MILWAUKEE — With shutouts in five of its last six games, the Milwaukee Riverside football team entered the WIAA Division-1 playoffs with one of the more highly-touted defenses in the area.

Tremper showed that it can be just as stingy on that side of the ball as it prevailed 14-6 in a first-round matchup played on a muddy field on Tuesday night at Pulaski Stadium.

How dominating were the Trojans?

“If they can’t get first downs, they can’t score,” Tremper senior safety Cody Colbert reasoned. “We were confident that our defense was going to stop them.

“We played as a unit. All of us were flowing to the ball. Our D-line did a great job at stopping the quarterback and getting pressure on him and our linebackers did a good job of containing and not letting them get to the outside.”

Defensive linemen Najee Parker, David Parmentier, Zac Epping and Doug Carlson combined for five of Tremper’s seven tackles-for-loss in the first half.

“We knew that they were going to be a good opponent,” Tremper coach Frank Matrise Jr. said. “We played well. I’m happy for our kids. Now we get ready for Round II. We’re excited. Whatever comes our way, we’ll get ready for it.”

Tremper (6-4) will play crosstown rival Bradford (10-0) in the second round on Saturday at Ameche Field at a time to be determined today.

What’s it going to take to defeat the mighty Red Devils?

“Everybody playing as one,” Parker said. “Just like today. We all worked as a unit.”

Making the 20th playoff appearance in school history, Tremper overcame four turnovers and some shaky special teams play.

After turning the ball over on two of their first three possessions, the Trojans scored on their first drive of the second quarter. Behind a push from center Anthony Celebre, left guard Martin Torres and Epping at left tackle, Carlson — on only his fourth carry of the season — scored from five yards out with 8 minutes, 11 seconds left. Joe Landgraf added the extra point.

Riverside (8-2) finished with minus-11 total yards in the first half as 12 of its 18 plays went for no gain or negative yardage.

The Tigers received a gift early in the second half when Anthony Bounds took the ball away from Carlson, who appeared to be stopped at the line. Bounds returned it 18 yards to the Tremper 6 and Riverside scored on the next play on a run up the middle by Ledell White.

The potential game-tying PAT never materialized, though, as Eric Murray couldn’t handle the snap and was tackled by Carlson, keeping the score 7-6.

Tremper answered on the ensuing possession thanks to a 35-yard kickoff return by Darryl Thornton. On third-and-9 from midfield, Jake Snell completed a screen pass to Andrew Gray, who ran 42 yards down the sideline. Gray (36 carries, 120 yards) then scored on the next play when he bounced off a tackle with 4:34 left. Landgraf’s PAT made it 14-6.

“(Offensive coordinator) Jack Musha made a great call on that,” Matrise said about the screen pass.

The Tigers didn’t come close to scoring on its final four possessions as Colbert, Epping, Parker, Parmentier, Stephan Jackson and Tyler Thompson all had big plays.

Tremper did turn the ball over on downs inside the Riverside 15 on back-to-back possessions in the fourth quarter.