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Tigers Fall to Wheaton in Homecoming Game

By Craig Olson, 09/22/18, 10:15AM CDT

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The Rothsay Tigers hosted the Wheaton Herman-Norcross Warriors on their homecoming Friday night.  The large crowd was loud as they cheered on their 2-1 Tigers. The 3-0 Warriors hoped to play spoiler as they have been impressive early in their season.  

The Tigers kicked off in the first half and started the game on defense.  The defense responded in the opening possession forcing an interception on a 3rd down and 8 to give the Tigers their first chance to score.  

Rothsay took their running attack all the way to the goal line but fall just short of taking a lead failing to convert a 4th down and 3 yards from the 9 yard line.  The Tigers defense looked promising early looking to get the ball back with good field position but a 17 yard gain on 3rd and 8 started a long drive to give the Warriors the lead early in the 2nd quarter by picking up two big pass plays, the last on a 27 yard touchdown pass.  The 2-point attempt failed and the scoreboard read 6-0.  

The next drive it was the Warrior defense that made the big plays forcing a turnover on downs.  After another big pass play they found themselves in position for another score, reaching the end zone on a 10 yard pass.  The extra point was good this time and the Warriors led 14-0.  With eight minutes left in the half the Tigers needed to sustain a long drive and cut the lead down.  After 15 plays and using the rest of the halftime clock the Tigers fell short again deep in Warrior territory and the halftime score would remain 14-0. 

“We established drives but couldn’t put it away,” said Rothsay Head Coach Josh Nordick. “We could have gone into halftime with the lead if we could have finished them.” 

The Tigers got another chance to cut the lead as they received the opening kick of the second half and marched down the field ending up on the goal line.  The Warrior defense tightened up once again stopping Rothsay on a 4th and 1 from the 3 yard line.  After getting a little breathing room the Warriors were forced to punt it back to the Tigers, who traded a punt back a few plays later.  With the 3rd quarter rapidly coming to a close the Tigers needed a big stop and a score to keep hope alive.  They got it at the beginning of the 4th quarter via fumble and took the ball at the Warrior 30 yard line.  They finally found the end zone on a 3rd and goal from the 4 yard line.  The 2-point attempt failed and the Warriors led 14-6 with 7 minutes left.  

Wheaton Herman-Norcross soon gained the two score advantage back as they chewed up the clock and finished with a score to increase the lead to 22-6 and that wound up as the final score with the Warriors improving to 4-0 on the season. 

“It was an emotional game for us,” Nordick said.   “We came together as a team and played our best game of the year.  It just wasn’t enough to overcome our mistakes and missed opportunities.  I am very pleased with our boys as they played with a lot of passion and fought hard until the end.” 

The offensive leaders for Rothsay were Jacob Christ with 21 carries for 121 yards and 1TD and Colby Larson with 24 carries for 128 yards.

Defensively, Ethan Curtis had 9 tackles, Jacob Christ 11 tackles and 1 Fumble recovery, and

Tanner Keep added 8 tackles.