What a difference a week makes.
After getting pounded last Friday at Clifton-Clyde 50-0, the Ell-Saline Cardinals returned home for a 34 point win against the Washington County Tigers.
After missing a couple of games due to a shoulder injury, senior quarterback Kade Wilson returned to the starting line-up with a bang Thursday night. Wilson had a role in 5 of the 7 Ell-Saline touchdowns. He rushed for three TDs, passed for one and was on the receiving end of a Marshall Johnson TD pass.
Wilson had the first score of the game on a 4-yard rush at the 6:22 mark of the first quarter. He then added a 5-yard touchdown run with 3:11 to go in the opening stanza.
With 7:14 to go before half, he struck again this time from 15 yards out. Ell-Saline’s next score came on a blocked punt by senior Mason Ellerman. After blocking the punt at the 5:10 mark of the second quarter, Ellerman scooped up the ball and rambled in from about the 5 yard line. Then, with less than a minute to go before half, back-up QB junior Johnson fired a TD pass to Wilson in a play that covered 28 yards. That made the halftime score 34-0.
Washington County finally got on the scoreboard with 8:36 left in quarter number 3 on a 1-yard TD run by senior quarterback Payton Leduc. That score was immediately matched when Wilson launched a 63-yard TD pass to freshmen Kas Kramer just one minute later.
The 4th quarter saw each team score once more. With 9:36 to go in the game, junior Ryder Dent blasted into the end zone from 7 yards out. The Tigers would score the final TD of the game on a 12-yard run by Leduc.
With the win, Ell-Saline improved to 5 and 2 on the season and the Cardinals will be the second seed when the play-offs begin in two weeks. Meanwhile, Washington County is now 4 and 3.
Next up for the Cardinals, a trip to 2-4 Lincoln.
Kade Wilson was the Nex-Tech Wireless Player of the Game and Mason Ellerman had the H & R Block of the Game.
Scoring by quarters:
TEAM 1 2 3 4 FINAL
Washington County 0 0 6 6 12
Ell-Saline 14 20 6 6 46
