Elkhorn , NE - Jordan Poehling was 6 for 6 passing and ran for 78 yards in five carries to give Elkhorn close to a perfect game over the Spartans 42-6, had it not been for a forced fumble caused by Josh Hastreiter and recovered by TJ Gibbons.   Elkhorn moved up from Class B two years ago and are sporting there new turf field with fantastic band, fan and parent support.  Elkhorn appears to have a lot of pride in their football program and the numbers and size of the players are impressive if not scary.  Speaking of scary it appeared as if the Spartans did not arrive until the shortened second half and Elkhorn was already playing their second and third string players.

East went immediately 3 and out after the opening kickoff and the Antlers flexed their muscles 3 plays later when Trevor Roach rushed over his big left tackle for 16 yards and an Elkhorn 7-0 lead 1:24 seconds into the game.   East backed up it's opening drive with another 3 and out but, Elkhorn took 4 plays before Dane Eccles rambled the final yard to make it a 14-0 lead for the Antlers only 5:24 into the game.  With 3:54 to go in first quarter Elkhorn had one of the only errors of the night when Roach fumbled on the Elkhorn 20 yard line.  The fumble was recovered by Gibbons and the Spartans were in the red zone.  Three plays and the Spartans were only able to drive to the Elkhorn 12 yard line before Nick Koehler attempted a 29 yard field goal that went wide right.   The Antlers lead at the end of the quarter 14-0.

To start the second quarter Elkhorn had the ball and drove down the field in 9 plays and covered 80 yards before Poehling rushed around the right end to score from 15 yards and give the Antlers a 21-0 lead.   Next possession East had their fourth 3 and out of the game.  The clock read 5:30 in the second quarter when Roach rushed over his tackle for an Antler touchdown.  The 6 play drive covered 67 yards to give Elkhorn a 28-0 lead. Elkhorn scored on their fifth touchdown of the game when Poehling scored his second touchdown before the half. .East had 7 possessions, 23 plays, punted 5 times and had a total of 13 yards rushing and 15 yards passing.  Elkhorn had 7 possessions, 30 plays, 5 touchdowns and punted 0 times.

The 35 point rule was in affect to start the third quarter and both team were only allowed 2 possessions a piece for the entire second half.  With a running clock Elkhorn marched down the field in 12 plays and 7:59 of clock to score their final touchdown when Nick Jacobsen rushed the final 5 yards to put the Antlers up 42-0.  Bryce Bostwick passing to Kohler and Logan Foote fired the Spartans up on a 11 play scoring drive.  East had polished off the rest of the third quarter and 2:13 of the fourth quarter on the drive that saw Boswick rushing around left end untouched for a Spartan score.  Kohler again was wide right on the extra point and Elkhorn lead 42-6.   That positive drive fired up the defense when T.C. Kirkendall came down on the Spartan kickoff and introduced Collin Nichols to the game of football. Kirkendall landed a violent tackle on the returner.  Elkhorn using substitutes managed to use 10 plays on thier next possession and basically killed 7:17 of clock.  East managed to shut the drive down for Elkhorn and East did not give up as they used their second possession of the half to drive down to the Elkhorn 1 yard line when time had expired.  Kirkendall lead the Spartans with 12 tackles. Drew Zobel finished with 8 tackles and Hastreiter finished with 5 tackles including 2 tackles for losses and 1 forced fumble.

Next up for the Spartans will be the Bearcats from Kearney as they are coming off an upset victory over Southwest.  Kearney comes to Lincoln with a 3-2 record.