After a thrilling 22-20 victory over Kewaunee in the home opener, the Tritons are 3-0 on their 2021 alternate spring football season.

Both Notre Dame and Kewaunee came into the game 2-0, highly ranked in their own divisions with the Tritons as the #1 medium school and Kewaunee as the #4 small school.

The game started out bleak for the Tritons as Kewaunee scored on their first play from scrimmage on a 55-yard pass to Alex Rohr to go up 7-0. 

On the Tritons’ first offensive drive, Sam Lagowski threw an interception, which the Storm took advantage of, going up 14-0.

However, in the second quarter, Will Zellner tagged two touchdowns to cut the Kewaunee lead to 14-13.

A scoreless third quarter set up for a thrilling finish. A punt blocked by Keegan King gave the offense a short field. Zellner punched in his third touchdown on a 23-yard run to give the Tritons their first lead. A failed two-point conversion made it 19-14.

Kewaunee however stormed back. A near 7-minute, 80-yard drive capped off with a touchdown gave the Storm a 20-19 lead after another failed two-point conversion.

Enter Aiden Wolfram. The “60-minute man” senior stepped up and knocked through a 38-yard field goal to give the Tritons the lead and, eventually, the win.

“As a kicker, you can kind of feel it right when you kick it if it’s going in or not,” Wolfram said in post-game media availability. “Once I looked up, I saw it right down the middle. I felt really good about it. This is definitely my best kick, easily.”

“Towards the end of the game, we really kept an eye on how close we were and whether or not we were in his (Wolfram’s) range,” Head Coach Mike Rader said. “He’s good from that range so we gave him the opportunity to go and make the kick.”

Senior Night was also celebrated at the game, so it was fitting that it ended on the foot of a senior. Another welcome sighting Friday night were fans filling Ted Fritsch Field. On top of the ticket distribution for players and coaches (and managers), there were 100 combined juniors and seniors allowed into the game.

“With the one Friday night game that we have on our schedule, it was awesome that we could make it as close to a regular experience as possible,” Rader said. “The team really enjoyed it, and it was fun to play in that atmosphere.”

The game marked the second time the Tritons made a comeback of 10+ points on the season with the first coming against Menasha in Week 1. So, while it looked like the Tritons were down and out from the outside looking in, it really couldn’t have been further from that.

“I think we were fortunate enough to be down so early, because there’s a lot of game left,” Rader said. “With a long stretch ahead, you just have to battle right back.”

The Cardiac Kids are back at it again next Saturday against Racine Park at Ted Fritsch Field at 2 p.m..