Ellendale, ND (NewsDakota.com) – The Ellendale/Edgeley/Kulm Thunder made it down to the goal line in the dying breaths of the game but were unable to punch the ball into the endzone as they fell to the Bottineau Braves by a final score of 36-35 in the NDHSAA 11A Quarterfinals.
The game started with EEK quarterback Drew Thorpe throwing an interception on the opening drive of the game to Landon Solberg to give the Braves the ball. The Braves were then forced to punt on a 3 and out. The Thunder did end up scoring on the drive as they marched down the field with Riggin Sand finishing it off on a 23 yard scamper into the endzone to make it 7-0. The Braves would go on a quick drive down the field going through the air and eventually capping it off with Toby George running in from 9 yards out on a double reversal to tie it at 7-7. Sand did not like that however as he returned the kick off all the way to inside the 25. Drew Thorpe would cap off the quarter with a 8 yard touchdown pass to Brogan Young in the endzone making it 14-7.
EEK would play staunch defense the entire 2nd quarter and extend there lead with Thorpe running in on a qb sneak up the middle from 2 yards out making it 20-7 at the half.
The 3rd quarter saw 28 points score between the 2 teams. Bottineau would switch there approach to a 5 wide shot gun formation to spread out the EEK secondary using it to deadly effeciency. They would scorch the Thunder through the air with big yardage gains before getting a touchdown with 9:57 left on the quarter on a 25 yard pass from Emerson Marum to Solberg to make it 20-14. The Thunder wouldn’t wait for a response as Young would recieve the ball at his own 20 yardline and go to the house on the kick return to make it 28-14 with 9:44 left. Solberg would recieve the ensuing kick and fumble the ball near his own 35 yardline where it would be pounced on by Micah Girard giving the Thunder prime field position. The Braves would however would stand firm and EEK would fumble the ball on a 4th and 1 attempt giving Bottineau the ball back. They would then march down the field going through the air again with the 5 wide empty backfield and continue to burn the secondary with Marum finishing the drive with a 7 yard touchdown pass to Solberg again making it 28-21. EEK would take their time on the next drive running down the field with Sand and Benet Giesley before Sand would punch the ball in from 6 yards out to make it 35-21 with 43 seconds left on the quarter.
The Braves started the 4th with a bang on a 73 yard touchdown pass to Bently Hahn late in a series of downs to make it 35-28 with 11:05 left. EEK wouldn’t be able to respond however and would use their final time out with 8 minutes left to go. Bottineau would drive down the field using the air again and a hook and ladder play on 4th down to get them into EEK territory before Solberg would catch his 3rd touchdown pass of the day on a 10 yard pass. They would convert the 2 point conversion to give Bottineau their first lead of the day at 36-35 with 4:22 left. EEK would march down the field with no time outs getting to inside the 5 with under 90 second left. They would run 3 plays to get inside the 1 with under 20 to go. Instead of giving the ball to Drew Thorpe for a quick qb sneak on 4th and goal they instead attempted to run their field goal unit onto the field with the clock running and no way to stop it. The unit wouldn’t be able to get set and the snap would be fumbled as well resulting in a penalty that was declined as Bottineau recoverd the fumble giving the Braves their 1st ever 11 man semifinal berth ever.
The Braves now head out to Killdeer next Saturday with a trip to the Fargodome on the line while the Thunder’s campaign comes to a close with a 9-2 record.