After going undefeated and winning the Eastern Wisconsin Conference last season, no one had a 0-4 start for Brillion on their bingo card. The Lions are struggling, to say the least. Even though Brillion lost their first game last season, they would go on to win their next nine. The scary part? When Brillion was winning, it was very similar to what Two Rivers is doing this season. Last year, five of the Lions first six wins were blowouts where they didn’t allow a single point. Fast forward to this season and Two Rivers has yet to allow a point.
Enough about last year, what has gone wrong for Brillion here in 2022? Two Rivers embarrassed them on Friday night. Other than a close loss to Kiel last week, Brillion lost their first two games of the year 34-14. Friday was their worst loss of the season as the Raiders defeated the Lions 47-0. Two Rivers lead 34-0 at the half and continued to let their lead weapons run wild.
No One is Perfect
Last week it was brought up that Two Rivers hadn’t fumbled or thrown for an interception through their first three games. Justin Klinkner proved he isn’t invincible as he threw an interception against Brillion. It was his first of the year, and Klinkner now sits at a 13:1 TD to INT ratio.
Through week 3, Orian Gauger led the entire state of Wisconsin with five interceptions. Gauger wasn’t able to find the ball against Brillion, but someone else was. Zander Popp, the second leading receiver for Two Rivers, hauled in two interceptions. Popp was a huge difference maker, but there’s one name that has been kept rather quiet this season… until the Brillion game.
Max Matthias finished the night with 20 total tackles, 17 of which being solo tackles. Yes, that is correct. Max, the younger brother of Chase, had a total of 20 tackles in the game. Coming into week 4, Max only had 6 tackles on the season. This was without a doubt a coming out party for Max, and it’s yet another huge name to look out for on Two Rivers defensive side of the ball.
Ultimately, Klinkner was 14 for 23 with 221 yards, 2 touchdowns and an interception. Klinkner continues to spread the ball extremely well as now six different receivers have 100 or more receiving yards.
When it comes to Chase Matthias, it seems like Two Rivers is playing the long game. They don’t want to over-expose their dominant running back. He only has 60 attempts through the first four games. That comes out to 15 carries a game which is far less than what Matthias was asked to do one season ago. Many would’ve expected to see him with much more than 500 yards after the first four games, but that isn’t the case. Matthias is sitting at 496 with a total of 13 touchdowns, the same amount as Klinkner has in the air.
Eastern Wisconsin Conference
Two Rivers remains the only overall undefeated team in the EWC, but Chilton and Kiel both have 2-0 conference records. Sadly, the matchup between Two Rivers and Chilton is the last of the year, taking place in Chilton on October 14th.
That said, Two Rivers heads to Kiel next week. Kiel sits at 2-2 overall. They’re in the same boat as Chilton. Both teams lost their non-conference games but won their first two in the EWC. Kiel just defeated Roncalli by over 20 points, yet they still allowed 200+ yards to Brayden Reimer. If Kiel doesn’t get their run defense figured out, Chase Matthias might be in for his biggest game of the year.
If Two Rivers makes it past Kiel, they have a relatively easy schedule for the next three weeks. Even though there’ve only been two conference games, the combined conference record of Two Rivers opponents from September 23rd to October 7th is 2-4.
Through four games Two Rivers has outscored their opponents 237-0.
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