Lomira tight end Sam Schraufnagel caught a screen pass on fourth-and-5 and fought for first down yardage.
Ryan Clark, Mayville's quarterback and outside linebacker, hit and stopped him near the line to gain. The referees measured and Schraufnagel was less than a foot short, turning the ball over on downs to the Cardinals.
The turnover clinched Mayville's 21-14 upset win over the Lions on Friday at Ray Dunn Field.
The win not only meant the Cardinals regained the Milk Can trophy, but also earned them a share of the Flyway conference title.
"Our kids played really hard, and they played real physical," coach Scott Hilber said. "We needed to because that's the kind of brand that Lomira plays."
Four plays prior to the fourth-down stop, Lomira (7-2 overall, 6-1 in Flyway) thought it had tied up the game when running back Taylor Schaumberg rushed for a 42-yard touchdown, but a block-in-the-back penalty negated the play and kept the Mayville lead intact.
The Cardinals did an excellent job containing Schaumberg, holding him to a season-low 62 yards rushing. Schaumberg also failed to score for the first time this season.
Mayville senior Joren Schlender said stopping Schaumberg was an area of focus.
"Obviously that was our main gameplan," Schlender said. "He's a hell of player. He's going to be really good at the next level, there's no doubt about that."
The Cardinals (8-1, 6-1) used two long, time-consuming drives in the second half to keep Lomira's offense off the field and, unlike last week against St. Mary's Springs, they were able to cap them off with touchdowns.
The first drive of the second half went for 66 yards and took 5:10 off the clock. Clark finished the drive with a 26-yard touchdown run around the right side of the defense, which gave Mayville a 14-7 lead.
After Lomira quickly tied the game on a 27-yard pass from Jackson Goebel to Caden Yanke, Mayville went on another long drive that took 8:11 and covered 67 yards. Running back Sawyer Hardesty restored a 21-14 lead for the Cardinals on a 4-yard TD run.
Both teams scored in the first half, Mayville on a 46-yard run from Schlender and Lomira on a 22-yard pass from Jackson Goebel to Schraufnagel, but both teams struggled to effectively move the ball.
Hilber said it took his team time to adjust to Lomira's pressure, but they figured it out in the second half.
"It took us until about the second half to watch a little bit of clips and realize where our opportunities were," Hilber said. "Credit to the boys, they went out and executed."
The upset resulted in a three-way tie for the Flyway championship with Lomira, Springs and Mayville each finishing at 6-1 in league play.
The senior class at Mayville has been part of three conference titles during their high school careers.
"These guys had a great culture to watch in their younger years," Hilber said. "And they really did the work getting ready for this year and I think they really embraced that culture. We kind of felt like we may have gotten away from it a little bit, but these guys embraced it wholeheartedly and they still are.
"Every week they're breaking records in the weight room getting stronger, bigger and faster. If we didn't do that, we wouldn't have won tonight."
PHOTO GALLERY: Lomira at Mayville football - 10/19/2024
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