This game looked like we were heading to a ‘whoever has the ball last wins’ type of finish, as both the Phantoms’ and Tritons’ offenses came out swinging. That proved to be wrong.

Over the first 14 minutes of the game, Notre Dam and West De Pere combined for 35 points. Only seven points were scored over the final 34 minutes.

This was a tale of two teams that are located seven miles from each other, and have rosters of kids that grew up playing with and against one another.

The Phantoms are led by record breaking senior quarterback Patrick Greisen. The Tritons led by record breaking junior running back Kingston Allen.

Both got it going early.

Greisen led West De Pere down the field on its first possession, ending in a Ryan Lutz one-yard touchdown plunge and a 7-0 lead two minutes into the game.

Notre Dame answered with a ten-play scoring drive of its own, culminating in a Allen nine yard touchdown score to even things up.

Lutz doubled down on one yard touchdown scores on the next Phantoms possession.

Forty-seven seconds into the second quarter Allen found space and scored on a 28-yard carry, tying things up at 14.

Greisen and his favorite weapon, junior wideout Judeah Kniskern, connected on a 60-yard pass and catch a minute later that gave West De Pere a 21-14 lead. It’d be the last point scored for the next 30 minutes of game time.

The second and third quarters were marred by missed scoring opportunities for Notre Dame, as the offense had two crucial turnovers in the red zone.

Halfway through the second quarter, Notre Dame senior linebacker Micah Warren intercepted a Greisen pass and set up the Triton offense at the Phantoms 30. The offensive marched down to the two yard line, but failed on both third and fourth down to get into the end zone, leading to a turnover on downs.

The first Triton possession of the second half saw the offense get all the way to the 14-yard line before Wesrt De Pere’s Braylon Stegall forced a fumble that teammate Jaxon Jashinsky recovered.

Both offenses stalled until Greisen found Landon Kibbe sitting in a soft spot of the zone defense and fired a pass in which the junior wideout turned on the jets, evaded the defenders, and found the end zone for a 47-yard score. West De Pere extended the lead to 28-14 and the defense shut the door to secure the victory.

For West De Pere, Greisen completed 16 of 26 passes for Division 2 state record, 304 yards and two touchdowns.

Kniskern who had over 1,000 yards receiving on the season, finished with seven catches for 164 yards and a score. He also set a Division 2 state record with his yardage output.

Defensively, the Phantoms had eight tackles for loss, two sacks, and an interception by both Mason Werner and Ethan Collar.

For Notre Dame, Allen put a bow on his junior year despite the loss. He carried the ball a state record 43 times for 231 yards and two scores. That output brought his season total to 3,436 rushing yards, a new single season record in the state, to go along with his record 57 rushing touchdowns.

The championship for West De Pere is the third in the program’s history, and the first since 2011. For the Phantoms, it’s a silver ball in Division 2, following a gold ball in Division 3 a season ago.