Spartans outlast Wolves in battle of area foes
ANSLEY- - The Ansley-Litchfield Spartans rolled up 247 yards of rushing and 162 passing yards in a 56-22 victory over the Twin Loup Wolves on Sept.25 in Litchfield.
Coming out of the gate, it wasn’t the Spartans who led, but Twin Loup.
Custer County Chief All-Area team member Quade Young completed a pass for 28-yards and a score to Kade Bottorf. The two-point conversion pass to Nolan Osborn was good.
This was the first time in any game this year that the Wolves had a lead. For a team that hasn’t had a lot of success, it was a big moment.
“Our kids came out and played well and executed on that first drive,” Twin Loup head coach Mike Kozeal said. “It was the first time this season the team has led and they were very excited about accomplishing that.”
That joy would only last though for approximately 2:57. That how long it took Ansley-Litchfield to score two touchdowns.
The first came on a Leyton Rohde pass to Tycen Bailey for 42 yards and the second was a 38-yard pass and catch between the two. Both times the Spartans missed the extra point, giving them a 12-8 advantage.
Cooper Slingsby opened up the second quarter of play with a 45-yard touchdown run. This was followed up with the third touchdown pass and catch between Rohde and Bailey. This one went for 21 yards and a score.
With 23 seconds left, Rohde found another one of his favorite targets Caden Holm. It went for 28 yards and a touchdown. After the two-point conversion run by Sam Loy, the Spartans led 36-8 at halftime. To begin the third, Slingsby picked up where he left off in the first. For the second time in the game. he found the end zone. This time from 7 yards out.
Twin Loup was able to once again find the red zone early on in the third. Nolan Osborn was able to run the ball in from four yards and score. Young’s completed pass to Kade Bottorf on a two-point try made it 42-16.
The run continued to haunt the Wolves defense on the next possession.
Ansley-Litchfield moved the football down the field in big chunk runs. The drive was capped off with a 19-yard touchdown run to make it 50-16.
After Cody Nelson scored on a 13 yard run for the Spartans in the fourth, Twin Loup had one last scoring drive left in the tank.
The team was able to gain some momentum and move the ball inside the 15 of Ansley-Litchfield. Wayton McBride was able to score on an 11 yard run for the Wolves, but the two-point try was no good.
Leading the Spartans in passing was Rohde with six completions on seven passes for 160 yards and four touchdowns. Catching four of those passes was Bailey for 116 yards.
Larson led the team on the ground with 99 rushing yards, followed by Slingsby with 89 yards. Defensively, Larson had 6.5 tackles and Gavin Cole had six.
For the Wolves, Young had 112 rushing yards and a passing touchdown, and McBride had 13 rushing yards and a score.
Twin Loup is at Sandhills Valley in their next game and Ansley-Litchfield plays at D2 No.7 Sandhills-Thedford in Thedford.