Dilly scored his first TD of the game on a six yard run with 9:19 left in the first quarter, capping a 9 play, 65 yard drive. He also scored the conversion run for an 8-0 OTC lead. Hancock then went 61 yards on 10 plays and quarterback Brady Luthi got into the end zone on a 2 yard run with 3 minutes left in the first quarter and the Owls pulled to within two points at 8-6.
In the second quarter, a 12 play, 82 yard scoring drive culminated in a one yard TD run by Jack Mekalson and a Mason Dalluge two-point run, giving the Bulldogs a 16-6 edge. Chase Evink scored on a 2 yard run on the tenth play of a 69 yard drive with 2:34 left in the half, making the score 16-12. On the first play of their next possession, Mekalson connected with Teigan Bjerke on a 67 yard TD pass for a 22-12 OTC lead. Hancock put the halftime score a 22-18 when Titus Bjerketvedt hauled in a 7 yard scoring toss from Luthi with no time on the clock.
The third quarter started with a wild first minute of play. A fumble by Hancock on the first play of the half led to a 4 yard TD run by Dilly and a two-point conversion run by Chris Fronning, increasing the OTC lead to 30-18. On the first play of the Owls next possession, Bjerketvedt caught a 58 yard halfback-option pass from Evink, bringing Hancock to within six points at 30-24, just 36 seconds into the second half. It was at that point OTC started to pull away. Dilly capped a 10 play, 63 yard scoring drive with a 5 yard touchdown run, his third of the day, with 2:15 remaining in the quarter. The Bulldogs led 36-24 after three.
A pair of Hancock fumbles led to two more OTC touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The first came on a 10 yard pass from Mekalson to Bjerke with 11:09 left in the game and the second on a 5 yard run by Dilly with 8:59 remaining. Fronning had a pair of successful two-point conversion runs following those scores and OTC won 52-24.
Ottertail Central will face Border West in the Section 4 9-Player Championship game on Thursday, November 2 at 11:30am at the Fargodome.