The West Central Trojans scored 21 points in the second quarter on their way to a 35-6 win over the Madison Bulldogs in the 11A quarterfinals on Thursday, October 27th. After the three touchdowns in the second quarter, the Trojan defense made sure the game wasn’t as close as it was the first time these two teams played back on September 9th.
The two teams played a scoreless first quarter, but West Central scored early in the second quarter. Justin Zirpel had a four-yard touchdown pass to Owen Heath with 11:39 to go in the half. Zirpel had a 60-yard touchdown pass to Dylan Stromer with 3:29 to go in the quarter. Zirpel added one more touchdown pass, this time a 15-yard pass to Crew Heier with 1:10 to play. Cambell Fischer made all thre extra points, and West Central led 21-0 at halftime.
The Trojans extended their lead with just :08 left in the third quarter. Jesse Jost had a 22-yard touchdown run, and Fischer made the extra point for a 28-0 advantage. Heath recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown with 10:13 to play in the game. Another Fischer extra point pushed the lead to 35-0. Madison got their only score with 4:31 to play in the game on an eight-yard touchdown pass.
West Central finished with 341 yards of total offense, 200 rushing yards and 141 passing yards. Madison had just 119 yards of offense, 60 passing yards and 59 rushing yards.
Zirpel was 14-17 passing for 141 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. Stromer had two catches for 64 yards and a touchdown. Xzavian Ferris had two catches for 41 yards. Heier also had two catches for 21 yards and a touchdown. Heath had a catch for a touchdown. Jost finished with eight carries for 103 yards and a touchdown. Zirpel had 19 carries for 75 yards, and Aiden Bartmann had 11 carries for 40 yards.
Chet Carda led the defense with 11 tackles. Wyatt Nielsen had six tackles. Caden Hall and Heier both finished with four tackles. Chandler Carda, Dwight Khulman, and Dalton Mulder all had three tackles each. Heier also had 1.5 sacks. Kuhlman also had a sack. Mulder had a fumble recovery and interception, and Heath had a fumble recovery.
The Trojans will host Beresford on Friday, November 4th for the semifinals.
