Paint the Town Red

by Alex Haug | October 4, 2022 9:48 am

The gridiron continues to lay in the Antler’s hands after the Antlers handled the Wolves in a 49-35 victory. Elkhorn remains dominant in the cross-town rivalry between Elkhorn and Elkhorn North 

Although Elkhorn North drew the first blood, driving down the field in a minute and a half and capping off with a Josh Basilevac 5-yard quarterback sneak, the Antlers were quick to respond. A 69-yard breakaway from Senior running back KJ Schenck after the second play from scrimmage in the Elkhorn drive. 

Elkhorn North would respond with a 2-yard touchdown run with 30 seconds left on the clock in the first quarter. In a devastating mistake, Elkhorn North’s Chase Loftin kicked the ball off to Junior Andrew Salvatore. In a feat of speed and agility, he ran endzone to endzone avoiding swaths of men along the way for an Antler Touchdown to make the score 14-14 to end quarter one. 

After ending the first quarter with all the momentum, the second quarter was all Elkhorn High, outscoring North 21-7. Senior Cooper Fedde led this dominating quarter-off with a 43-yard run. 

The Antler defense did not take their foot off the gas as they picked off Josh Basilevac to give the ball back to the Antler’s red-hot offense as they capped off another beautiful drive, filled with great Connor Hunt passing, with an 8-yard rush from the young running back Elliott Beister who continues to impress coaches. 

Elkhorn North was hoping the clock would run out to only be down seven at halftime since High would get the ball to start the second half. But, just before the clock hit 0:00, Fedde found a gap and dusted the Wolves’ defense for 77 yards, and took a two-touchdown lead.

A very defensive third quarter filled with turnovers from both sides keeps the score at 35-21 heading into the final quarter.

The Antlers would extend their lead just minutes into the fourth quarter with a Hunt 13-yard rushing touchdown. 

Down 35-21 it was the Wolves’ last chance to keep the game within grasp. Yet on a pivotal fourth down from the Antlers 38, Elkhorn’s defense would stand tall on fourth down and a Ben Reynolds sack would bring a turnover on downs for the struggling Wolves offense. Schenck put the nail in the coffin with a 61-yard rush to the house to seal the win for the Antlers and put them up 49-21 with 7 minutes left in the game. 

The Wolves tried to battle back with two touchdowns in the final minutes, but it was too little too late. As time ran out, the Antlers assumed their dominance once again, as the final score was 49-35 Elkhorn High.

Going into this game, it was coach Feicket’s goal to win the turnover battle and limit interceptions and costly fumbles. The Antlers did a better job of this with only one turnover from a fumble doting the stat sheet. 

Schenck and Fedde both rushed for over 100 yards and averaged over 10 yards per carry as the Elkhorn High ground game stayed solid with a team total of 48 rushes for 458 yards and a 10.3 average yards per carry. Hunt also rushed for 9 rushes and 71 yards while going 3 for 5 with 40 yards through the air. 

The Antlers improve to 4-2 and travel to Blair on Friday the 7th for an inter-conference battle.

Source URL: https://antler.express/9298/sports/paint-the-town-red/