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Pirates Prevail Against Rockets to Win Section 4 9-Man Title

By Craig Olson, 11/02/18, 10:00PM CDT

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The Verndale Pirates repeated as Section 4 9-Man champions when they recorded a 12-0 shutout victory over the Underwood Rockets on Friday at the Fargodome.

 

"I was very proud of the way our kids played today," commented Underwood Head Coach Chuck Ross.  "They played with a lot of heart and determination, never gave up, but today Verndale was the better team.  Our fans were incredible!  What a turnout and they were a big inspiration all game long."

Verndale scored on the fifth play of the game when Jake Ismil carried the ball into the end zone from the two yard line.  A 59-yard run by Matthew Steege put the Pirates at the five yard line, setting up the short TD run.

Underwood sustained three long drives during the first half, but failed to score on any of them.  Despite having twice as many offensive plays as the Pirates in the first half, the Rockets trailed 6-0 at the break.

Fumbles on back-to-back possessions to start the second half hurt Underwood as Verndale capitalized on the second fumble, taking over on the Rockets 34 yard line and scoring on the tenth playof the drive when Jackson Weniger hauled in a six yard pass from Tate Bounds with just seventeen seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Underwood had 191 yards on the day with 126 coming on the ground.  Wyatt Thorson had a team high 51 yards on 11 carries.  Levi Blaskowski hauled in four passes for 66 yards and Daxton Olson completed 5-of-14 passes for 65 yards.

Leaders for Verndale were Matthew Steege (15 carries, 107 yards) and Jarrett Kveton (21 carries, 76 yards).  Bounds completed 6-of-9 passes for 41 yards.  Verndale had 218 total yards with 177 coming on the ground.

Verndale will play in the 9-Man state quarterfinals against Mountain Lake Area on Friday at 7:00pm in Buffalo.