Fremont-Mills opened up a 28 point lead early and rolled to a 61-20 victory over Exira-EHK in the 8-Man Quarterfinals on Friday night. The Knights scored on their first three possessions to open the game strong. Mason Vanatta set the tone early with a 65-yard touchdown run on the third play of the game. The Spartans turned the ball over on downs on their first possession. Seth Malcom scored on a two yard run on the next possession for Fremont-Mills and Vanatta added another on their next possession with a 36-yard touchdown run to make it 21-0 in the first quarter.  The Spartans got their first score with 2:20 left in the half to make it a 28-7 game at that point. The Knights quickly answered back as Austin Gartner ran the ensuing kickoff back to the Spartans 5 yard line and Vanatta punched it in on the next play to push the lead to 34-7 by the half.

The Knights would eventually get a large enough lead in the second half to invoke the 35-point running clock rule and the fourth quarter ran away quickly.

Vanatta finished the game with 5 rushing touchdowns and one passing. Seth Malcom finished with two rushing touchdowns on the night. The Knights improved to 10-1 and avenged their opening season loss to the Spartans. Fremont-Mills heads back to the UNI-Dome for the semifinals for the second straight season. The Knights are set to play New London on Thursday at Noon in the Semifinals.

Exira-EHK has their season end with a record of 9-2 and says goodbye to a strong senior class.

Listen to post-game interviews with Spartans Head Coach Tom Petersen and Knights Head Coach Jeremy Christiansen below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (9.3MB)

Subscribe: RSS