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Pirates Top Trojans in Playoff Opener

By Craig Olson, 10/23/19, 12:15AM CDT

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Verndale scored 24 first quarter points on the way to a 44-6 win over Ortonville on Tuesday night in the quarterfinal round of the Section 4 9-Man playoffs.

The Pirates got on the board at 10:25 of the first quarter when Craig Orlando broke free for a 55-yard touchdown run.  Jake Ismil ran in the two-point conversion to give Verndale an 8-0 lead.  With 6:08 remaining in the quarter Dilan Orlando carried the ball in from the one-yard line and Ismil scored the two-point conversion. With 1:32 left in the quarter Giden Ervasti scored on a 3-yard run and Jaden Finck hauled in the two-point conversion pass from Dilan Orlando, putting the Pirates in front 24-0.

A second quarter TD run of 9 yards from Craig Orlando, followed by a PAT pass from Dilan Orlando to Brandon Greenwaldt increased the lead to 32-0.  Ortonville got on the scoreboard with two minutes to play in the half when Tagen Zepeda caught a pass from Peter Treinen.

In the third quarter Gideon Ervasti scored on a 3-yard run and Verndale finished the scoring on a 79-yard run by Craig Orlando with 9:38 to play in the fourth quarter.

Verndale ended up with 347 rushing yards and 56 passing yards for a total of 403 yards.  They were led by Craig Orlando with 227 yards on 14 carries.  Ervasti added 72 yards on 14 rushing attempts.  Finck caught two passes for 39 yards and Dilan Orlando completed 4-of-14 passes for 56 yards.

Ortonville had 290 total yards with 175 coming through the air and 115 on the ground.