Knights win finale, seeded second in 6AA

The West Central Area – Ashby Knights football team ended the regular season 7-1 after a 32-6 victory over Underwood in the finale on Wednesday, Oct. 20, in Barrett.

The Knights were seeded second behind top-seeded Osakis and both received a first round bye and will open the Section 6AA play in the semifinals. The Knights will play the winner of No. 3 Sauk Centre and No. 6 Pillager at 2 p.m. Oct. 30, in Barrett.

In the finale against Underwood, the teams combined for under 250 yards of total offense. The Knights’ defense held Underwood to 34 yards while the offense finished just under 200 at 196.

Junior Anthony Sykora opened the scoring with a pair of first-quarter touchdowns to get the Knights off to a 12-0 lead. He finished the game with 46 yards on eight carries.

Evan Paulson completed his only pass of the game in the second quarter, on a 30-yard touchdown pass to Cole Anderson. Carson Spangler broke loose for a 44-yard touchdown run to give the Knights a 26-0 halftime lead after Mattson Hoff ran in the two-point conversion.

Underwood came out of the half with possession and was able to erase the zero on the scoreboard. The Rockets put together a 50-yard drive, highlighted by runs of 13 and 10 by Logan Sheleske, who would get his number called again to cap off the drive with a three-yard score.

Back-up quarterback Brady Lindquist called his own number seven times on the same drive in the fourth quarter and found the end zone on a 14-yard scramble for the final score of the game. Lindquist finished with 39 yards.

Reubens Swanson led the Knights defense with five tackles. Sykora, Will Rustan and Sam Hanson added three each. Tyler Stone had 2.5 tackles for loss against the Rockets.

Section 6AAA semifinals are slated for Oct. 30 with the championship scheduled for Nov. 5, at the Fargodome in Fargo.

      WCA-A – 32

    Underwood – 6

VISITOR (3-5) 0 0 6 0 – 6

WCA/A(7-1) 12 14 0 6 – 32

Scoring Plays

W – Anthony Sykora 2 run (conversion failed)

W – Sykora 7 run (conversion failed)

W – Cole Anderson 30 pass from Evan Paulson (conversion failed)

W – Carson Spangler 44 run (Mattson Hoff run)

U – Logan Sheleske 3 run (conversion failed)

W – Brady Lindquist 14 run (conversion failed)

Underwood

First downs: 11… Penalties: 3-25… Rushing: Logan Shelske 12-40, Julian Umlauf 2-25, Collin Lukken 4-21, Blayre Lundren 3-15, Tristian Evavold 1-8, Conner Nelson 6-4, Jaxon Rich 2-1… Passing: Evan Lundgren 1-1-0-0… Receiving: Rich 1-0… Interceptions: none … Fumble recoveries: NA… Tackles (solo-assist): Evavold 4-1, Brock Hastling 2-2, Kaleb Hammes 3-0, Evan Lundgren 3-0… QB sacks: none

West Central Area-A

First downs: 10… Penalties: 1-5… Rushing: Anthony Sykora 8-46, Carson Spangler 1-44, Brady Lindquist 7-39, Evan Paulson 2-10, Mattson Hoff 2-10, Rubens Swanson 1-6, Sam Heeter 2-5, Nas Dotts 1-4, Jake Norby 2-2… Passing: Paulson 1-1-30-1, Colton Lindquist 0-1-0-0, Brady Lindquist 0-2-0-0… Receiving: Cole Anderson 1-30… Interceptions: none … Fumble recoveries: NA… Tackles (solo-assist): Swanson 4-2, Sykora 3-0, Will Rustan 2-2… QB sack: none