by Joe Howell

Third ranked and unbeaten, Park River made its first ever visit to Sandager Field, and the Aggies left Ransom County licking their wounds.  The Broncos raised their record to 2-1 with a 39-0 shut-out of Park River.  

Lisbon is now 2-0 lifetime in its football match-ups with the Aggies.

Defense was the key to this victory as the Broncos hounded, harassed, hit, and caused turnovers in their second ever match-up with Park River.  

Coach Robert Bubach commented on his team’s defensive effort.  “We did a much better job of reacting and coming up and stopping the things that Park River wanted to accomplish on offense.  I thought that we did a really nice job, and because of our improvement, we benefited from three turnovers.  Jade Huether and Nathan Dykema recorded interceptions, and Jonny Carter recovered a fumble caused by bit hit delivered by Matt Spiekermeier.  Jordan Stenson had a very nice game from his defensive tackle position.”

Lisbon limited the Aggies to just 90 yards of total offense with 81 coming via the rush.

The first quarter ended in a zero-zero tie, but Lisbon used little time to establish its dominance starting in the second quarter.

Elliott Olerud, Spencer Mairs, and Brandon Schell had nice nights running the ball for the Broncos.  Olerud totaled 58 yards in 3 carries and two touchdowns, Mairs gained 53 yards on four caries, and Schell’s total of 91 yards came on 21 carries.

“Our backfield right now is very tough,” commented Bubach after the game, plus we appear to have a passing attack this year with either Josh Nims or Adam Coykendall at quarterback.”

“We have some very capable offensive lineman, especially in Brent Durkin, but we need to come together and gel or mesh as a unit.  Our decision making of whom to block is causing our offense some problems,” commented Bubach.

Bubach commented on the health of his team.  “Other than Josh Nims, who suffered a calf injury in the Valley City game, we are in good shaped headed into the Larimore game.”

Schell ran in two touchdowns and was on the receiving end of a 13-yard pass from Josh Nims for his third touchdown.

Nims and Adam Coykendall both looked sharp steering the Bronco offense to its season high of 39 points.

1 2 H 3 4 F

Lisbon 0 12 0 13 14 39

Park River FL 0 0 0 0 0 0

Scoring

1st quarter: No scoring

Spencer Mairs and Dillon Bishop were on the receiving end of Josh Nims passes for nine and 34 yards.

Second quarter:

The Broncos used five plays before Olerud scored on his six-yard touchdown run.  A 34-yard pass completion to Dillon Bishop was the big play of the drive.  

PAT pass was incomplete.

Schell’s touchdown run of 17 yards ended a four-play, 38-yard scoring drive.  Coykendall’s run of 15 yards brought the Bronco’s within scoring range for Schell.

PAT – run failed

Third Quarter:

Nims hit a streaking Schell out of the backfield and the Broncos lead increased to 18.

Nathan Dykema’s 11-yard reception from Nims was part of this 29-yard scoring drive.

The PAT pass was incomplete.

Schell again scored but this time on a 21-yard run.  Mairs’ zig-zag run of 24 yards was the biggest play of this scoring drive.

Sophomore, Zach Peterson added 12 yards on a burst up the middle.

The PAT kick by Bishop was good and Lisbon led 25-0.

4th Quarter:

Olerud swept the right end on a reverse from 48 yards and the PAT kick was no good.

The Broncos and Aggies flooded the field with their reserves and Lisbon’s second, third, and fourth units dominated play.

The future looks bright at quarterback not only for this year with senior, Nims and junior, Coykendall, but sophomore, Nathan Qual did a nice job of running the offense.

Nims’ sprint down the left sideline resulted in a 35-yard touchdown.

On the PAT, freshman, Hunter Mairs scored on a run.