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Chieftains respond in a big way against Cuba City
Potosi/Cassville rushes for 452 yards and six TDs
PC FB
Potosi/Cassville senior running back Eli Adams over, through and around the Cuba City defense last Friday night, accounting for 152 yards rushing and 32 yards receiving in a 50-21 Chieftain victory

CUBA CITY 9/8 – After getting beaten up, both physically and mentally, by Darlington a week earlier, coach Mark Siegert’s Potosi/Cassville football team responded in a big way last Friday night with a 50-21 victory at Cuba City.

In their second crossover contest against an opponent from the Southwest Wisconsin Activities League, the Chieftains asserted their dominance on the ground, rushing for 452 yards and six touchdown on 58 attempts. That’s an average of 7.8 yards per attempt.

Defensively, the Chieftains limited Cuba City to just 40 yards rushing on 13 attempts, but gave up 182 yards passing on 12-of-26 completions.

Asked if Friday night’s win at Cuba City was his team’s best performance of the year, coach Mark Siegert was quick with a response.

“Offensively for sure, defensively we still have some things to work out, in terms of giving up some big plays,” Siegert said.

Behind a strong performance from their offensive line and perimeter blockers, the tremendously talented trio of Eli Adams, Roman Friederick and Braden Fishnick created problems all night for the Cuban defense.

“We really pride ourselves on playing a physical brand of football,” said coach Siegert. “I know that there’s all sorts of different ways to do it now in terms of how offenses go, but this is who we are, and this is what we hang our hat on at the end of the day.”

Adams led the rushing attack with 152 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries, scoring from 12 yards out late in the second quarter.

Friederick had the most carries of 21, which he converted into 121 yards and three touchdowns, scoring from five, 14 and two yards out.

Fishnick also surpassed the 100-yard rushing mark with 133 yards and two touchdowns on 11 attempts, scoring from 38 and 51 yards out.

In all, the three combined for 406 rushing yards and six TDs on 47 of their team’s 58 rushing attempts.

Adams also had one reception for a 32-yard touchdown late in the first quarter, proving to be a threat in the passing attack as well.

Through the air, Fishnick completed 3-of-8 passing attempts for 72 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Jaxon Oyen had one reception for 37 yards, while Kadin Walsh had one catch for three.

To prove just how efficient the Potosi/Cassville offense was Friday night against the Cubans, of their 10 offensive possessions, seven ended with touchdowns, two on punts and one on an interception.

Cuba City used three big plays to score three touchdowns Friday night, two scores coming off passing plays of 31 and 67 yards, and the other coming off a 78-yard kick return early in the fourth quarter with Potosi/Cassville leading 50-14.

Leading the charge defensively for Potosi/Cassville was Isaiah Groom, who finished with 13 total tackles. He was followed by Roman Friederick with seven.

In some respects you could call last Friday night’s performance at Cuba City, somewhat of a coming-out party for the Chieftains.

Starting the season off with wins over Wauzeka-Steuben/Seneca and Ithaca, coach Siegert’s squad took a long look in the mirror following a loss to Darlington, and responded in impressive fashion against the Cubans.

“We really, really had to take a long look in the mirror in terms of things that we had to fix, and luckily they’re fixable,” Siegert said of the Darlington loss. We’re good enough, we just need to make sure we do it.”

“I love these guys, they’re awesome kids, and I knew that their response was going to be a positive one. I didn’t think they were going to let Darlington beat them two weeks in a row. They were very focused, as far as getting that taste out of their mouth and making sure that they got things on the right track again,” Siegert added.

“I think that early in the season you don’t really know who you are. You try to come up with some kind of a team identity because everyone is different. I think we really found out what our identity is going to be moving forward,” Siegert concluded.

The Chieftains begin play in the Six Rivers conference this week with a home game against visiting Benton/Scales Mound/Shullsburg (1-3). The tri-op team is coming off a 59-14 loss to Belleville.

Highway Committee moves solar project forward
Crawford County
CC Highway Department

CRAWFORD COUNTY - At their December 19 meeting, the Crawford County Highway Committee voted unanimously to move a cost-saving solar project forward. The project will be undertaken by Olson Solar Energy, and panels will be installed on the Highway Department Shop at their facility just south of Seneca.

The plan is for a 57-panel, 25.08-kilowatt system, to be mounted on the south face of the shop building. The estimated yearly energy production of the system is 35,015 kilowatt-hours (a unit of energy that measures the total amount of electricity used or the capacity to use it).

The Crawford County Highway Department’s currently monthly utility bill from Alliant Energy is $1,265 (at the rate of $0.162 per kilowatt-hour). With a solar array in place, the department would have no monthly payment for the energy it generates, and the monthly bill with Alliant Energy is estimated at $798 per month. Over the course of 25 years, the department’s savings in energy costs are estimated at $190,826. Solar would offset 37% of the department’s energy use.

The net cost of the system to the county would by $29,944. The total $42,634.40 cost of the system would be offset by a federal tax credit of $13,090.32, a Focus on Energy Rural Bonus rebate of $300, and another Focus on Energy rebate of another $300.

Tavern Road

Committee members learned that in the process of a county-led assessor’s plat for properties in Clayton Township, there was a discrepancy with property owned by the county.

“The county owns the road, but Clayton Township collects the road aid for Tavern Road and performs the maintenance,” County Highway Commissioner Kyle Kozelka told the committee. “Surveyor Richard Marks has recommended that the plat be changed to show the Town of Clayton as the owner.”

The committee voted unanimously to change the plat to show the Town of Clayton as the owner of Tavern Road.

Lynxville shop

Kozelka brought existing problems with the building the county leases in Lynxville to the attention of the committee. The county’s 10-year lease for the property will extend for seven more years.

“The building is in bad shape – it’s too small, is not property ventilated, and it needs insulation,” Kozelka told the committee. “The improvements need to be made, but its hard to justify the expense for leased property.”

Kozelka reported that his department was working on obtaining bids to determine what the cost of the work would be.

“If we’ve got seven more years on our lease, then I say we should fix it up,” Supervisor Gerald Krachey said.

The committee voted unanimously to pursue making the needed upgrades to the Lynxville facility. Kozelka said he hoped to bring costs for the project to the committee at their next meeting.

In other business

In other business, the committee:

• accepted a bid from Team for $82,600 for a project on Highway 179 involving 7.3 miles of milling over five bridges

• learned that the State Trunk Highways team had been cutting brush, performing winter maintenance, picking up rocks along Highway 35, and fixing a few manholes that have been catching the plows since the last meeting

• learned that the County Trunk Highways team had been performing tree removal and winter maintenance since the last meeting

• tabled discussion of an amendment to the county’s ATV/UTV ordinance to a future meeting

• learned that the County S bridge replacement project was let in November, had come in under the low construction amount, and would take place in the summer of 2025

• discussed ongoing problems with the county’s generators, efforts to troubleshoot whether the problems were at the county’s end, and learned that Kozelka believes the problems are a “workmanship issue”

• learned that John Gorski had requested that the county create an access road from County E to Kneeland Cemetery, including the part of the road across private land, and create a larger area for parking - Kozelka observed that working for private citizens would “open up a can of worms.”