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Parker's season ends

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Parker vs Hartland Arrowhead Div. 1 Playoff Opener

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HARTLAND — Janesville Parker's football team got a dose of its own medicine Tuesday night.

And the Vikings were left with a bitter taste.

After thriving on a ball control, run-time-off-the-clock offense en route to a WIAA playoff berth this season, Parker got that same remedy shoved down its throat by Hartland Arrowhead.

The Warhawks put together three long scoring drives en route to a 28-12 victory in a Division 1 playoff opener.

Parker (6-4) got another Superman-like performance from sophomore Adam Vesterfelt, but Arrowhead's multi-dimensional offense was too efficient and too effective. Arrowhead (9-1), which has played in the state title game the last three seasons, will play at Waukesha West (10-0) on Saturday in a rematch of a regular-season game in which the Wolverines handed the Warhawks their only loss.

Vesterfelt rushed for 206 yards and two touchdowns, but the Warhawks kept him off the field for most of the second half thanks to a veer offense that the Vikings failed to contain.

"It's a good thing we put a couple of those long drives together that second half because we needed them," Arrowhead longtime coach Tom Taraska said. "That was one a heckuva sophomore (Vesterfelt) back, and we needed to keep their offense off the field.

"We were able to take advantage of a size mismatch with our offensive linemen, and I think that wore them (Parker) down a little bit the second half."

Parker fell behind 7-0 early as Arrowhead went 93 yards on its opening drive—capped off by Russ Finco's 7-yard pass from Tom Parish.

The Vikings answered behind the 5-foot-11, 200-pound Vesterfelt, as he got loose for a 71-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 7-6 with 9:45 left in the half.

Arrowhead eventually led 14-6 at half and started the second half the same way as the first half with a long scoring drive. Parish, a University of Minnesota recruit, culminated the drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Colton Sweitzer.

"The margin for error for us coming in was not real big, and we talked about that before the game," Parker coach Joe Dye said. "In a game like this against a quality opponent like Arrowhead, you have to make plays when you get the chance and you can't turn the ball over. We left a couple of plays on the field that we didn't make and we fumbled deep in their territory that gave them a short field.

"But I'm incredibly proud of our kids. They (Arrowhead) set the bar high, and we aspire to be at that level. Tonight, they were the better football team."

Arrowhead finished with 321 yards of offense, including 107 passing. Parish was an efficient 8-for-10 through the air with two touchdown passes.

It seemed every time the Vikings needed a stop on third down, Parish made a play with his arm or his legs.

Trailing 28-12 and needing to get the ball back, Parker's offense could only watch from the sideline as Arrowhead ran the final 10:12 off the clock with an 80-yard drive.

"I disappointed that our seniors are not going to get to play again, but I'm not going to fault our effort.

"They did to us what we like to do to teams, and that's grind it.

ARROWHEAD 28, PARKER 12

Janesville Parker 0 6 0 6—12

Arrowhead 7 7 14 0—28

Scoring summary: A—Russ Finco, 7 pass from Tom Parish (Drew Meyer kick). P—Adam Vesterfelt, 71 run (kick failed). A—Brian Crook, 3 run (Meyer kick). A—Colton Sweitzer, 11 pass from Parish (Meyer kick). A—Crook, 6 run (Meyer kick). P—Vesterfelt, 1 run (pass failed).

Statistics: First downs—P 12, A 22. Rushes—P 33-201, A 53-214. Yards passing—P 46, A 107. Passes—P 9-4-1, A 10-8-0. Fumbles—P 2-1, A 3-1. Penalties—P 6-39, A 5-31.