NEVIS – Six different players scored touchdowns as Nevis rolled to a 64-0 Section 6 and District 9 West Central 9-man football victory on Friday, Sept. 30.
Joe Houchin opened the scoring with a 58-yard punt return and Ethan Klimek kicked the extra point to give Nevis a 7-0 lead just 1:59 into the game. Austin Ahrendt’s 21-yard TD run and Klimek’s kick made it 14-0 at the 9:02 mark before Klimek connected with Houchin on a 36-yard TD pass for a 20-0 lead with 7:34 to play in the first quarter. Eli Klimek’s 8-yard TD run and Ethan Klimek’s kick increased the lead to 27-0 at the 3:48 mark before Ethan Klimek’s 68-yard TD pass to Ahrendt and kick gave the Tigers a 34-0 advantage with 17 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Alex Lester hauled in a 21-yard TD pass from Ethan Klimek, who kicked the extra point for a 41-0 lead with 10:30 to play in the first half. The Tigers ended the half with Houchin’s 41-yard TD reception from Ethan Klimek at the 7:08 mark and Jon Rice’s 5-yard TD run with 27 seconds left. Ethan Klimek kicked another extra point and Eli Lindow ran in a conversion as Nevis carried a 56-0 advantage into the intermission.
Nevis concluded the scoring on Bennett Mitchell’s 17-yard TD run and Karch Frazier’s conversion run with 9:59 to go in the third quarter.
Ethan Klimek completed 6 of 11 passes for 207 yards as the Tigers compiled 385 yards in offense. Arhendt caught two passes for 98 yards and Houchin had three receptions for 88 yards while Lindow (seven carries for 37 yards), Frazier (five carries for 35 yards) and Ahrendt (two carries for 29 yards) led the running attack as Nevis racked up 174 yards on the ground.
Vance Carlson / Park Rapids Enterprise
Defensively, Dawson McGee and Ayo Ogundeji were in on six tackles each while Mitchell, Eli Klimek and Luke McNamee had five tackles each. The Tigers forced five turnovers with Lester, Nathan Keiser, Gage Barens and Marshall Kalm recovering fumbles and Lealan Norby intercepting a pass.
The win lifted the Tigers’ record to 4-1 on the season while Laporte fell to 0-5.
In the other Week 5 section and district games, Fertile-Beltrami defeated Clearbrook-Gonvick 48-8, Blackduck edged Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal 30-22 in two overtimes and Park Christian topped Cass Lake-Bena 26-14. Fertile-Beltrami tops the standings at 5-0 while Blackduck and NCE/UH join Nevis at 4-1. Clearbrook-Gonvick is 2-3, Park Christian is 1-4 and Cass Lake-Bena is 0-5.
Nevis travels to Cass Lake-Bena this Friday night (Oct 7) with a 7 p.m. kickoff.