Sports
That’s a wrap
Matthew Semisch
09/16/2014
WESTHOPE - The Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn football team didn’t lose very often last year, finishing the 2013 regular season with only two defeats before making a run to the nine-man state title game.
The first of those losses a year ago came in Crosby, N.D. in the form of a 30-6 pasting at Divide County. The Sioux went into the game with a 3-0 record and plenty of confidence, but that rout at the Maroons’ hands knocked W-N-G back down to earth.
When the nine-man Region 3 rivals met again on Friday in Westhope, a 36-6 W-N-G win allowed the Sioux to turn the tables.
“Divide showed us some things last year that we hadn’t seen and exposed some of our weaknesses,” W-N-G head coach Tom Nesvold said, “And we weren’t ready for them.
“We’d been flying high going into that game but then you make that long road trip and we got full of ourselves and they hit us in the mouth, and we made damn sure this year that they didn’t do that again.”
After a largely forgettable first 10 minutes of the teams’ rematch, W-N-G stepped up on both sides of the ball and never really truly the Maroons get into a groove.
The Sioux led 16-0 after Friday’s first quarter, and both of those scores came within the final 2:06 of the game’s opening frame.
W-N-G’s first touchdown of the game came on the back of a special teams mistake by the Maroons.
A botched snap on a Divide County punt attempt resulted in a fumble that saw the Sioux take over at the visitors’ four yard line. Seconds later, W-N-G quarterback Reese Schell ran the ball in from two yards out to put his team in front.
The Sioux then quickly doubled their lead before the first quarter came to a close. After forcing the Maroons to punt on their next drive after Schell’s opening touchdown, the W-N-G signal caller connected with wide receiver Trent Marquart on a 30-yard touchdown pass as time expired.
W-N-G then extended its lead to 22-0 with 5:22 left in the second quarter. This third touchdown of the night was the Sioux’s second through the air, as Schell found 6-foot-9 tight end Dustin Weeks on a 31-yard heave over the middle of the field.
Schell then stayed out on the gridiron for a third two-point conversion attempt of the game, but that one failed.
It wasn’t long after halftime before The Sioux moved out even further in front. Only 1:43 into the third quarter, Schell hit wide receiver Chance Kitzman on a 40-yard bomb to make the lead 28-0 before W-N-G nailed a fourth two-point conversion attempt.
This was unquestionably Schell’s best game yet in his first year starting under center for the Sioux. He finished the game 8-for-12 passing for 153 yards and two touchdowns, and he also ran for 53 yards and a third score on the ground.
The gap was increased 1:51 into the fourth quarter when Sioux running back Chase Conway scored on a 45-yard touchdown jaunt.
The Maroons finally got onto the board with 5:32 left in the third quarter through a seven-yard touchdown run from fullback Evan Eriksmoen. Further cuts into the deficit, however, never materialized.
The Sioux will try to extend their record to 5-0 on Friday when they visit Dunseith (3-1).