TIMBER LAKE – Stanley County fought through early mistakes, rallied, then came just short of a road upset.
Quarterback Gracen Hansen rushed for a touchdown on the first play of overtime, then ran in a two-point conversion and Timber Lake held off Stanley County 22-20 Friday at Doug Kraft Field.
Stanley County (2-4) had a fumble and two interceptions in the first quarter, but Timber Lake was able only to convert the third of those turnovers into a touchdown, a 55-yard Slater Ducheneaux run.
Midway through the second quarter, Hansen hit Cole Ducheneaux with a 10-yard touchdown pass to complete a 94-yard drive and give the Panthers a 14-0 lead. Hansen, who rushed for 256 yards on 24 carries, had a 73-yard run on that drive.
SC then scored with 2:41 left in the first half on a nine-yard touchdown run by Colton Brady. The Buffaloes trailed 14-6 after a bad hold on the extra-point led to a failed conversion.
Late in the third quarter, Chase Hanson had the second of his two interceptions. The ensuing drive extended into the fourth quarter and Broch Zeeb ran in a one-yard touchdown with 8:44 left and found Blaize Frost for a two-point conversion to tie the game 14-14.
SC then turned Timber Lake over on downs before the Panthers forced a Buffalo punt with 54 seconds remaining. Hansen drove Timber Lake from their 24 to the Buffaloes’ 24 with four first-down runs before just overthrowing Jayden Miller in the end zone for what would have been the winning play on the last play of regulation.
Stanley County won the overtime coin toss and chose to play defense, then gave up the Hansen touchdown and two-pointer. In the Buffaloes’ overtime possession, Zeeb ran for two yards, Brady was held for no gain and Zeeb threw a five-yard pass to Kaden Montana on third down. On fourth and goal at the two, Zeeb ran in the touchdown. He then tried to run in the tying two-point conversion, but was stopped by Timber Lake’s Caleb Bieber just a yard short of the goal line.
Brady rushed for 59 yards and Zeeb ran for 58. Paxton Deal also had two interceptions and Stanley County had four, giving them 11 interceptions through six games.
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