Ian Ahrendt rushed 25 times for 208 yards and two touchdowns in leading Nevis to a 21-14 Section 6 and District 9 West Central 9-man football victory over Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal in a battle of rated teams at Nevis on Oct. 20.
Ahrendt opened the scoring with a 2-yard touchdown run with 7:17 remaining in the first quarter. Ethan Klimek kicked the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
The Tigers made it 14-0 when Klimek hit Cain Mitchell on a 60-yard TD pass at the 11:48 mark of the second quarter. Klimek kicked the extra point.
NCE/UH cut the margin to 14-8 on a 33-yard TD pass with 4:21 remaining in the first half.
Ahrendt’s 46-yard TD run on fourth-and-1 and Klimek’s kick capped a five-play, 75-yard drive as Nevis led 21-8 with 4:21 remaining in the third quarter.
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After two Austin Ahrendt interceptions stopped a pair of NCE/UH drives, the Titans concluded the scoring with a 7-yard TD run with 3:04 to play.
The Tigers finished with 350 yards offensively with Klimek completing 6 of 10 passes for 83 yards. Mitchell was Klimek’s leading receiver with five catches for 76 yards.
Ian Ahrendt led the defense with 13 solo tackles while Joe Houchin had seven solo tackles and Ethan Lewis had six solo tackles. Austin Ahrendt intercepted three passes as the Tigers improved to 7-1. NCE/UH fell to 6-2. Nevis was rated No. 9 and NCE/UH was rated No. 12 in the latest state 9-man poll.
In the other Week 8 section and district games, Fertile-Beltrami shut out Cass Lake-Bena 62-0, Clearbrook-Gonvick edged Park Christian 16-15 and Blackduck defeated Laporte 42-6. Fertile-Beltrami closed out the regular season with an 8-0 record. Clearbrook-Gonvick (5-3), Blackduck (4-4), Park Christian (3-5), Cass Lake-Bena (1-7) and Laporte (0-8) round out the standings.
Nevis received the No. 2 seed and will open the Section 6 playoffs by hosting No. 7 Cass Lake-Bena at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 26.
