LITTLE CHUTE — Little Chute’s tenacious defense may have been all the Mustangs needed to book a trip to state.
But the highlight reel goes to Reese Joten, who scored three times early in the Mustangs’ 35-25 win Friday over Columbus in Kewaskum.
The victory sends Little Chute to the WIAA Division 4 state championship game at 7 p.m. Thursday in Camp Randall Stadium.
They’ll face Winneconne, a 28-8 winner over Baldwin-Woodville.
It took only 48 seconds into the game for Little Chute to flex its muscles when Joten scampered for a 62-yard TD run. Along with a Jaden Hermson 2-point conversion, the Mustangs were up quickly 8-0.
After a Columbus turnover on downs, Joten took off again on the Mustang’s first play in the series, this time an 86-yard TD run. Along with a Jackson Czarnecki PAT, Little Chute was up 15-0.
A third Joten TD run, this time from 16-yards out, put Little Chute up 22-0 with 9:01 in the half.
But Columbus wasn’t out of it just yet. They got on the board with 4:30 in the half, trailing Little Chute 22-7.
But then with 31 seconds left in the half, Little Chute’s Tyler Hietpas got in on the scoring action with a 7-yard run to push the Musrangs’ lead to 29-7 at halftime.
Columbus received the second half kickoff and finished the drive with a 1-yard TD run, although the PAT was unsuccessful, trimming Little Chute’s lead to 29-13.
On the Mustangs’ next possession, Trevor Verhagen scored from the 8 to push the lead to 35-13.
The back-and-forth second half continued with another Columbus TD, trimming Little Chute’s lead back to 35-19 at the end of quarter 3.
The game tightened further in the fourth with another Columbus TD to tighten the score to 35-25 with 8:08 in the game.
But that was all Columbus could muster as Little Chute ran out the clock to secure a trip to Madison.
The 2025 State Football Championships take place Thursday and Friday, Nov. 20-21, 2025
Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, Wis.
LIVE STREAMS: WKOW | WAOW | WXOW | WQOW | WLUK
Thursday, Nov. 20
10 a.m. – Division 7:
1 p.m. – Division 6:
4 p.m. – Division 5:
7 p.m. – Division 4:
Friday, Nov. 21
10 a.m. – Division 3:
1 p.m. – Division 2:
4 p.m. – Division 1:
