NIAGARA, Wis. — The Niagara Badgers had their work cut out for themselves Friday night when they welcomed unbeaten Laona-Wabeno, whose smallest margin of victory entering the game was 46 points.

The Badgers met the challenge head on, even taking a 6-0 lead midway through the second quarter, but eventually the Rebels took control and went on to a 28-6 victory.

“Laona-Wabeno is very good,” Badgers coach Benjamin Laarman said. “They are fast, athletic and physical. I think they’ll be in the hunt for the state championship this year.

“We hung with them but really struggled to get our offense going. We needed to put some drives together in the second half and we just couldn’t do it.”

The Badgers (3-4) broke a scoreless tie with a 71-yard touchdown pass from Brayden Bartels to Owen Dunkes. However, the Rebels (7-0) drove for a touchdown and added the 2-point conversion to go into halftime with an 8-6 lead.

Laona-Wabeno then took over the game in the second half.

“Our offense really struggled to get anything going in the second half, and they scored early in the third quarter after our offense gave them a short field,” Laarman said. “And then they put together two nice drives in the fourth to put the game away.”

The Badgers will travel to Florence on Friday to face the rival Bobcats (3-4).

“We have some things we need to figure out and fix before the Florence game,” Laarman said.