Groton Area won a defensive battle with Webster Area in a Northeast Conference football tussle on Friday with all the scoring coming in the second quarter of the 14-7 Tiger victory.
Coach Shaun Wanner’s crew boosted its season mark to 2-0 while Webster Area fell to 1-2. This week the Tigers move up a division at Class 11A Milbank on Friday. The Bulldogs are 1-1 after losing a narrow 14-13 decision to Tri-Valley and blanking Lakota Tech 55-0.
“I thought we played well defensively and our defense came up with some big stops late in the game,” said Wanner. “We need to clean a few things up offensively. We had too many penalties on offense that put us in poor field position. It was a hard-fought NEC football game between two solid teams. We need to get better and keep improving week to week.”
Wanner know his club faces a challenge at Milbank.
“Milbank is an improved football team and they always play a very competitive schedule with many Class 11A teams. They have good numbers and have size with some good skilled kids. We need to sustain drives and keep our defense off the field. They have a new head coach that has them playing well, and it should be another NEC battle.”
Korbin Kucker put the Tigers on the board first with an eight-yard run at the 9:58 mark in the second quarter with João Nunes adding the PAT kick for a 7-0 lead. Webster Area tied the contest at 7-7 two minutes later on a 79-yard bomb. GA quarterback Ryder Johnson put the Tigers back up with 1:13 left in the opening half with a one-yard run and Nunes kick proved to be the final scoring of the game.
The Tigers ended up with 135 yards rushing and 54 passing for a 189 total, while Webster Area managed 100 on the ground and 109 through the air for a 209 total. GA’s Kucker was the game’s top rusher with 97 yards on 20 carries and Brevin Fliehs hauled in four passes for 39 yards as well as leading the defensive effort with 11 tackles and a fumble recovery. Christian Ehrresmann added 10 stops and a pass interception and Tucker Hardy had eight tackles and a sack.
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