With a hard-hitting defense and an opportunistic offense, the Esko Eskomos rolled to a 35-12 win over the Rush City Tigers on Thursday night.
"It was a nice win for us," said Esko coach Bill Hudspith. "Both sides of the ball played very well."
Jake Olson gave the Eskomos the lead in the first quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run and after Jeff Lindemood booted the extra point, it was 7-0.
The Tigers didn't take long to respond, however, as Ethan Turner scored a 14-yard touchdown run on Rush City's next possession to cut the lead to 7-6. Esko was able to hang on to the lead when the Tigers' extra point kick sailed wide.
Ryan Eskuri, who rushed for 140 yards in the game on 22 carries, added a late first quarter touchdown on a 3-yard touchdown run and Lindemood knocked through the extra point, making it 14-6 in favor of Esko.
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The Eskomos scored the only touchdown of the second quarter on an Olson 3-yard touchdown scamper and again Lindemood was true on the extra point kick to make it 21-6 for Esko entering the half.
"It is good to be peaking at the end of the season and ready for the playoffs," mentioned Hudspith. "It is very exciting to see schools that we don't usually play."
Bill Cort pulled the Tigers to within 21-12 on a third quarter 1-yard touchdown run, but Esko was able to stop Rush City on their two-point conversion.
Esko's Olson added a 13-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and an Olson-to-Scott Lindquist 9-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to close out their scoring. Lindemood knocked home the extra point kick on both scores to make the final 35-12.
Alex Haapanen rushed 17 times for 105 yards, Olson was 7-for-15 passing, good for 57 yards, and Scott Lindquist caught three passes for 27 yards. For the game the Eskomos rolled up 318 rushing yards and 57 yards passing.
