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Indians Advance in Playoffs

On Tuesday evening, November 4th, the Indians met the Decatur County Red Devils in the Bi-District football playoff game.  The Decatur County team came into the contest with a 2-7 record and was the 2nd seeded team from District 16.  The Red Devils played hard, but were not able to stay with the Indians.  Decatur County ran the ball only a few times on the evening, throwing the ball on nearly every play.  Decatur County executed several beautiful passing plays, but also turned the ball over often.  St. Francis had nine interceptions on the evening.  Trent Kinen had 4, Matt Raile 2, Trent Raile 1, Jesse Pacheco 1, and Terrence Lamb 1.  Trent Raile also rushed for nearly 300 yards and the St. Francis offense accounted for approximately 500 yards.

Trent Raile opened the scoring with 8:30 left in the first quarter when he ran for a 29 yard touchdown.  Trevor Hilt ran for the conversion points.  Trent scored again with 2:42 remaining in the first quarter on a 23 yard run.  Cody Sherlock scored the two point conversion.  The first quarter ended with the score St. Francis 16 - Decatur County 0.

In the second quarter, Trent Raile scored on a 45 yard run off left tackle with 11:17 on the clock.  Quarterback Matt Raile passed to Jesse Pacheco for the conversion points.  Decatur County scored their only touchdown of the game with 5:08 left on a 1 yard quarterback sneak after a good drive by the Red Devils.  The hafltime score was St. Francis 24 - Decatur County 8.

St. Francis blew the game open in the third quarter.  St. Francis scored on the first play from scrimmage when Trent Raile ran for a 60 yard TD (conversion failed).  Adam Guthmiller scored with 9:15 remaining on the clock on a 38 yard run (T. Raile conversion).  Trent Raile scored on a 36 yard scamper with 7:26 remaining in the third quarter.  This was Trent's fifth TD of the game and St. Francis led 44-8 (conversion no good).  On the next Red Devil possession, Jesse Pacheco intercepted a pass and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown (conversion by Guthmiller).  The third quarter ended with St. Francis leading 52-8.  

The fourth quarter featured the young Indians and neither team scored again. St. Francis won the Bi-District championship 52-8.  St. Francis has averaged more than 58 points per game in their last five games.

St. Francis will now play against Lacrosse (10-0) on Saturday, November 8th in St. Francis.  Game time will be 6:00 pm.  Lacrosse was a 55-6 winner over Johnson-Stanton County on Tuesday evening.

In other scores of interest from Tuesday, Oakley defeated 42-18; Smith Center defeated Trego Community 62-0.

Click here to view the 2A state football playoff bracket