The Pender Football team defeated Homer 46-40 at home Friday night.
The Knights jumped out to a 19-12 lead at the end of the first quarter, and won the second quarter 15-14 to take a 34-26 lead into the locker room.
The Pendragons shutout Homer 6-0 in the third quarter to make it a 34-32 game at the end of three.
Pender outscored the Knights 14-6 in the fourth quarter.
Brady Oliver was 17-31 passing for 155 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. Tyler Nelson hauled in 6 passes for 78 yards, and scored two touchdowns.
Jared Tyrell carried the ball 12 times for 112 yards, and scored twice. Korbin Hardenbrook ran the ball 11 times for 66 yards with a score.
Hardenbrook led the way with 15 tackles while Oliver and Jaydon Jump totaled 9 and 8, respectively. Layne Heese made 7.
The Pendragons amassed 383 yards of total offense, 228 coming on the ground. The defense surrendered 368 yards of total offense, including 229 rushing.
Pender played well defensively in the second half and did a nice job picking up the win, but this game was closer than it should have been.
The Pendragons (2-2) travel to Winnebago (0-4) to take on the Indians Friday night.
The Indians lost 28-6 at Hartington-Newcastle last Friday night.
Winnebago is coming off three straight road games and hasn't been home in over a month so you can bet the Indians will be fired up and ready to go for this one.
Pender's defense has to be much better than it was against Homer.
The Pendragons are too talented and good to lose this game, yet based on the way both teams have played lately it could be a very close contest.
Pender has to come out flat out angry and upset, and must stuff Winnebago's run game and defend the passing game well too.
The Pendragons have to hit hard and tackle well.
Pender must make the Indians drive the length of the field and not give up big chunk plays.
The Pendragons have to do what they did offensively last week too, which is having really good balance.
Limiting turnovers and penalties will also be key, in my opinion.
There's no reason why Pender shouldn't be able to play a complete, four quarter game in this one.
This is a big one for the Pendragons with Neligh-Oakdale coming up next week.
It's a must win for Pender if you ask me. The Pendragons absolutely must have this game if they want to be able to host a first round playoff game.
Pender has to get back to playing the type of football they were when they played Clarkson/Leigh. I don't think the Pendragons have been the same type of team since that game.
Perhaps the solid defense displayed in the second half of last week's game will allow this Pender team to play a complete game and get back on track.
When it's all said and done, I look for the Pendragons to find a way to pull one out against Winnebago.
No comments:
Post a Comment