KAUKAUNA — The Kaukauna Galloping Ghosts will ride their momentum into the post-season after a 41-14 win Thursday at home over Appleton East.
The win guarantees the Ghosts a spot atop the Fox Valley Association conference standings as they prepare for the Division 2 WIAA playoffs for a program-record sixth season in a row.
Depending on the outcome of Friday’s Kimberly game, this would be the Ghosts’ first share of a conference title since 1995.
Kaukauna (8-1, 6-1) will know its Level 1 opponent Saturday morning during a live bracket reveal show at 10 a.m. from WKOW-TV in Madison. You can watch the LIVE STREAM of the reveal show HERE.
Although defense has carried the Ghosts for much of the season, this game featured Kaukauna’s high powered offense.
The Ghosts took only four plays to score in their opening drive, capped off with a Finnley Doriot to Parker Schuh touchdown bomb. The PAT from Linkoln Xiong put Kaukauna up 7-0.
East then responded with a 71-yard TD run of its own, but failed on its 2-point conversion.
But back on offense, a Doriot to Schuh 42-yard pass set up a 7-yard Connor Kincheloe TD run to put Kaukauna up 14-6 with 8:33 yet to play in the first quarter.
A two-yard touchdown run from Aiden Reardon pushed Kaukauna’s lead to 21-6.
Leland Hurst opened the second quarter with a 7-yard touchdown pass reception to push the lead to 27-6.
A Kyle Kress touchdown with 1:47 left in the half put the Ghosts up 33-6, and a fumble recovery by the Ghosts on East’s next series led to a Kavanaugh Weyenberg TD reception to give the Ghosts a 41-6 lead heading into halftime.
The second half opened with a running clock.
With heavy substitutions in the second half, East scored midway in the fourth quarter to trim the lead for a final score of 41-14.
