Knights are one step away from first State Final
PLEASANTON - Class D2 No. 5 Sandhills Thedford has moved one step closer to making the state finals with a convincing 50-8 defeat of D2 No. 9 Pleasanton on the road in the quarterfinals of the D2 state football playoffs on Nov. 6. It was the second time this season the Knights have defeated the Bulldogs on their home turf.
S-T was able to open the run game up early behind their trustee power back in junior Dane Pokorny. He was able to bully his way up the middle for four yards and the score to get the Knights on the board first.
On S-T next offensive possession, Grant Ahlstrom was able to find Reece Zutavern in the back of the end zone with a 13-yard touchdown pass. Zutavern was also able to run in for two on the conversion extending the lead to 14-0.
The Knights were able to come up with a huge turnover deep in Bulldog territory when a backward pass by Pleasanton was dropped and recovered by Lan Wilde around the 15.
Pokorny was able to turn the turnover into six more points for S-T on a five yard run up the middle. After the failed twopoint try the Knights led 20-0.
Ahlstrom connected on his second passing score of the game with a tenyard toss to Drew McIntosh. Zutavern was able to haul in the two-point conversion pass from Ahlstrom extending the lead.
“On offense, I thought our passing game was the difference, we ran the ball effectively but when we had to throw we created some big plays in the passing game to keep the ball going down the field,” Deines said. “That really opened things up for Dane, Reece, and Seth in the backfield to get some big runs as the game went on.”
Right before halftime, the Knights were able to get one more score to pad their lead on a big play. It came from junior Seth Scranton who broke free for a 42-yard touchdown.
Heading into the break S-T led Pleasanton 34-0.
The big play opportunities continued to present themselves in the third quarter when Zutavern broke loose around the outside for a 60-yard score. The two-point try was successful as S-T got in on a run by Pokorny.
Zutavern was able to pick up an 11-yard rushing touchdown at the end of the third. He also ran in the football on the twopoint try making it 50-0 after three.
With the game well in hand, the Knights began subbing in reserve players in the fourth.
They were held scoreless on offense and gave up one touchdown to the Bulldogs. It came on a two-yard run by Treven Wendt.
Overall, S-T was able to get another solid performance by their defense. They did a great job of containing Tyce Westland who is by far the most explosive player for the Bulldogs. He is a Wyoming Cowboy football recruit for 2021.
He had one carry for zero yards and only had one catch for 22 yards.
“The biggest thing for us in getting the win again against a really good Pleasanton team was to limit their big plays,” Deines said. “We knew going in they would change stuff up from the first time we played them to try and create some bigplay opportunities, and they had a couple here and there. One of the best things we did was keep the ball out of Westland hands. He’s an extremely talented kid and I thought our defense did a really good job of identifying where he was at all times and taking him away.”
Leading the Knights was Pokorny on the ground with 163 rushing yards and two scores and Zutavern with 89 rushing yards and two scores. Ahlstrom had 83 passing yards and two touch
downs and both Zutavern and McIntosh had a receiving score.
Reed McFadden had two sacks on defense and Andrew Furrow and Brayton Branic had one sack. Finishing with six tackles was McFadden, Kaden Haake, and Brayden Guggenmos.
S-T opponent for the
semifinals is D2 No. 3 Fall City Sacred Heart. The Irish will make the fivehour trek from Eastern Nebraska to play at 5 p.m. on Nov. 13 in Dunning.
“FCSH is a very talented team and they’re very well-coached. We have to limit their big plays on offense, they have a really fast QB that is good at
extending plays and finding the open guy and a big offensive line that blocks well upfront,” Deines said. “On defense, we have to block their LB’s well, those guys make a lot of plays for them and we need to block them to get our running game going.”