Panthers rebound at Rockets expense
SM stumbles against one of league's elite
South Milwaukee — There was no question Greendale quarterback Ernie Valente wanted to redeem his team after an ugly loss to New Berlin Eisenhower last week, and there was no question he did just that against South Milwaukee on Friday.
After going 3 of 11 for 43 yards last week, Valente went 13 of 23 for 203 yards with two touchdown passes against South Milwaukee (3-2 overall, 2-2 Woodland Conference) in host Greendale's 44-25 victory.
Greendale (4-1, 3-1) didn't just rely on Valente's arm. His legs were just as important in the win. Valente was his team's leading rusher with 159 yards and three touchdowns. Andrew Brees (114 receiving yards) and Luke Drumel (123 rushing yards) also had big games for Greendale.
"It was great to see the fire back that we didn't have last week," Greendale coach Rob Stoltz said.
South Milwaukee wouldn't quit
South Milwaukee fumbled the opening kickoff, giving the Panthers the ball at the 1-yard line. But the defense played tough and held Greendale to a field goal.
The Rockets took the lead, 7-3, with Sam Oliden's 61-yard pass to Luke Maldonado in the first quarter.
Greendale answered right back with two consecutive touchdown drives with scoring runs from Valente and Cordney Wren putting it back on top, 17-7.
The Rockets answered with a 33-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Kelser on a fourth down to get them back into the game, 17-13, before halftime.
"We started the game off in a bad way when we turned the ball over on the opening kick, but we knew we had to keep fighting," South Milwaukee coach John Galewski said.
Panthers control second half
Greendale didn't waste any time in expanding their 17-13 lead. Valente completed a 14-yard pass to Joel Sirus on the team's first possession after intermission and Valente took it into the end zone himself for an 8-yard score on the next possession.
"We knew we had to keep fighting because South Milwaukee wasn't going to lay down for us," Stoltz said.
With 2:47 remaining in the third quarter, South Milwaukee was staring at a 31-13 deficit. Oliden's 15-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter brought some life back into the Rockets. But Greendale's offense wouldn't be stopped.
Valente's 20-yard touchdown pass to Joel Sirus capped off a 78-yard drive to make the score 38-19 with 6:44 left in the game.
"We really needed our defense to come up with a big stop in the second half, but we kept coming up short," Galewski said.
Greendale hosts Greenfield (0-5, 0-4) and South Milwaukee hosts Wauwatosa West (2-3, 1-3) on Friday.
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