Wauwatosa Spartans win, now rest for a week

The Wauwatosa Spartans took care of business Saturday, and now they have a week off to get ready for the Ironman Football League playoffs.

The Spartans, with the American Conference's top seed secured, rolled over the Muskego Hitmen, 31-12, at Wisconsin Lutheran College's Raabe Field, finishing the season with a seven-game winning streak.

Wauwatosa finished the regular season with a 7-2 conference mark and an 8-2 overall record, while Muskego fell to 5-4.

Next up for the Spartans is the American Conference playoffs, where as the one seed, they will host the fourth-seeded Rock County Gladiators (3-6) at Raabe Field at 8 p.m. Aug. 22.

The winner will advance to face the winner of the Burlington Blue Devil/Milwaukee Marauder matchup in the conference's other playoff game.

Saturday's game was closer than the score indicated as the Hitmen scored first, before short touchdown runs by L.J. Hyland at the end of the first quarter and Cedric McFadden in the second quarter gave the Spartans a 13-6 lead at halftime.

Brad Guettel then expanded Wauwatosa's lead in the third quarter when he had the play of the game, a 99-yard punt return for a touchdown to give the Spartans a 19-6 lead.

The Hitmen struck back with another touchdown run to cut the lead to 19-12, before safety Luis Mendoza picked off a pass and returned it 50 yards for a score and a 25-12 lead after three quarters.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Spartans offense got back on track, when quarterback Tony Henner found Guettel down the sideline for a 46-yard touchdown to make the final score 31-12.

Safety Joel Correa intercepted a pass to end the final Hitmen drive, and Tosa played ball control to end the game.

Special teams played a big role for the Spartans as Hyland had 117 total kick-return yardage to consistently set up the offense with good field position.

The defense had three turnovers and six sacks, led by defensive end Joe Flick (2.5) and defensive tackle Brian Witt (2).