| Lincoln, NE - What looked to be an evenly match pair of Lincoln teams, North Star found a way to blow out of the Spartans. 30-0. East had it's chances but, they were unable to stop Yusef Wade, a Lincoln Northeast transfer, with 146 yards on 15 carries and 2 touchdowns. East had a hand in their own demise when they were caught for critical penalties and fumbles on Spartan key drives. East lost their leading tackler, Devon Nash, a senior linebacker in the fourth quarter to a dislocation. Nash finished the game with 11 tackles.
The Spartans took the opening kickoff down the field and 11 plays and 58 yards later, the Gator defense stiffened and kept the Spartans out of the endzone when Kamal Ebrahim rushed East quarterback Bryce Bostwick to a fourth down incompletion.and North Star took over at their own 13 yard line. North Star came back down the field to register a Gator touchdown when Wade scored his first touchdown on a 6 yard run. Wade accounted for 39 of the total 87 yards on the drive and North Star had the lead 7-0 with 4:14 remaining in the first quarter. It didn't take long for the Gators to score their second touchdown when Bostwick fumbled on the Spartan 35 yard line to give the ball back to the Gators. Five plays later North Star scored on a Joe Hartley pass 24 yards to Dillon Schrodt to give North Star a 14-0 first quarter lead.
The next three series for East and two series for North Star were 3 and 5 plays and punt. Both defenses stiffened before halftime. It appeared that North Star would take a 14-0 halftime lead when Wade had something to say about the situation. Wade was trapped behind the line of scrimmage and then broke a pair of tackles and rambled 65 yards to score for the Gators with :03 to go in the half. That run broke the back and spirt of the Spartans and the Gators took a 14-0 halftime lead.
To start the second half I'm sure the Spartans came out from halftime with fire in their eyes as they shutdown North Star immediately with a 3 and out series. The first play of East's series saw Bostwick chew up 14 yards and had 15 more yards added to the play with a face mask penalty. With the ball on the North Star 35 yard line, the Gator defense shut down the Spartans on four plays and they got the ball back on the North Star 28 yard line. Neither team could move the ball the rest of the quarter and North Star lead 21-0 at the end of the third quarter.
East set up to punt early in the fourth quarter and a low snap to punter Nick Kohler found Kohler's knee on the ground for a 13 yard loss and the ball returned to North Star on the Spartans 21 yard line. Four plays later Hartley passed 5 yards to Austin Stephens for the Gator score and a breezing 28-0 lead. With 1:02 left in the game North Star drove down to the Spartan 2 yard line when Hartley fumbled to Tony Suarez at the Spartan 2. Bostwick was unable to escape a mad Gator rush on the next play and was trapped for a safety by Casey Molifua. The final score had the Gators on top 30-0.
Bostwick lead the Spartans with 49 yards rushing on 21 carries and his passing stats were 7-19 with 1 interception and 64 yards. In addition to Nash's 11 tackles, Pete Meginnis came up big for the Spartan defense with 10 tackles. TJ Gibbons had two tackles for losses. Josh Hastreiter nailed Hartley on a sack and forced a fumble.
The team is going to have to regroup and continue to find a way to compete as a team. Mental mistakes with penalties, fumbles and drives that they do not finish are keys to them getting back to the win column. Amissed tackle here and there results in huge plays for the opponents. Next action for the Spartans will be next Friday night against the Links of Lincoln High.
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