WHITE – Howard dropped Deubrook Area 73-36 in a Class 9A Football Playoffs first-round game Thursday night.
The Tigers scored on each of their first-half possessions to build a 38-22 advantage and then pulled away in the second half.
The Dolphins fumbled on the second play of the game and the Tigers recovered, before Zach Pardy scored on a 1-yard run. Gavin Erickson-Reisdorfer’s two-point conversion run made it 8-0.
The Howard defense then forced a three-and-out.
Erickson-Reisdorfer’s 38-yard run moved the ball to the Deubrook 32-yard-line. Pardy later converted a fourth-and-4 on the ground to set up Erickson-Reisdorfer’s 10-yard rush to paydirt.
The Dolphins answered to cut the deficit in half at 14-7.
After getting set up with a short field, Trace Vierhuf moved the ball to the 13 with a 27-yard run. Deven Buchholz capped the drive with a 1-yard plunge to paydirt and Evan Kloevstad added the PAT kick.
Howard took over on its own 36 on its ensuing possession and moved the ball to the Deubrook 25 on a pair of running plays. Isaac Feldhaus kept the ball and ran 4 yards up the middle for a touchdown and hit Erickson-Reisdorfer for the two-pointer to make it 22-7 after a quarter.
Erickson-Reisdorfer ran off left tackle and got free for a 39-yard touchdown midway through the second. Feldhaus again hooked up with Erickson-Reisdorfer to push the margin to 30-7.
Vierhuf ran misdirection for a 1-yard run and Kloevstad added the PAT to pull Deubrook within 30-14 with 3:01 left in the half.
Feldhaus scored on another keeper with 17.9 seconds left and found Pardy for the conversion.
The Dolphins lined up a in a spread set and Clayton Koppatschek found an opening and took off for a 68-yard rushing touchdown on a quarterback draw. Buchholz’s run left the score at 38-22 at halftime.
Koppatschek ran 10 times for 193 yards and two touchdowns, was 4-of-5 for 27 yards through the air, and added two receptions for 24 yards. Vierhuf ran for 38 yards on six attempts. Buchholz was 3-of-5 for 36 yards passing.
Deubrook Area finished the season with a 5-4 mark.
Howard (5-4), the sixth seed, heads to No. 3 Warner in the quarterfinals.
Note: Second-half scoring plays and Howard’s statistics were not available.
