Northland Sports Online

South Ridge Drops State Opener

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Dwight Cadwell – NSO

 

Duluth- The Rangers of Mountain Iron- Buhl put together an impressive show Friday night at Public Schools Stadium as the Rangers knocked of the South Ridge Panthers 42-6 in the state quarterfinals of the 9-Man football tournament.

Senior running back Dillon Drake averaged 10.1 yards per carry on his way to 242 yards rushing on the night and he scored four of the Rangers six touchdowns. He had two rushing touchdowns, one of 81 yards and his second was a 42 yard run. Drake also added a touchdown reception of 19 yards and also returned an interception 61 yards for his fourth score of the night.

Sam Lokken opened the scoring for the Rangers with a 5 yard touchdown run with 5:16 remaining in the first quarter which seemed to ignite not only the Rangers offense but their defense as well. MIB then scored on their next three possessions while using a pressure defense to control South Ridge and their offense.

“They really knew what to do defensively,” Head Coach Brent Johnson of the Panthers said. “We couldn’t get anything going offensively and they shut down Connor form the start which made it hard on us.”

With the Rangers leading 6-0 Drake scored three consecutive second quarter touchdowns, two rushing and one receiving to give MIB a 28-0 lead at halftime.

“We had to punt six times on the night and only converted two or three times on third down.” Johnson recalled. “MIB just used a pounding ground attack and we couldn’t stop it but our kids played hard and we are proud of this team and their success.”

Drake’s fourth touchdown of the game was the only score in the third quarter as he picked off a Riley Kinsley pass and returned it for the score. Ranger quarterback closed out the scoring for MIB as Asher Zubich scored on a two yard run.

South Ridge’s only touchdown came late in the fourth quarter when they game had all been but decided when Westin Strochein scored from 19 yards away.

MIB amasses 586 yards of total offense on the night, with 428 coming on the back of Drake. South Ridge completed only two passes on the evening for 16 yards, and Matt Clark led the rushing attack with 6 carries for 37 yards.

South Ridge ended the season with an 8-3 record overall. MIB moves on to the state quarterfinals where they will meet Hancock at 11:30 am on Thursday morning.

 

 

 

 

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