Lions clinch share of conference with blowout over Chilton

By David Nordby

The Brillion News

BRILLION – For the 19^th time in school history and the fourth under Coach Tanner Behnke, the Lions have at least a share of the conference championship.

Brillion improved to 6-0 against the Eastern Wisconsin Conference with a decisive 41-0 win against rival Chilton Friday night.

“Twice in a row now at least a share of conference, it means the world to me,” senior Weston Schmidt said.

A win next week at St. Mary Catholic (6-2, 5-1) would give the Lions sole possession of this year’s championship.

Against Chilton, Schmidt capped off four scoring drives with short touchdown runs.

“All the linemen do what they’re supposed to do, and they help us get in the end zone,” Schmidt said.

The goal line situations included creative play designs like moving linemen like Aiden Reinke into the backfield as a lead-blocker.

“In practice, I was like, ‘Whoa Coach, what am I doing. I've never been a halfback before’ … It’s so cool. I get a head start. Whoever shows up in the gap, I just blow up,” Reinke said.

The Lions led 21-0 before Chilton’s offense had a first down. The defense limited the Tigers to just five yards of offense on their first four possessions. Jackson Willems halted Chilton’s fifth drive with an interception and Jaxon Lisowe scored a 4-yard run to make it 28-0 before halftime.

Brillion also used its speed for big plays like a 45-yard touchdown pass from Kyen Meyer to Jaxson Kleist.

It was a clean performance for the Lions, whose offense was not penalized until a delay of game as it ran out the clock.

Behnke said the team has earned the success they’ve had so far this season, but the focus will be on the regular season finale next week.

“They just have a mentality that they want to keep getting better,” Behnke said. “Good to have (the share), but to be honest, we’re focused on next week and we don’t care about anything we’ve claimed right now.”

St. Mary Catholic won 24-0 at Kiel on Friday.

Complete coverage of the game will be in the Oct. 15 print edition of The Brillion News.