WAUSAU, Wis. — The Niagara Badgers made some key mistakes early to fall behind Wausau Newman Catholic by three touchdowns in the opening 15 minutes of the game and never completely recovered in their 22-14 setback Friday in Wausau.

The Fighting Cardinals scored on their opening possession to grab the early lead. After an exchange of punts, the Badgers drove into Newman Catholic territory but fumbled a snap.

On the next play, the Cardinals scored on a 65-yard run to take a two-touchdown lead. Niagara then botched a punt on its next possession, leading to Newman Catholic’s third TD.

From there, the Badgers held the Cardinals off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game, while scoring two touchdowns themselves. Brayden Bartels found Owen Dunkes for a 44-yard TD pass and then followed with a successful two-point conversion to cut Niagara’s deficit to 22-8 heading into the fourth quarter.

Bartels connected with Wyatt Dunkes on a 13-yard scoring strike to pull within eight points, but the two-point conversion failed, and the Badgers were unable to get closer.

“It was a frustrating loss,” Niagara coach Ben Laarman said. “But I’m also extremely proud of the kids. When things were unraveling early in the game, they didn’t get down on themselves or each other. They worked together to solve the problems and battled back against one of the premier 8-player programs in the state.

“While it hurts to lose, we also know we have a lot to build on from this game.”

Bartels completed 15 of 22 passes for 133 yards and two touchdowns. Defensively, Connor Guardiola finished with nine tackles.