Friday night, the Mauston Golden Eagles hosted the Onalaska Hilltoppers in non-conference action for the 2011 season opener for high school football. The Hilltoppers got off to a quick start scoring three touchdowns on the first four plays from scrimmage on offense. One touchdown was set up on the 1-yard line of Mauston by a bad snap on a punt attempt. Onalaska would jump out to a 28-0 lead after the end of the first quarter. Senior Austin Meier accounted for two touchdowns on the ground with a 53-yard and a 36-yard run for the scores. Senior quarterback Zach Schmidt ran the ball in from 1-yard out and passed to junior Clinton Rihn for a 4-yard touchdown in the first quarter. The Hilltoppers would add two more scores in the second quarter to take a 42-0 lead into the half. Schmidt tossed a 30-yard strike to senior Garrett Hulse for a touchdown, and Rihn took a snap at quarterback, kept the ball, and ran it in from 41-yards out.

Mauston struggled on both sides of the ball as they failed to get much going against a bigger and tougher Onalaska team. Four of their first six plays on offense resulted in a quarterback sack, their first  1st-down wasn’t until the second half, and a couple of turnovers in the game held the Golden Eagles to less than 100-yards on offense. One bright spot was the return game which featured junior Cameron Dahlgren returning kick-offs. He was able to get a few nice returns for Mauston throughout the game.

The Golden Eagles look to rebound on the road at Lake Mills Friday night in non-conference action. Last year Mauston lost a close battle at home to the L-Cats who won 28-26. A few missed extra points were the difference in the game. Lake Mills is coming off a 28-6 win against Palmyra-Eagle.