There was a lot of laundry on the muddy Hawkeye Recreation Fields on Monday night. Flags and soiled jerseys littered the field following RMFG’s 7-0 victory over Pup ’N’ Suds.

It wasn’t the cold that bothered the players, but the field, which was almost completely made up of thick, sinking mud.

“We like to use our speed,” RMFG senior Rob Gilligan said. “But with the mud, it was tough to make our cuts.”

Pup ’N’ Suds quarterback and captain Michael Dhooge agreed.

“It was definitely the field tonight,” he said. “The main thing was, when the ball got muddy, you just couldn’t throw it.”

The low score was certainly an indicator of that.

Both quarterbacks struggled to get anything going for their respective teams. The signal-callers threw interceptions, and they were repeatedly sacked.

Pup ’N’ Suds committed penalties that numbered in the double-digits, and the quarterback takedowns couldn’t have come at worse times.

With the clock running out before halftime, Dhooge led his team near the RMFG goal line. But he was able to get a play off just before time ran out and threw a pass to Nick Canavo, who snared the ball for a score.

It seemed like a Ricky Stanzi-to-Marvin McNutt sort of play. However, the Pup ’N’ Suds cheers quickly turned to angst after they discovered that Dhooge’s flags had been pulled just before he got rid of the ball.

An eerily similar play with the exact same results also occurred in the fourth quarter, and both calls seemed to rile up the Pup ’N’ Suds players.

“We had some bad calls, but it still comes down to putting points on the board, and we didn’t do that,” Pup ’N’ Suds junior Nick Kriz said.

The only points that did get on the board were from a touchdown pass to Gilligan from senior quarterback Marcus Ahrens in the second quarter. RMFG’s Ian Lawrence made an amazing reflexive catch on a ball that went through the hands of a teammate for the point after attempt.

After that, the tempo for both teams slowed because of the number of penalties and the unforgiving terrain.

And while it seemed the conditions were the main cause of the teams’ struggles, defense also played a part in the final outcome.

“Luckily, we have a really good defense that has carried us all year,” Ahrens said. “It definitely helps knowing you can win the close ones that come down to a final drive. But it also helps to blow teams out, too.”

The game did come down to a final drive.

RMFG controlled offensively and looked to run out the clock. The team was able to march deep into Pup ’N’ Suds territory when Riley Quinn made a lunging interception off a lateral near the goal line, giving his team one last chance to either tie or win the game.

Trailing with time nearly expired, Dhooge heaved a pass down the right sideline, which was intercepted by a diving Gilligan. After the turnover, RMFG finished the game in victory formation, taking a couple of knees to run out the clock.

The squad was excited and energetic after the win.

“The playoffs are absolutely different,” Gilligan said. “Everyone is fired up all day about it.”