SPARTA -- Tomah High School football coach Brad Plueger had two options:

Go for it on 4th-and-14 from the Sparta 15-yard line, or attempt a 32-yard field goal.

Plueger believed the odds were with his placekicking unit, and his judgment was confirmed.

Clayton Barrix booted a 32-yard field with 3:24 left in the fourth quarter to put away Sparta, 24-13, in a Mississippi Valley Conference battle Friday at Sparta’s Memorial Field.

The Timberwolves boosted their MVC record to 3-2 and kept alive their hopes for a WIAA playoff berth.

The outcome was still very much in doubt after Tomah was forced to punt from its own 27 with nine minutes left and clinging to a 21-13 lead. Sparta, however, muffed Tyler Von Haden’s punt, and Tommy Liddane jumped on the loose ball to give Tomah possession at the Sparta 43.

Tomah marched eight plays to the Sparta 11, where the offense got stuck. The Timberwolves lost four yards to the 15 and would have lost the football had Liddane not recovered another fumble. After two incompletions, Plueger summoned the placekicking unit.

“It told (assistant coach) Timmy (Gnewikow) on second down to have the (field goal) unit ready,” Plueger said.

Despite facing a difficult right angle, Barrix lofted a kick right through the center of the uprights to give Tomah a two-score lead.

“I know Clayton hasn’t had that many chances to kick field goals, but he’s calm in those situations, and we had every confidence in him. I don’t know what the odds were of making it on 4th-and-14 -- probably not very good.”

Sparta’s next possession lasted just one play. Kyle Kikta intercepted a Jordan Laufenberg pass, and the Timberwolves ended the game with two first downs and two kneel-downs.

In the first quarter, it looked like the Timberwolves were headed for another high-scoring shootout. Sparta returned the opening kickoff to its own 49 and marched into the end zone in seven plays with Nick Anderson’s two-yard run capping the scoring drive. Sparta missed the conversion kick, and the score was 6-0 with 8:38 left in the first quarter.

Tomah came right back with a 13-play, 61-yard drive. The Timberwolves kept the drive alive on a 17-yard pass from Von Haden to Alex Jaromin to the Sparta 19, and tailback Joel Sweeney capped the drive with a 9-yard touchdown run. Barrix’s extra point made it 7-6 at the 3:03 mark of the first quarter.

It was awhile before either team scored again. Sparta appeared ready to retake the lead on its second possession until linebacker Aaron Eckelberg recovered a fumble at the Tomah 24.

Tomah finally got its second touchdown late in the first half, when Sweeney busted loose on a 62-yard touchdown run. Barrix added the extra point for a 14-6 lead with 3:24 left in the half.

Sparta moved the ball into Tomah territory on its ensuing possession, but Sweeney intercepted a pass with 28 seconds left to snuff the Spartans’ drive.

Tomah opened the second half with Sweeney taking shotgun snaps from center, and the wrinkle paid off four plays later when Sweeney faked a handoff, exploded through a hole up the middle and outran the Sparta secondary 59 yards for a touchdown. Barrix added the extra point for a 21-6 Tomah lead.

Sparta responded with an 11-play, 69-yard drive that cut the gap to 21-13 midway through the third period. The Timberwolves’ offense sputtered after that. They had just one first down on their next three possessions and were forced to punt three times.

Sweeney had another spectacular game at tailback. He rushed 39 times for 282 yards, and those yards accounted for 82 percent of the Tomah offense.

Plueger said it difficult to gain yards up the middle.

“We knew that Matt Tourdot was going to play nose tackle, and he made a ton of plays,” Plueger said. “Because of him, we ran a lot of plays outside.”

Sparta fell to 0-5 in the MVC and lost to Tomah for the fourth straight season.

The Spartans scored just two touchdowns against a defense that had allowed 110 points in its last three games.

“It was important for our defense to get confidence in the second half,” Plueger said. “They picked us up in the second half when our offense was struggling.”