Dighton Ousts Sylvan-Lucas
DIGHTON-Carson Shimer passed for 145 yards and three touchdowns and Max Neeley scored four touchdowns as the Dighton Hornets blew past Sylvan-Lucas 52-28 in the second round of the 8-Man Division ll Playoffs Friday evening at Ringe Field.
Sylvan-Lucas opened the game with a six-play 57-yard drive that culminated with a 17-yard halfback option touchdown pass from Drayse Walter to Valden Dohl giving the Mustangs a 6-0 lead after the two-point try was no good. Dighton answered with a nine-play 51-yard series that ended when Shumer found Jack Jenkinson from 13 yards out and after a successful two-point try, the Hornets held an 8-6 lead after the first 12 minutes.
Dighton widened its lead to 14-6 early in the second quarter when Shimer ran in a touchdown from 10 yards out. Sylvan-Lucas though answered with a five-play, 55-yard drive capped off by a 35-yard run by Dohl who had not had a rushing attempt for the whole season to that point. The two-point conversion however failed and the Mustangs still trailed 14-12 with 4:40 remaining in the first half. Dighton then closed out the quarter with two more touchdowns in the final 1:40 on two Shimer scoring passes of 23 and 13 yards to Jenkinson and Neeley respectively to open up a 30-12 lead at halftime.
The Hornets scored again on their first possession of the third quarter despite three straight penalties when Neeley rumbled in from 32 yards out to grow the advantage to 38-12. The Mustangs found the end zone again with 5:08 to go in the third quarter when Fullback Blaine Lamb scored from four yards away to cut the Sylvan-Lucas deficit to 38-20. Dighton then responded once more on a four-yard run by Neeley for a 44-20 lead after three quarters.
The teams then traded touchdowns again in the fourth quarter with Sylvan-Lucas' last score of the season coming courtesy of a 32-yard touchdown pass from Quarterback Lane Homewood to Dohl before Dighton provided the final margin of victory with a two-yard run by Neeley.
Sylvan-Lucas (7-3) tallied 202 of their 308 yards of offense on the ground with Homewood the leading ground gainer with 69 yards. Homewood also completed five of eight passing attempts for 89 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Dohl caught four passes for 96 yards and two scores.
Dighton (10-0) was led on the ground by Neeley's 116 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Neeley also caught eight passes for 82 yards and a touchdown and Jenkinson hauled in four receptions for 63 yards and a pair of scores. The Hornets with Friday night's victory, claimed a Regional championship and advanced to the 8-Man Division ll Quarterfinals next Friday, November 11 against Wallace County which thrashed Bucklin on Friday 56-8.
Sylvan-Lucas sees their season end in the second round for the fourth time in five years. Friday's game marked the final one in a Mustang uniform for seniors Jase Labertew, Zach Ryan, Geriun Boor and Dohl.