Football roundup: New London-Spicer kicks it into gear

Oct. 22—NEW LONDON — A hiccup on the first drive of the game didn’t derail the New London-Spicer football team. Brock Buffington made sure of that.

Down 7-0 to Montevideo early in the Section 6AAA quarterfinals on Tuesday, Buffington scored on a pair of big plays to give the Wildcats the lead. That kicked off 43 straight points to wrap up the first half.

The third-seeded Wildcats cruised to a 56-21 victory over the sixth-seeded Thunder Hawks at Pederson Field.

The win sends NLS to the semifinal round where it’ll take on second-seeded Minnewaska at 2 p.m. Saturday at Veterans Field at Glenwood State Bank Stadium in Glenwood.

Winless Montevideo started the game on a high. On NLS’ opening drive of the game, Thunder Hawks sophomore defensive back Griffin Epema intercepted a Nolan Johnson pass and had a clear path to the end zone for a 40-yard touchdown.

From that point, it was all NLS thanks to Bufflington. The senior jumped over a Monte defender to catch a 23-yard touchdown. Brecken Westby took the snap in the backfield and ran in the two-point conversion to put the Wildcats up 8-7.

After Montevideo was forced to punt, Buffington hauled in the kick at the 4-yard line. He ran to the NLS sideline and avoided three tackles around the 15-yard line. That opened the field and he ran in a 96-yard punt return TD.

The Wildcats added 28 points in the second quarter. Westby caught TD passes from Johnson from 10 and 21 yards out. Griffin Mayhew and Braden Long also had second-quarter rushing TDs that made it a 43-7 halftime advantage.

Long had an NLS-high eight carries for 86 yards. Four Wildcats ran for more than 50 yards as the team finished with 343 yards on 38 carries. Johnson completed 4 of 7 passes for 64 yards.

Along with the defensive touchdown, Epema threw a 27-yard TD pass to Lathen Nipple. Nipple also ran in a six-yard touchdown. Jaxon Wagner led the Thunder Hawks’ run game with 77 yards on 17 carries.

Fifth-seeded Royalton roared back from a 14-0 deficit to beat No. 4 Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg at Murdock

Royalton piled up 263 yards on offense on 53 plays. KMS had 258 yards on 48 plays, including 249 on the ground.

Leading the way for the Fighting Saints was Jett Olson, who rushed 31 times for 233 yards and two TDs. Aaron Jones had six solo tackles, three tackles for loss and a fumble recovery for KMS.

Royalton plays top seed Kimball at 2 p.m. Saturday in Kimball.

Holdingford cruised to a 42-0 halftime lead to eliminate Paynesville from the playoffs at Holdingford.

The third-seeded Huskers are 7-2 and play No. 2 Eden Valley-Watkins at 2 p.m. Saturday in Eden Valley. The Eagles had a bye.

Paynesville, the No. 6 seed, finishes with a 2-7 record.

Fourth-seeded Benson made it two straight wins over the fifth-seeded Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City Falcons at Brock Field in Benson.

Benson beat ACGC 42-0 last Wednesday.

The Braves, who are 3-6, play top-seeded Upsala/Swanville at 2 p.m. Saturday in Upsala. USA had a first-round bye.

ACGC finishes 2-7.

Dawson-Boyd’s defense held Lac qui Parle Valley’s offense to 47 yards and forced three interceptions in a section quarterfinal win at R.B. Clay Field in Dawson.

The Blackjacks are the three seed in Section 5A. The Eagles are the six seed.

Brayson Boike had an interception return for a touchdown for D-B. He also caught eight passes for 84 yards and had a 52-yard rushing touchdown.

Mason Bothun came up with a pair of picks for the Blackjacks.

D-B heads to Olivia to play No. 2 seed BOLD at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Renville County West built a 46-0 halftime lead en route to a rout over Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart in the section quarterfinals at Danube.

The Jaguars are the No. 2 seed and the Mustangs are the No. 7 seed.

Jacob Savig and Joe Valdovinos each had two touchdowns for RCW. Savig ran in scores from 12 and 4 yards out. He finished with 46 rushing yards on five carries. Valdovinos ran in a 10-yard score and caught a 28-yard TD pass from Austin Rice. Valdovinos had 73 receiving yards on two catches and 10 yards on one carry.

The Jaguars face No. 3 Red Rock Central at 2 p.m. Saturday back in Danube. The Falcons beat No. 6 Westbrook-Walnut Grove 56-12 on Tuesday.

Blake Grimsley threw two touchdowns and ran in another as MACCRAY beat Yellow Medicine East in an exhibition game at Clara City.

Grimsley completed 13 of 27 passes for 122 yards. He also ran for 120 yards on 16 carries.

Brady Dahlager ran for 74 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries for the Sting.