Gators fall in physical playoff battle

Published 8:56 pm Wednesday, November 4, 2026

By Mike O'Brien

Sutton found the end zone twice in the fourth quarter, and those two scores were enough to lift the host Mustangs to a 30-24 win over Wisner-Pilger in the opening round of the Class D1 State Football Playoffs on October 30.

“Realistically, we did what we needed to do to keep the game close, and give ourselves a chance to win, but unfortunately came up short,” Gator head coach A.J. Burki said.

Burki was pleased with how the team moved the ball when needed and coming up with defensive stops multiple times.

“It was an old-school smash-mouth game where our guys did a great job of meeting physicality with physicality,” he said.

Both teams scored four touchdowns in the game, but the Gators weren’t successful with any two-point conversion, proving to be the difference.

Connor Vrba scored three times for W-P. Two of his scores were touchdown passes from Jaxon Knoell. Edwin Cortez also found the end zone for the Gators.

While it wasn’t the finish the Gators were hoping for, Burki was proud of this year’s team, especially after replacing such a large group of seniors from a year ago.

“Our guys did a great job of stepping up and answering the call,” Burki said. “Over the course of the year, we learned a lot about ourselves and definitely made great strides.”

Wisner-Pilger finished the season with a 7-3 record.

“We as a coaching staff couldn’t be more proud of this team – when it comes to effort, energy, determination, and just good old fashion grit,” Burki said. “We are thankful to and for the seniors, and all they did this year and previous years, and are beyond excited moving forward.”

This marked the final game for six Gator seniors: Jaxon Knoell, Evan Lauck, Kyler Schapmann, Brayden Keyes, Edwin Cortez and Dallas Martin.

Wisner-P.   0 12 6 6 –  24

Sutton   6 8 0 16 –   30

Scoring Summary

First quarter

SUT: Sutton 4 run. (2-pt failed)

Second quarter

SUT: Sutton 3 run. (2-pt good)

W-P: Connor Vrba 61 pass from Jaxon Knoell. (2-pt failed)

W-P: Edwin Cortez 15 run. (2-pt failed)

Third quarter

W-P: Vrba 7 run. (2-pt failed)

Fourth quarter

SUT: Sutton 16 run. (2-pt good)

SUT: Sutton 1 run. (2-pt good)

W-P: Vrba 65 pass from Jaxon Knoell. (2-pt failed)

Team statistics

  W-P   SUT

First downs   12   16

Rushing   26-69 62-247

Passing   12-21-0 1-7-0

Passing yards   250   3

Total offense   319   250

Fumbles lost   2   0

Penalties   8-43   5-48

Gator Stats

Rushing: Connor Vrba 8-25, Edwin Cortez 5-22, Jaxon Knoell 6-20, Ashton Raabe 6-5, Austin Cleveland 1-(-3).

Passing: Knoell 9-of-16 for 197, Vrba 3-of-5 53.

Receiving: Vrba 5-170, Keaton Sebade 1-26, Evan Lauck 2-22, Jaxon Knoell 1-18, Raabe 1-9, Stockton Bellar 1-4, Cleveland 1-1.

Leading Tacklers (Tk-Ast): Knoell 8-8, Lauck 5-5, Kyler Schapmann 5-6, Cleveland 3-4, Edwin Cortez 2-8, Aidan McBride 2-6, Stockton Bellar 2-7, Raabe 1-11, Joel Good 0-2, Vrba 0-4, Sebade 0-3.