Ipswich-Edmunds Central wins football season opener

Ipswich-Edmunds Central opened its 2018 campaign with a home-field 36-14 non-conference high school football win over Tiospa Zina last Friday.

Field position played a role in several of the scores, and the Tigers were able to capitolize right away, courtesy of a Carter Heinz fumble recovery at the visitors 24. They needed several plays to manufacture their short drive, but capped it with a Riley Nehlich three-yard TD carry with 8:35 remaining in the opening quarter. Jordan Richardt caught Ben Kulesa's pass for the conversion and an 8-0 Tiger lead.

The Tiger defense got into the act with a three-and-out and the visitors were forced to punt. Three plays later Kulesa went to the air and hooked up with Daniel Braun for a 66-yard touchdown with 3:45 still left in the opening quarter. Kaden Hix ran in those PAT points for a 16-0 Tiger lead, which would have then been enough, if the Tigers hadn't scored any more. But the local favorites weren't quite done yet. They again forced a punt and started a productive drive at their own 38. Kulesa and Braun capped it, connecting on another aerial TD play, this one from 16 yards out with 10:27 showing on the second-quarter scoreboard clock.

Later in the half, Ipswich-Edmunds Central started near midfield and steadily manufactured a seven-play drive, ending with a short touchdown completion from Kulesa to Braun with :44 left in the half. That left the hosts with a 28-0 lead entering intermission.

Ipswich-Edmunds Central then started from near midfield after receiving the second-half kickoff. The hosts quickly drove to the TZ 38, where Kulesa launched his fourth touchdown missile of the night, this time to Jared Bjordal and the senior quarterback also found Braun alone in the endzone for a 36-0 I-EC lead, which stood throughout the rest of the third stanza.

However, Tiospa Zina had shown some signs of offense at different junctures of the game and was finally able to put things together for a pair of touchdown drives in the final quarter.

Meanwhile, Ipswich-Edmunds Central ended up with a balanced offensive attack with 177 aerial yards, thanks to a 11-16 effort by Kulesa including the four TD plays and a 172-rushing-yards evening. Kulesa also led that ground attack with 70 yards. Next was Carson Gohl with 39 yards. Braun was Kulesa's favorite receiver with five grabs for 101 yards and a game-high three TD receptions.

Ipswich-Edmunds Central ended up with 10 first downs and the Tiospa Zina Wambdi, six.

Defensively, I-EC racked up 51 tackles with a very balanced effort, led by Nehlich with seven and Kulesa and Reece Moehlenbrink with six apiece. The team included four sacks and one interception, that by Bjordal.

The win lifted the Tigers to 1-0 in the young season and Tiospa Zina fell to 0-1. The I-EC gridders will next travel to Northwestern for a Lake Region Conference clash on Friday.