Archangels Catholic football stays alive, will host Howells-Dodge

The quarterfinal stage of the state football playoffs is here with three Columbus Telegram area teams still in action.

On Friday, Humphrey Archangels Catholic, Howells-Dodge, Shelby-Rising City all advanced to their respective quarterfinal games while High Plains, Aquinas and Boone Central all had their seasons come to an end.

Archangels Catholic

The No. 1 team in the Class D2 playoffs, the Defenders hosted No. 16 Twin Loup in the opening round of the reseeded D2 bracket.

Archangels shut out the Wolves 38-0 to improve to 10-0 this season.

Sophomore Gavin Geilenkirchen got the Defenders on the board first with a 22-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Fellow sophomore Defender Ethan Wielseler later scored in the opening quarter on a 1-yard rush.

Archangels' remaining points came in the second quarter with scores from Geilenkirchen, senior Devon Baumgart and a passing touchdown from Wielser to Tucker Czarnick.

On the day, the Defenders went 4-for-5 on 2-point attempts with Baumgart having three successful attempts.

In the Class D-2 quarterfinals, the Defenders will remain at home as they host No. 8 Howells-Dodge on Friday at 7 p.m.

Howells-Dodge

Ahead of the Jaguars' quarterfinal game at Archangels, they beat No. 9 Bancroft-Rosalie at home.

Howells-Dodge advanced past the Panthers with a 54-22 win as the Jaguars started strong with 16 points in the first quarter.

The Jaguars would later outscore the Panthers 24-14 in the second and 14-8 over the course of the third and fourth quarters.

Howells-Dodge's offense ran for 361 yards and passed for 27. Two Jaguars finished with over 100 from scrimmage as junior Hunter Luther ran for 233 yards and six touchdowns. Freshman Oliver Belina rushed for 109 yards on 11 attempts while having one touchdown.

The now 8-2 Jaguars will get a shot at redemption after falling 36-6 at Archangels on Oct. 18.

Shelby-Rising City

The Huskies got the No. 8 seed in the reseeded Class D-1 state bracket and they got to host Arapahoe.

SRC was able to advance past the Warriors with a 30-22 win.

Sophomore Carter Eickmeier led the Huskies with 200 yards and two touchdowns on the ground on 35 attempts.

Junior Logan Lindsley accounted for two scores as he ran seven times for 63 yards and a touchdown while completing one pass to Dalton Pokorney for a 22-yard touchdown.

The Huskies improved to 9-1 and they will now face No. 1 Sandy Creek on the road. Sandy Creek is 10-0 and is coming off of a 76-12 win over Sandhills Valley.

High Plains

The Storm were the No. 10 seed in the Class D-2 bracket and they traveled to No. 7 Overton.

The Eagles ended up eliminating High Plains with a 32-20 win.

Senior Gage Friesen had two touchdowns while Haden Helgoth had one in the 12-point loss.

The Storm finished the season with a 7-3 record.

Aquinas Catholic

In the Class C-2 playoffs, the Monarchs opened play as the No. 14 seed and they played at No. 3 Battle Creek.

The Monarchs trailed the Braves 10-7 at the half before Battle Creek outscored Aquinas 21-6 in the final two quarters to fall 31-13.

The two Monarch touchdowns went to Kailer Pohl and Jacksen Jelinek. Pohl scored on a 51-yard pass from Kasen Lavicky and Jelinek scored late in the fourth on a 9-yard run.

Overall, Aquinas' offense finished with 185 total yards with 95 coming through the air and 90 coming on the ground. Kurtis Baer led the rushing attack with 69 yards.

Aquinas closes the season with a 6-4 record.