Three touchdowns in the third quarter helped the Iola-Scandinavia football team pick up a 29-27 Central Wisconsin 8 Conference win Friday, Sept. 16, over Wittenberg-Birnamwood.
The Chargers took a 14-0 lead into the second quarter, but were outscored 29-13 the rest of the way.
Mitch School put W-B on the board with an 85-yard punt return and Cody Kasprak added a 3-yard run to give the home team a 14-0 lead.
However, the Thunderbirds cut the deficit to 14-7 on Spencer Erickson’s 1-yard run in the second quarter.
School returned the second-half kickoff 83 yards to put the Chargers up 20-7, but the T-Birds found the end zone three times in the quarter and added a safety.
Erickson connected with Andrew Bauer for a 68-yard touchdown pass and the T-Birds cut the lead to 20-16 with a safety. Brady Huettner gave I-S the lead for good with a 4-yard run to make it 22-20 and Bauer returned a fumble 40 yards to make it 29-20.
Kasprak scored from 3 yards out for the only touchdown of the fourth quarter.
W-B outgained the T-Birds 164-117 on the ground, but I-S held the Chargers to four passing yards and had a 249-168 advantage in total yards.
Huettner led the T-Bird ground game with 54 yards in 16 carries, while Kasprak finished with 112 for the Chargers. Erickson completed eight of 12 passes for 132 yards. Bradly Hardel had five catches for 49 yards.
I-S improved to 2-1 in league play and 3-2 overall with the win. The T-Birds will host Stevens Point Pacelli at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, at Thunderbird Field in Scandinavia.