Ellendale, ND (NewsDakota.com) – The Oakes Tornadoes came up a yard short against the Ellendale/Edgeley/Kulm Thunder with under 90 seconds left as they would end up falling by a final score of 28-20.

The Thunder would almost throw an interception on the opening play of the game however after being bobbled it’d end up being caught by Joseph Kramlich resulting in a big gain. The Thunder would then drive down the field and end with Ivan Carruth pounding the ball into the endzone from the 1 yard line for the touchdown with 8:30 to go in the 1st. On the following drive, on the 2nd play of the drive for Oakes, Carter Ptacek would fumble the ball resulting in EEK having excellent field position. Carruth would get his 2nd touchdown of the night by rushing it in from 7 yards out making it 14-0. Oakes would get a breath of life as they’d drive down the field after a great kick return brought to the 50 yard line. Ptacek would then run the ball in from 15 yards out to cut the lead in half making it 14-7. That score would hold for the rest of the quarter.

Oakes would get the only scoring play in the 2nd quarter as Beau Thorpe would connect with Ptacek again from 36 yards out to tie the game at 14 all. The score at the half would be 14-14.

EEK would go back to Ivan Carruth in the 3rd as he’d once again run into the end zone this time from 3 yards out to make it 21-14 at the end of 3 quarters play. Oakes would march down the field with the help of Chris Titus and Thorpe to get into the redzone. Thorpe would then find Titus from 8 yards out to get into the end zone. A missed extra point would allow the Thunder to keep a 1 point lead at 21-20. The Thunder would then get the ball back and slowly march down the field converting several 3rd and long scenarios. They’d end up scoring on a 7 yard quarterback keeper from Drew Thorpe making it 28-20. Oakes would once again march down the field and get into the red zone and inside the 10 yard line. However they were unable to convert a 3rd and 4th and 3 ending a yard short giving EEK the ball with under 90 seconds left allowing the Thunder to win the game.

The Bank North Player of the Game was Chris Titus due to his offensive and defensive night.

The Thunder are now 3-0 for the first time since 2017 and the first time beating Oakes since 2016. The Tornadoes are now 0-2 for the first time since 2021.

Next up for Oakes is Northern Cass next Friday in Hunter. You can catch all the action on KDDR The Tornado with pregame starting at 6:30 pm and kickoff at 7:00 pm.