Thunder Fall To Pioneers 35-0

Oct 2

Kerry Rodd-NSO

Saturday’s Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College Thunder football game had all the drama a first place game should. Both the Thunder and Northland’s Pioneers were playing for a share of first place in the northern division of the MCAC. The Pioneers featured a run game that is first in the MCAC and the Thunder a combination passing attack and running game that keeps teams guessing. By the time things cleared the Pioneers had gained a significant 35-0 road win.

The first half was a game of the cat and mouse as the Pioneers continually tried to pound the ball down the throat of the Thunder defense, and the Thunder trying to use a quick strike passing game. The only score of the first half came when Tyron Cheeseboro slipped in off right tackle to score with just 3:48 left in the half for a 7-0 lead.

Things started falling apart for the Thunder in the first drive of the second half. After kicking off to Northland, the Pioneers faced a fourth and four year situation and elected to run a fake punt that resulted in a first down. Eventually the Pioneers scored after driving 74-yards the drive culminated on a James Gant 8-yard touchdown run.

Before the quarter ended the Thunder had given up two more scores and trailed 28-0 as the Pioneers continually ran to the right side of their offense and powered the football down the field.

The fourth quarter saw the Pioneers score early, but then the Thunder defense stiffened the rest of the way, but by then the damage was too much to overcome.

The loss drops the Thunder to 3-3 on the season.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com