Tigers eliminated in Janesville

JANESVILLE - New London delivered the first blow, but Janesville showed it could take a punch.

The Wildcats, ranked No. 10 in the Gazette's Class 8-Man poll, answered with Carson Pariseau‘s flurry of body blows, which helped to knock New London from the playoffs Friday, 66-22.

The Tigers had no answer for Pariseau, who finished with a career-high seven touchdowns. In addition, New London struggled to sustain drives, getting stopped on three early fourth-down tries, while turning the ball over three times.

It all added up to a third-round playoff loss for the Tigers, who bowed out with a 7-2 record in their eighth playoff appearance.

'You know, we've been in the top 16 teams the last four years, so we've got something going here,” New London head coach Mark McSorley said. 'We've just got to get over the bump.”

Boden Pickle rushed for 123 yards and accounted for all three New London scores, including lengthy runs of 52 and 45. Quarterback Blaise Porter contributed 68 yards rushing and was 3-of-6 passing for 65 yards.

'That's a good team; they play good football,” Janesville head coach Dale Eastman said. 'Porter's a heck of an athlete, but we had a really good game plan, and we were able to take advantage of it.”

Pariseau was simply too tough for the Tigers to tame. Evidence is his seven scores including four on runs, two on receptions and another on a 53-yard punt return. He finished with 193 yards rushing – pushing his season total to 1,674 yards – and added 102 in receiving. He's among the state leaders with 37 scores.

'He doesn't shy away from contact,” McSorley said. 'But we didn't do a very good job of tackling him. They had blockers out in front of him to give him the space to make his runs. That's what it's about – using your whole team. There's a team, with eight guys on the field for Janesville, that participate in every play, and we didn't do enough of that to stop them.”

Janesville, now 9-1, moves on to host 8-man powerhouse No. 1 Don Bosco in the Friday quarterfinals.

'We game-planned all week, but sometimes it's hard to see on film the physicality of the team you're facing, as well as the caliber of competition,” McSorley said. '(Janesville) played excellent to stop our offense. They were the better team tonight.”