With the end score of 36-18, Neligh-Oakdale beat the Crofton Warriors football team in tough weather conditions on Friday, September 9.
The Warriors kicked the ball off to start the first quarter. On their first drive, it only took three plays for Neligh-Oakdale to score and convert the two-point conversion to make it 8-0.
Crofton was stopped right away on their first possession and was forced to punt. After Neligh-Oakdale stopped the Warriors, they made their way down the field, scored another touchdown, and made the two-point conversion to bring the score to 16-0. When the Warriors got the ball back, Neligh-Oakdale stopped them and forced them to punt again.
Neligh-Oakdale was pushing the ball down the field, but Crofton was able to stop them on a turnover on downs.
At the start of the second quarter, the Warriors had a long drive and marched their way to the end zone to make the score 16-6. Senior Simon McFarland ran it in, but couldn’t convert the two-point conversion. When Neligh-Oakdale was receiving the kickoff, they dropped the ball and the Warriors were able to recover it for another possession close to the end zone. Neligh-Oakdale was able to stop Crofton on downs and got the ball right back.
Neligh-Oakdale scored on their next possession and made the two-point conversion to bring the score to 24-6. At the end of the half, the score was 24-6 in favor of Neligh-Oakdale.
On Crofton‘s first possession of the third quarter, McFarland threw the ball to junior Jace Foxhoven for a touchdown. The Warriors couldn’t get the two-point conversion which made the score 24-12. On Neligh-Oakdale’s first possession of this quarter, the Warriors were able to stop them and force a punt. On Crofton’s next drive, McFarland ran it into the end zone to make the score 24-18. The Warriors couldn’t make the two-point conversion. The last drive of the third quarter, Neligh-Oakdale ran it into the end zone. The two point conversion was no good which made the score 30-18.
Crofton was pushing up the field on the first drive of the fourth quarter but was stopped and forced to punt the ball. Neligh-Oakdale used their next possession and scored another touchdown but couldn’t run in the two-point conversion.
The Warriors couldn’t get anywhere on their drive and had a turnover on downs. Neligh-Oakdale ran down the clock on their next possession and won the game 36-18. After the game, senior Garret Buschkamp said they started off the game pretty flat so the hardest part of the game was trying to build momentum through the game. He said they did a good job of putting mistakes behind them and moving onto the next play.
For Neligh-Oakdale, #1 Aiden Kuester scored five touchdowns with 90 rushing yards and 167 passing yards. For Crofton, McFarland led the teams with 112 passing yards and 76 rushing yards. McFarland and junior Will Steffen led the team in tackles having 9 and 8 respectively.
Crofton’s Warriors will play Hartington-Newcastle (0-3) on the road on Friday, September 16 at 7:00 p.m.
Junior Will Steffens (7) at quarterback and Sophomore Wyatt Tramp (35) in the
backfield.