I-EC Tigers get win on the road

Ipswich-Edmunds Central improved to 2-0 with a 22-12 Lake Region Conference high school football victory over Northwestern Area last Friday in Mellette.

In a battle between two quite evenly-matched teams, Ipswich-Edmunds Central gradually took control of the line of scrimmage both ways.

Yes, the hosts had scored first after the two teams had vied for field position. Northwestern indeed got a two-yard TD pass from Gavin Bohl to Zech Clemens and a brief 6-0 lead with 1:38 left in the opening quarter. The hosts would also get on the board with a 41-yard strike from Bohl to Caleb Schentzel very late in the game.

But it would be too little too late, because in between those NW scores, Ipswich-EC had racked up 22 unanswered points, starting with Jordan Richardt's 22-yard touchdown reception from Ben Kulesa with 3:46 left in the half. (The PAT play failed, though, leaving the score deadlocked at 6-6.) The hosts then needed to punt and I-EC took over near midfield. Three plays later Kulesa found Jared Bjordal from 37 yards out and Luke Peterson ran in the PAT for a 14-6 I-EC lead with 1:17 remaining until halftime. Thanks to a Tiger defense that produced at least one goal line stand from very near its own end zone, that would have been all the Tigers really needed. But they added a third-quarter insurance Td run of five yards by Peterson as well as the PAT run.

Ipswich-EC finished with 136 rushing yards led by Riley Nehlich with 71 yards and Peterson was next with 34 followed by Kaden Hix with 32 yards. Kulesa finished a 9-19 passing effort of 176 yards, including the two touchdown strikes. He threw to Bjordal three times for 79 yards. Ipswich-Edmunds Central gained eight first downs.

Northwestern was held to 115 rushing yards, led by Bohl with 103. The hosts were 6-20 through the air for 91 yards.

Defensively, I-EC was led by Daniel Braun with 13 tackles and Nehlich was next with seven. Altogether, Ipswich-EC came up with 47 tackles, including five sacks. There were three Tiger interceptions, as well.

This dropped Northwestern to 0-2 overall and 0-2 in the LRC. Ipswich-EC indeed improved to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the LRC. The Tigers will go on the road for a crucial LRC battle on Friday in Langford. The Lions are 1-1 overall and 0-1 in league play.