Sometimes two points isn’t very much, but then again sometimes it is everything.
Last Friday night in Axtell, two points meant a victory for Axtell over the L-N Raider football team by a score of 22-20.
With the football schedule now about one-half over, fans are starting to look at district standings as well. For the L-N District the loss changed the standings as well. L-N had been leading, but after Friday, Axtell now leads a group of four schools with identical records. Axtell, L-N, Silver Lake and Kenesaw all have 3-2 records with point standings in line with the listing of schools mentioned. Blue Hill and Deshler round out the district schools.
The Axtell game was played there with autumn like conditions, cool with wet grounds from recent rains.
Quarter 1: This period ended scoreless, but L-N had possession of the ball for the last four plus minutes putting together a drive that ended on the Axtell 16 yard line when the period ended.
Quarter 2: If watching scoring is your favorite thing, this quarter was for you. The ball changed hands ten times and scoring was done on five of those possessions. Three TD’s by Axtell and two by L-N.
L-N scored first continuing a drive started in the first period. On the first play of the period, Jack Williams ripped off a 11 yd. run and three plays later Connor Janda completed a four yd. pass to Nolan Ostdiek for the first TD of the game. The PAT failed: 6-0
After and exchange of punts, Axtell scored on a 33 yd. pass play and added the PAT: 6-8.
L-N suffered a couple of penalties on their next possession and punted. Axtell had good field position and soon found running room for a 25 yd. TD play. The PAT failed: 6-14.
Janda had a good kickoff return and L-N started their possession near mid-field. Three running plays by Janda and Bayln Bargen led up to a 38 yd. T D pass from Janda to Nolan Ostdiek with 1:45 on the clock. The PAT again failed and the score was 12-14.
A person needed a computer to keep track of these last few seconds of the first half of play. • Axtell took 34 seconds off the clock and fumbled the ball to L-N. • L-N tried with all their heart, but turned the ball over on downs with 0:16 on the clock. These last 16 seconds saw L-N give up 15 yards on a penalty. • Axtell’s TD called back because of a penalty. • Then Axtell scoring a TD slipping and sliding with the clock running down to zero. The PAT was good and the score at half time was 12-22.
Quarter 3: This period was a puzzle. Each team had possession of the ball three times and L-N had 70 yards of offense while holding Axtell to only 4 positive yards of offense. Yet, only one TD came from L-N. It was a 32 yard pass from Janda to Bayln Bargen. The PAT was run by Janda. Several interesting plays in this period involved Caden Culbertson knocking down an Axtell pass; the Raider defensive linemen sacking the Axtell quarterback and a 21 yard run by Jack Williams. Quarter score: 20-22.
Quarter 4: Those two points might have just as well been 102 points. L-N did drive to the Axtell ten yard line early in the period, but could not convert a 4th down play. Neither team scored in this final period. Score: 20-22.
Game statistics:
Offense: Rushing: L-N 121 yds.; Axtell 103 yds.; L-N: Janda 70 yds. on 25 carries; Bargen 7 yds. on 2 carries; Williams 44 yds. on 7 carries.
Passing: Janda: 90 yds. on 8 of 17 passes.
Receptions: Williams: 2 for 8 yds.; Ostdiek: 4 for 44 yds.; Bayln: 2 for 38 yds.
Total offense: L-N 211 yds.; Axtell: 172 yds.
Defense: (A-assisted) (U-unassisted): Caden Culbertson 2A, 1U; Cody Funk 1 A, 1 for a loss; Bayln Bargen 3 A, 2 U; Roy Davidson 4 A, 2 A and 1 for a loss; Connor Janda 4 A, 2 U; Jack Williams 6A, 5 U; Nolan Ostdiek 4 A; Rocky Miller 2 A, 6U and one for a loss; Cody Brockman 1 A.
This week’s game is another important game as Kenesaw come to visit with its 3-2 record. Come one and all for a fun evening.
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