“Things didn't get off to a good start as our bus broke down on the way up and we were rushed to get on the field and it got worse when Frazee took the opening kick-off and scored,” said Underwood Head Coach Chuck Ross. “Give our kids credit for regrouping and staying the course and putting together a lot of nice drives.”

Broden Fleisher scored the first TD of the game at the 5:40 mark of the first quarter on a two yard run to give the Hornets a 6-0 lead.  Gardin’s 22 yard run with one minute left in the quarter tied the game and a two-point conversion run by Chase Janu gave the Rockets an 8-6 lead.  Underwood extended their lead to 22-6 at the half with a pair of TD’s a minute apart late in the second quarter.  Janu scored on a ten yard run and Wyatt Thorson followed with a two-point conversion run to put the score at 16-6, then Gardin connected with Tim Devaney on a 12-yard touchdown pass.

In the third quarter Gardin hit Winston Heifort with a 27-yard TD pass to make it 28-6.  Cole Fleisher then delivered a 16-yard TD pass to Broden Fleisher, cutting the lead to 28-12.  A minute later Zane Swanson ran the ball in from 32 yards out and Janu added the two-point conversion run to kick the lead up to 36-12.

Underwood took the lead to 44-12 when Gardin scored from a yard out with 6:45 left in the game and then added the two-point conversion.  Frazee concluded the scoring at 1:20 of the fourth on a 16 yard run by Mark Jaroszeski.

Underwood ran for 336 yards and compiled a total of 412 yards on the night.  Frazee had 207 total yards and 162 rushing yards.

Swanson ran for 133 yards on 9 carries and Gardin had 100 yards on 11 attempts.  Gardin also completed 4-of-5 passes for 76 yards and 2 scores.  Jaxon Rich (1-34) and Winston Heifort (1-27) were the top receivers for the Rockets.

“I thought Swanson really did a nice job of staying patient behind blockers and waiting for things to open up as he had a great night toting the ball,” noted Ross.  “I also have to give a lot of credit to our offensive line of Tyson Rieken, Noah Schleske, Joey Kupfer, Logan Aune, Logan Johansen, Winston Heifort, and Tim Devaney who did an outstanding job of opening holes. 

Heifort made an outstanding catch on his TD grab.  The defender was in the right spot and Winston made one heck of a grab.”

Defensively, Krosby Aasness had a team high 6.5 tackles, followed by Gardin with 6.  Janu and Devaney had 5.5 tackles and Janu picked off a pass.  Sacks were recorded by Heifort and Noah Schleske.

For Frazee, Brett Graham led the defense with 7 solo tackles.  Luke Tweeton led the Hornets rushing attack with 88 yards on 14 carries.  Caleb DeGroat added 61 yards on 18 carries.