EDGELEY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Ellendale/Edgeley-Kulm used a stifling defense and freshman quarterback Adam Nitschke threw two touchdown passes to Jace Hanson as the Thunder picked downed Lisbon 26-6 for their first win of the year.
Nitschke came on in relief of starter Cale Mathern in the first half and hit on 11 of 21 passes for 177 yards.
The Thunder scored first following a Jordan Sours fumble. Dilan Madcke scored on a five yard run. After the extra point, it was 7-0 home team.
It looked like EEK was heading in for another scored following a 30 yard completion from Nitschke to Jorgen Paulson to the Lisbon one yard line. But on the next play, Madcke had the ball stripped from his arms into the waiting arms of Bronco linebacker Luke Dollizon who took it 98 yards for the score.
But not to be out done, the Thunder would go back up by a touchdown when Nitschke found Jace Hanson over the middle. The fleet wide receiver did the rest taking it 75 yards for the touchdown to give Ellendale/Edgeley/Kulm a 13-6 lead at the half. In the first half, the Thunder defense held the Broncos to 15 total yards and no first downs.
In the second half, Paulson would cap 14 play drive with a one yard run with 18.1 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Then Nitschke and Hanson would team up again on a nine yarder for the final margin of victory.
Hanson finished with 99 yards on four carries. Paulson led the ground game with 65 yards on seven carries.
Lisbon came in to the game averaging 227 yards a game on the ground. The finished with 103 yards tonight, with 44 coming on the final play of the game by Jordan Sours. Sours had 47 yards on 12 carries while Hunter Schultz finished with 48 yards on 11 carries.
Ellendale/Edgelely-Kulm is now 1-2 in Region 1 and 1-3 overall. They travel to Fargo to play Oak Grove next week. Lisbon, now 1-2 in the region and 1-3 overall, will travel to Northern Cass to face the Jaguars. That will be the Game of the Week on Thunder Country 98.3 and NewsDakota.com. Pregame at 6:45 with the kickoff at 7pm