Appleton North plays spoiler to Tim Strehlow's coaching debut with D.C. Everest

WESTON – Will Stewart and an efficient Lightning offense spoiled Tim Strehlow’s coaching debut with D.C. Everest on Friday.

Stewart had three short touchdown runs and the Lightning scored on six of their final night possessions of the game to down the Evergreens 41-14  in a Valley Football Association game at Steihm Stadium  Two of the non-scoring drives ended with the Lightning running out the clock to end both the first and second halves and North was stopped on downs at the DCE 20 on the other.

"There's no question about that that they have a good offense ... and how well lthey establish the run and the pass. They just keep you off-balanced," said Strehlow, an Everest graduate and former Evergreens assistant football coach. 

North took control of the game with three touchdowns in the second quarter after the Evergreens scored a touchdown roughly two and a half minutes into the game.  A 1-yard run by Stewart on the opening drive of the second half gave North a 27-7 lead and the Evergreens never got closer than 13 points the rest of the way.

Stewart who rolled up 170 yards in a loss to Everest in the regular-season finale last year nearly reached triple figures on the ground again Friday, the majority of which came in the second half. Teammate Ian Laatsch also rushed for two short scores for the Lightning, which rushed for nearly 200 yards in the win

"We have four solid running backs and all of them run hard," North quarterback Carter Robinson said. "Thanks to our (offensive) line, we were able to pound that ball (in the second half)."

The Evergreens never got their running game going against a stingy North defensive front as the Evergreens totaled a yard on the ground in the first half. The Evergreens' top back Tanner Fowler had 21 yards on 17 carries and his longest run of the night was six yards.  One of Fowler’s best runs of the game was a 5-yard touchdown on the Evergreens' opening drive of the second half as Everest closed to within 27-14.

"They were just filling well (on defense) and we couldn't really take any advantage," Fowler said of the Evergreens running game. "They played a great game. We just have to come back next week and work on some things."

North then put the game away as Stewart scored from the 1 on the first play of the fourth quarter and Laatsch scored on a 4-yard run with just under four minutes left in regular. 

It was a rough finish for Everest in a game which began with so much promise. 

The Evergreens recovered a muffed punt at the North 25 minutes into the game and the Lightning were also penalized 10 yards on the play for an illegal block. Everest needed just two plays to take advantage of the short field as Ethan Ostrowski outlept a Lightning player in the right corner of the end zone to haul in a pass from Josh Bydynkowski.

The Lightning tied the score 44 seconds into the second quarter as Robinson hit a streaking Adam Zeratsky down the right sideline for a 57-yard touchdown pass.

North then scored a pair of touchdowns in a span of four minutes off of two Everest turnovers to take a 20-7 lead at the break. A fumble recovery on a wild pitch attempt and an interception set up short touchdown runs by Will Stewart and Laatsch.

The interception came on the first play after the Evergreens recovered a fumble on a North punt return deep in Everest territory.

Everest drove to the North 10 in the closing minutes of the half but a costly holding penalty pushed the Evergreens back to the 26. The drive ended as a 40-yard field goal attempt with 6.9 seconds left in the half was partially blocked.