The third-seeded Breckenridge Cowboys combined for 436 yards rushing to defeat the No. 6 Pine River-Backus Tigers 46-8 in the Section 6A quarterfinals Tuesday, Oct. 22.
The Cowboys were led on the ground by Chris Nieto with 159, Jack Aigner 129 and Jacob Vizenor 100. Breckenridge did have four touchdown runs of more than 30 yards - Vizenor had scoring runs of 31 and 30 yards, Aigner took one to the house from 35 yards out and Nieto tallied on a 31-yard carry. Daniel Erlandson added TD runs of four and 14 yards.
The Cowboys, who built a 39-0 halftime lead, limited the Tigers to just 79 yards of offense.
“They had big physical linemen and running backs who were good athletic runners,” said PR-B coach Tom Demars. “With the young team that we put on the field, we don't match up well with a big, physical teams that we've seen the last two weeks.”
Connor Tulenchik ran in the only touchdown for PR-B. He scored his touchdown in the fourth quarter, rushed for 37 yards and caught two passes from quarterback Jake Poehler.
ADVERTISEMENT
Defensive highlights included Sebastian Anderson and Connor Twidwell each having interceptions for the Cowboys while PR-B recovered four fumbles.
“One of the positives that we had on defense is that we were able to force fumbles and we recovered four of them, said Demars, whose team finishes 4-5 overall.
The four victories this season were rewarding for a PR-B program that was forced to play at the junior varsity level last fall because of a limited roster size.
“We were happy to be back out playing varsity football on Friday nights,” Demars said. “Having some success and winning some games was also exciting and rewarding for the players, coaches, students and fans. And I would like to thank all of those people for their support.”
Breckenrdige advanced to defeat No. 2 Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 41-6 in the section semifinals Saturday, Oct. 26. The Cowboys, 7-3 overall, will face top-seeded Underwood in the section title game Friday, Nov. 1, in the Fargodome.
Pine River-Backus 0 0 0 8 -- 8
Breckenridge 24 15 7 0 -- 46
ADVERTISEMENT
Individual leaders:
Rushing: PRB-Jake Poehler 7-29, Connor Tulenchik 10-37, Keenan Dahl 5-2; BR-Chris Nieto 11-159, Jack Aigner 12-129, Jacob Vizenor 9-100, Daniel Erlandson 3-27
Passing: PRB-Jake Poehler 3-20-2-10; BR-Adam Ohm 1-1-0-24, Alex Ohm 1-1-0-22
Receiving: PRB-Connor Tulenchik 2-2, Rian Struss 1-8; BR-Jase Jensen 1-24, Jace Hegge 1-22
