The Lennox High School Oriole football team traveled to Hartford on Friday, Nov. 3 to take on West Central in semi-final action. The winner would advance to the Dakota Dome to fight for the State A Championship title.
Lennox struck first with a 26 yard run by Ashton Bach. Drake Mikkelsen ran in the two point conversion to give the Orioles an early 8-0 advantage. However, the Trojans would go on to take the 57-22 victory. Lennox scored again in the second quarter on a Chase Faulds’ 30 yard touchdown pass from Boston Katzer.
Mikkelsen ran in the two-point conversion. The Orioles found the end zone in the fourth quarter as well with Faulds catching a two yard pass from Katzer.
In the game, Lennox finished with 323 yards of offense, gaining 257 in the air and 66 on the ground. West Central finished with 447 yards of offense, gaining 415 on the ground and 42 in the air.
For the Orioles, Katzer completed 18 of 34 pass attempts for 257 yards. He had threw for two touchdowns and had one interception on the night.
Faulds was his favorite target, grabbing five passes for 57 yards. Mikkelsen had three catches for 56 yards. Porter Ihnen, before exiting with an injury, had two catches for 32 yards and Tate Gerdes had one grab for 28 yards.
On the ground, Gerdes led the rushing attack with 71 yards on 19 carries.
Defensively, Carter Benning led the team in tackles with four. Gerdes had three, Jevyn Lefers, Ethan Larson, Corban Hanneman, Emory Lefers, and Keegan Musser each had two, and Mickelson, Clayton Barrett, Brennen Juffer, and Lucas Bontje each had one.
The Orioles ended the season with a 6-5 record. West Central will face off against Dell Rapids on Friday, Nov. 10 at 2 p.m. at the Dakota Dome in Vermillion for the State Championship.