Prep Football: Verndale pins a rout on the ECHO Rockets, 60-0

Verndale started fast and never slowed down during the 60-0 Pheasant Conference rout of the ECHO Charter School Rockets on Friday night.

Quarterback Dillon Card passed for two touchdowns, wide receiver Dallas Ehrmantraut scored three touchdowns and running back Andy Bounds ran in for another two scores as the Pirates led 44-0 at halftime.

Verndale dominated the game with 461 yards of total offense, compared to 81 for ECHO Charter School. Five of the Pirates’ eight scoring drives came on three plays or less and the Rockets gift-wrapped the Verndale win by committing seven turnovers.

The Pirates opened the game with a six-play, 53 yard scoring drive that was capped with Cory Uselman’s three-yard run with under nine minutes remaining in the opening stanza.

After holding the Rockets to minus three yards on their opening possession, Verndale had a short field to work from on their second scoring possession that started from their own 43 yard line. The Pirates needed three plays to find the endzone as Ehrmantraut hauled in a 34 yard scoring strike from Card. The two connected for a 23-yard pass on the second play of the drive.

After holding ECHO to another short series, the Pirates fumbled the punt return at midfield. However, the Rockets gave the ball back when they fumbled on their third play of the drive . The Rockets held up defensively, only to fumble again when Bounds laid out returner Colton Hunter just as he fielded the punt at the ECHO 27 yard line.

Card found Kory Stave for a nine-yard pass on the last play of the opening quarter, and three plays later, the Pirates struck for a seven-yard run from Bounds at 10:55 of the second quarter.

Bounds would increase the lead to 30-0 on the Pirates fifth possession of the game with a 65 yard run. Three minutes later, Verndale had a 52-yard punt return for a touchdown from Josh Gilb wiped out by a block to the back penalty.

It was the second Pirate touchdown of the first half to be nulified by a penalty as Bounds initially had a 17 yard touchdown run erased by a holding penalty during the Pirates’ opening drive. Verndale ended up being penalized 10 times for 80 yards during the game.

The penalty spotted Verndale at the Rocket 35 yard line, but a little over two minutes later they found themselves in the endzone once again as Card capped the six play drive with a 14-yard pass to Ehrmantraut.

ECHO continued to have trouble getting their offense going and punted the ball away for the sixth time in the first half. Two plays later, Verndale made it 44-0 with 43 seconds left before the break on a 30-yard run from Erhmantraut.

The Rockets could only generate 26 yards of offense against the Pirates during the first half, but opened the second half with a spirited effort during their first possession.

Jesse Pingel ignited the homecoming crowd with two straight runs that gave the Rockets a first down at the Pirate 41 yard line. It would be the first of two ECHO first downs of the entire game.

Another driving to the Pirate 33, a holding penalty wiped out a 12-yard run by Pingle that would’ve spotted the ball at the 15 yard line. The Pirate defense rose up and forced the Rockets to turn the ball over on downs at the Verndale 34 yard line.

Two plays later, Bounds picked up his second touchdown of the game with a 58-yard rumble through the heart of the Rocket defense. The Pirates cemented the victory on running time when Dakota Finck broke a few tackles and raced 58-yards to the endzone late in the third quarter.

Pirate freshman defensive back Anthony Kern intercepted a pass from Rocket quarterback Kyle Lecy at midfield and returned the ball to the ECHO 19 yard line with over six minutes left in the fourth quarter. After one rushing play, Verndale head coach Mike Mahlen had his team take a knee the next three plays to turn the ball over to the Rockets.

Two consecutive rushing plays from Lecy gave the Rockets their second first down of the game at the ECHO 32 yard line. But the clock ran out on the Pirates’ 60-0 victory.

Bounds had five carries and gained 159 of the Pirates’ 351 rushing yards on the night. Finck finished with 63 yards on four carries. Ehrmantraut added 36 yards rushing and hauled down four catches for 84 yards. Card completed nine of 13 passes for 110 yards.

Defensively, Colton Moyer led the way with eight tackles with Bounds adding seven tackles, two fumble recoveries and one forced fumble.

The Rockets were led by Pingel, who picked up 45 yards rushing on 17 carries. Lecy added 18 yards rushing to go with his 12 yards passing in the loss.

Verndale (1-0) travels to Underwood at 7 p.m. Friday.

Verndale at ECHO Charter School on September 9
Pirates 60, Rockets 0
Verndale 16 28 16 0—60
ECHO 0 0 0 0—0
First Quarter
VER—Cory Uselman 3 run (Dillon Card run) 8:54
VER—Dallas Ehrmantraut 34 pass from Card (Andy Bounds run) 5:20
Second Quarter
VER—Bounds 7 run (Kory Stave pass from Card) 10:55
VER—Bounds 65 run (pass intercepted) 8:21
VER—Ehrmantraut 14 pass from Card (Bounds run) 3:47
VER—Ehrmantraut 29 run (pass failed) 0:43
Third Quarter
VER—Bounds 58 run (Ehrmantraut pass from Card) 6:55
VER—Dakota Finck 58 run (James Kveton run) 1:30
Fourth Quarter
No Scoring

Team Stats
Rushes-Yards: VER 30-351; ECHO 28-69
Pass Comp-Att-Int-Yards: VER 9-13-0-110; ECHO 4-8-1-12
Total Offense: VER 461; ECHO 81
Penalties-Yards: VER 10-80; ECHO 5-48
First Downs: VER 9; ECHO 2
Fumbles-Lost: VER 2-1; ECHO 6-5

Individual Stats
Rushing: VER—Andy Bounds 5-159, Dakota Finck 4-63, Dallas Ehrmantraut 2-36, Dillon Card 5-28, Cory Uselman 2-22, Marcas Gomez 2-20, James Kveton 4-10, Colter Ehrmantraut 2-8 Colten Moyer 4-5; ECHO—Jesse Pingel 17-45, Kyle Lecy 6-18, Landon Evans 5-6
Passing: VER—Dillon Card 9-13-0-110; ECHO—Kyle Lecy 3-8-1-12
Receiving: VER—Dallas Ehrmantraut 4-84, Colter Ehrmantraut 1-9, Kory Staves 1-9, Gomez 1-4, Bounds 1-2, Meyer 1-2; ECHO—Evans 3-10, Pingel 1-2
Defensive Standouts: VER—Colten Moyer 8 tackles; Dan Fischer 7 tackles; James Kveton 7 tackles; Andy Bounds 7 tackles, 2 fumble recovery, 1 forced fumble; Cory Uselman 7 tackles