From Mark McKenzie
LAMOURE, ND. (NewsDakota.com) – The defending champs in North Dakota 9-Man high school football is one step closer to back to back titles after LaMoure-Litchville-Marion blasted Surrey 43-8 on Saturday in the quarterfinals in LaMoure.
The Loboes jumped up early as they scored touchdowns on their first three possessions and built the lead to 22-8 at halftime.
Freshman Gunner Thielges hauled in two first half TD passes from Senior QB Anthony Hanson, one from 11 yards and another from four yards. Sandwiched in between was a one yard TD run from Hanson.
The Mustangs were hurt by three first half turnovers and that trend carried over to the second half.
LLM Senior RB Brady Lettenmaier broke loose for a 16 yard TD run early in the third to extend the lead to 30-8, and after yet another Surrey turnover, Hanson finished off a 10 play 88 yard drive with his third TD run of the game.
The Loboes put it away early in the fourth when Hanson finished off his monster game when he connected with Senior RB Garrett Hebl on a 36 yard TD pass.
Hanson totaled five touchdowns in the game with two rushing and three through the air.
Defensively, Thielges added a fumble recovery, Senior DL Brock Wendel forced and recovered a fumble, Junior CB Blase Isaacson came up with a pick and Senior Safety Colton Ness snagged an interception.
The Loboes ran 65 plays for 403 yards of offense and the Mustangs finished with 273 yards of offense with 49 plays.
LLM improved to 10-0 on the season and will host 10-0 Cavalier in the Semifinals Saturday, November 5th at 2:00 pm in LaMoure in a rematch of last years Dakota Bowl Championship game that was won handily by the Loboes.
The Tornado’s knocked off
M-P-C-G 32-14. Listen for coverage on Q101 and newsdakota.com starting with the pregame at 1:30pm.
The other semifinal round game will also feature two undefeated teams as 10-0 North Prairie travels to 10-0 New Salem-Almont on Saturday, November 5th.
North Prairie beat Westhope/Newburg/Glenburn 46-20 and the #2 ranked Holsteins topped Grant County/Flasher 30-22.