The Royal Valley Panthers traveled up North to play the Nemaha Central Thunder on Thursday, October 7. The Thunder looked to keep their undefeated season alive and clinch the Big 7 League Championship for the first time in school history against a very good 4-1 Royal Valley team.
The Thunder won the coin toss and deferred. The Panthers chose to receive the opening kickoff. On the first play, Royal Valley fumbled the ball, Layton Thomas scooped up the ball and with a wall of purple escorting him, he ran it in for a touchdown. Nemaha Central successfully converted the 2-point conversion to go on the board 8-0. On the next series of plays, Royal Valley tried to fake a punt and run on fourth down, but they were stopped well short of the first down marker. The Thunder capitalized on the turnover of downs with a big 40-yard touchdown run. They couldn’t convert the Points After Touchdown (PAT).
Going into the second quarter, Royal Valley was driving down the field and was stopped yet again on fourth down turning the ball over. After a few plays, Nemaha Central had two touchdown runs called back for holding. The Thunder then scored a 35-yard touchdown on a jet sweep to the wide receiver. Nemaha Central was again unsuccessful on their PAT.
On the next Panther drive, the Thunder halted them on fourth down. Nemaha Central got the ball and on one of the first plays of their drive ran for a 45-yard gain and were stopped just short of the endzone at the two-yard line. The Thunder punched it in on the next play and successfully scored the two points after. Later in the quarter, the Thunder got the ball back on an interception. Nemaha Central threw the ball on first down and scored. The PAT was successful. The Panthers scored with 18 seconds left in the half but were stopped on the two-point attempt. The halftime score was 36-8 with a commanding Thunder lead.
In the second half, The Nemaha Central Thunder started with the ball and on the first play erupted for a 65-yard touchdown run. NC completed the PAT. The Thunder got the ball back quickly and drove down the field capped off by a 30-yard touchdown run. Royal Valley drove the ball into the red zone when they fumbled the ball and NC pounced on it. The quarter ended with NC leading 50-8.
The remaining quarter found the Thunder once again driving down the field, but they were stopped on fourth down. Royal Valley took possession and hammered the rock down the field. On the goal line, Brady Koch intercepted the ball preventing a Panther touchdown. Nemaha Central ran out the rest of the clock for the win 50-8.
Jordan Lewis said, “We executed on offense and defense and came out with the W.”
The Thunder demolished the Panther's ground attack and won the game in dominating fashion. With that win, NC moved to 6-0 on the season and kept their undefeated streak alive. More importantly though with that win, the Thunder clinched their first Big 7 League Championship in program history.
Conner Lueger said, “A champion is simply someone who doesn’t give up when they want to. That’s what NC football is.”
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