Football roundup: Annandale rallies to stun NLS Wildcats
Oct. 18—NEW LONDON — Through 24 minutes of play, it was all New London-Spicer and it seemed the Wildcats were on their way to an upset.
NLS held a 13-0 lead into halftime before Annandale, ranked No. 3 in Class AAA, stormed back to remain undefeated.
The Cardinals out-scored NLS 29-6 in the second half en route to a 29-19 football victory on Wednesday. Annandale improved to 8-0 and the Wildcats finish 5-3.
After a first half where the Wildcats' defense stood tall and gave the Cardinals virtually nothing productive on the offensive side of the ball, Annandale scored on its first four drives of the second half.
Nick Olson found the end zone on a nine-yard run before Joey Healy caught a five-yard pass from Nick Walter on the Cardinals' next possession to push Annandale to a 14-13 lead.
The Wildcats, facing their first deficit, got the response they needed. Mason Delzer scored his second touchdown of the night on a nine-yard run to give NLS a 19-14 lead with 6 minutes, 17 seconds remaining in the contest.
But just as the Wildcats responded, Annandale continued to find success and it was quick.
Walter took a shotgun snap and broke loose for a 53-yard run and converted a two-point conversion on the ground to put the Cardinals back on top with 5:17 to play.
On the ensuing drive, Annandale's Nate Green picked off NLS quarterback Blake Schultz and gave the Cardinals possession at the Wildcats' 23-yard line.
Facing a fourth-and-5, Walter threw his second touchdown pass, connecting with Gabe Westman for a 17-yard touchdown as Annandale's lead grew to 29-19 with 2:36 remaining.
NLS' pair of first-half touchdowns came from Delzer and Blake Kath. Delzer had a 3-yard run and Kath caught a 3-yard pass from Schultz.
The Wildcats are expected to start Section 8AA play on Tuesday. In the mix for the top three seeds alongside NLS are Albany (6-2) and Montevideo (5-3).
Litchfield scored a school-record 68 points in its victory over Richfield at Litchfield.
The Dragons (7-1) scored 62 first-half points off of nine touchdowns. Litchfield accumulated 180 penalty yards on 20 penalties.
Brandon Jansky led Litchfield, which ran for 323 yards on 32 carries, with 11 attempts for 183 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Lukas Kuehl took the opening kickoff for an 82 yard kickoff return for the Dragons.
First downs: 12 ... Penalties: 9-70 ... Rushing (Individual and team): Knut Linne 12-29, Malcolm Peterson 5-15, Henry Bandah 3-16. Total: 29-63 ... Passing (Individual and team): Linne 9-20-2, Jaxon Dosch-Samuels 0-2-0. 158 ... Receiving: Zavier Hayes 5-84, Musa Sanneh 2-60, Bandah 2-14 ... Interceptions: none ... Fumble recoveries: none ... Tackles (solo-assist): none ... QB sacks: none
