ball was touchd by Lancers player. Becomes a dead ball on the WFB 48 yard line. 1st and 10 Blue Dukes   5:37
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Gray gets 1 yard on play. 2nd and 9 on WFB 49   5:41
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Sorry everyone the internet timed out.   5:41 Duke Pride Sports@DukePrideSportsWFB Dukes 14 Brkfld Central 3 end of 3rd quarter 2Nd round playoffs. #wisfb   5:42
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: WFB had a big 40 yard pass to Ian Buchanan that brought the ball inside the Lancers 10 yard line. Jeremiah Holt ran it in around the left side for a Whitefish Bay touchdown.   5:43
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Brookfieled has the ball. 3rd and 6 on Lancers 24 yard line.   5:44
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: WFB's Jackson Weber get a huge intersception at the Lancer's 42 yard line! Big cheers here at Lubar   5:45
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: End of the 3rd quarter. Play will resume with Whitefish Bay possession: 2nd and 6 on the Lancers 38 yard line.   5:49 Duke Pride Sports@DukePrideSportsWFB DUKES 21- Brookfield Central 3 Beginning hg of 4th Quarter #wisfb Duke Domination   5:50
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Whitefish Bay 21, Brookfield Central 3 with 11:36 remaining in the game #wisfb   5:51
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Lancers 4th and 12 on their own 23 yard line   5:52
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: WFB's Jackson Weber fair catches the punt on the WFB 42 yard line. 1st and 10   5:53
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Menard hands off to Holt. 18 yard gain. WFB 1st down on the Lancers 39 yard line   5:54
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Big 14 yard carry by Gray. Ball on 21 yard line.   5:55
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Holt with a 3 yard carry. 2nd and 7 on the Lancers 18   5:55
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Demuth with a 1 yard run. 3rd and 6th on the Lancers 17.   5:56
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: 4th and 10 for the Blue Dukes.   5:56
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Whitefish Bay calls first time out of the half.   5:58
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Grant Menard with a 11 yard scamper for a 1st down just inside the Lancers 10 yard line   5:59
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: 2nd and goal for the Blue Dukes   6:00
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: No goal on last play. 3rd and goal on the 2 yard line   6:00
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Menard to Weber connection for a Whitefish Bay touchdown. Now 27 to 3 with 5:50 remaining in the game.   6:02
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Winner of this game advances to round 3 of the playoffs which will be played at Brookfield East. Date and time yet to be determined.   6:02
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Lancers start their possession on their own 25 yard line.
  6:03
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Loss of a yard for the Lancers. 3rd and 3 around their own 30   6:03
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: 1st down Brookfield on their own 37 yard line.   6:04 Duke Pride Sports@DukePrideSportsWFB DUKES 28 Brookfield Central 3 Go Dukes #wisfb   6:04
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Brookfield hands off to harris for a 9 yard poickup. 2nd and 1 on the Lancers 46.   6:05
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: WFB's Ben Lehrmann sacks Brookfield Central quarterback Richarz. Now its 3rd down   6:06
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Handoff to Harris, who bolted through Whitefish Bay's defense for a first down. Lancers are inside Whitefish Bay territory on the Blue Dukes 42 yard line   6:06
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Just over 2 minutes remaining in the game, but Lancers looking a little stronger with that last run.   6:07
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Refs call illegal shift- two men moving at the same time.   6:07
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Blue Dukes decline the penalty. Lancers have possession on their own 48. 2nd and 24   6:08
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Lancers are on 3rd down and 20 on the 50 yard line. Big bomb from Richarz to Miller is incomplete with heavy pass coverage from Dan Pettay.   6:09
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Under heavy pressure, BC quarterback richarz scrambles to find an opening but is limited to a 1 yard gaiin.   6:10
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Well, the fat lady is about to sing the Blue Dukes victory song. Before everybody takes off, I would like to thank everyone for tuning into our live Patch blog. Stay tuned for more coverage next week in the 3rd round of the playoffs.   6:11
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Final score 28-3   6:11
Jeff Rumage-Whitefish Bay Patch: Blue Dukes will play against Brookfield East, at Brookfield East. Date and time to be determined.   6:44 Duke Pride Sports@DukePrideSportsDUKES FOOTBALL WINS BIG 2nd Round Playoffs! 28-3 GO DUKES!!!!! Next week V Brookfield East! #road2state   6:47
Comment From Terri This was fun, thanks for the live blog!