NEW LONDON - An early fourth-quarter score that saw Ethan Bohlsen fire a 53-yard strike to James Magnuson held for New London-Spicer as the Class AAA No. 1-ranked Wildcats outlasted Class AAAA No. 6 Delano 28-21 in their home opener Friday at Peterson Field.
NLS (2-0) enjoyed the lead for majority of the game until Delano (1-1) scored with 30 seconds left in the third quarter to jump ahead 21-20. But it took just 90 seconds for the Wildcats to regain the advantage as Bohlsen and Magnuson hooked up on the lone TD pass on the night for NLS.
Delano collected five more first downs, but NLS outgained the visitors 356-318 and forced two fumbles. Shane Zylstra rushed for 125 yards - on just 10 carries - and a pair of second-quarter TDs. Hunter Sjoberg scored from three yards out midway through the first quarter to open the scoring and gained another 72 yards on the ground for NLS on 19 carries.
Bohlsen was an efficient 6-of-9 passing to pile up 115 yards without throwing an interception.
NLS is at Holy Family Catholic (2-0) next week.
NLS 28, Delano 21
Delano (1-1) 0 7 14 0 - 21
NL-Spicer (2-0) 6 14 0 8 - 28
NLS – Hunter Sjoberg 3 run (kick fail)
NLS – Shane Zylstra 4 run (pass fail)
Del – Joel Koenecke 19 run (Evan Tolkkinen kick)
NLS – Zylstra 53 run (Jared Travis run)
Del – Austin Neisen 34 pass from Nate Norman (Tolkkinen kick)
Del – Aaron Wagner 6 run (Tolkkinen kick)
NLS – James Magnuson 53 pass from Ethan Bohlsen (Travis kick)
Delano
First downs: 18 … Rushing: 48-215 … Passing (com-att-yds-int.): 6-8-103-0 … Fumbles lost: 2 … Penalties: 4-24
Rushing: Joel Koenecke 9-55, Nate Meyers 4-25, Aaron Wagner 26-153, Nate Norman 6-(-26), Ben Meyers 3-8 … Passing: Norman 6-8-103-0 ... Receiving: Koenecke 2-11, Meyers 1-26, Austin Neisen 2-32, Wagner 1-34 … Punting: Koenecke 1-5 … Interceptions: none … Fumble recoveries: none
New London-Spicer
First downs: 13 … Rushing: 42-241 … Passing (com-att-yds-int.): 6-9-115 … Fumbles lost: 0 … Penalties: 9-75
Rushing: Shane Zylstra 10-125, Jared Travis 10-34, Hunter Sjoberg 19-72, Josh Soine 1-0, Ethan Bohlsen 2-10 … Passing: Bohlsen 6-9-115-0 ... Receiving: Zylstra 2-12, James Magnuson 2-69, Cody King 1-22, Alex Groff 1-12 … Punting: Blake Shuck 2-40.0 … Interceptions: none … Fumble recoveries: Cole Gould 1, Taylor Engelke 1 … Tackles (solo-assist): Kellon Knutson 7-3, Magnuson 3-2, Ben Tiffany 5-1, Travis 4-3, Engelke 2-5, Josh Evans 3-3, Gould 5-2, Zach Swigerd 6-2, Noah Welsh 7-2 … QB sacks: Zylstra 1, Evans 1, Brandon Knisley 1
