By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Teigan Bjerke rushed for 232 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while William Schwartz added another 111 yards on the ground and two more touchdowns as the Otter Tail Central Bulldogs defeated the Ashby/Brandon-Evansville Bolts by a score of 34-28 on Friday night. 

OTC had its back against the wall late in the fourth quarter as they trailed 28-20 following a Justin Thoennes four-yard touchdown run for the Bolts, but Tayden Soma scored for the Bulldogs on a four-yard run and Bjerke tied the game with the two-point conversion to leave the score at 28-28. 

The Bulldogs then took a final drive the distance as William Schwartz scored on a seven-yard run late in the fourth quarter to make the score 34-28. The extra point attempt failed, but not before the Bulldogs picked up their fifth straight win to improve to 5-1 on the season. 

OTC was led offensively by the duo of Bjerke and Schwartz who combined for 343 yards on the ground to outgain the entire ABE team in total offense. As a team the Bolts had just 311 yards of offense. Of that 192 yards came through the air and just 119 yards on the ground. Meanwhile OTC had 485 yards of offense thanks to a tough rushing attack with 413 yards on the ground and 72 yards through the air.

Turnovers and penalties proved to be a tough thing for OTC to overcome as Braxtyn Cameron threw a pair of interceptions and the Bulldogs lost a fumble, while committing six penalties for 44 yards, compared to just one penalty for five yards for ABE.

OTC led early in the game as Schwartz and Bjerke scored on touchdown runs in the opening quarter, before ABE scored 22 unanswered points to take a 22-14 lead at halftime. Bjerke scored his second touchdown of the game in the third quarter on a 34-yard run to set up a wild fourth quarter of action.

In addition to leading the team in rushing, Bjerke finished with three catches for 39 yards receiving. 

This week the Bulldogs will host the Border West Buccaneers in Battle Lake. The game will be the final regular season home game for the Bulldogs as they will travel to Hancock next Wednesday to close out the regular season.

Border West comes into the game with a record of 4-2 overall and have won four straight games. Last week Border West defeated Hillcrest by a score of 48-20 and also have wins over Underwood by a score of 51-14, Ortonville by a score of 54-6 and Rothsay by a score of 49-20. Their two losses came at the hands of Fertile-Beltrami by a score of 60-32 and Hancock by a score of 30-28. 

Border West comes into the game averaging 43.7 points per game on offense, while giving up 25 points per game on defense. 

OTC, on the other hand, averages 32 points per game on offense and gives up 26 points per game on defense. Of OTC’s five wins this season, four have come by six points or less. 

Friday’s game will also be important in terms of seedings for the section tournament as both teams, along with Hancock, are vying for one of the top three seeds in the section. 

First Quarter

OTC TD- William Schwartz 1 Yd Run (Teigan Bjerke Run For Two-Point Conversion)

OTC TD- Teigan Bjerke 16 Yd Run (Failed Two-Point Conversion)

ABE TD- 5 Yd Run (Failed Two-Point Conversion)

Second Quarter

ABE TD- 9 Yd Pass (Two-Point Conversion)

ABE TD- 57 Yd Pass (Two-Point Conversion)

Third Quarter

OTC TD- Teigan Bjerke 34 Yd Run (Failed Two-Point Conversion)

Fourth Quarter

ABE TD- Justin Thoennes 4 Yd Run (Failed Two-Point Conversion)

OTC TD- Tayden Soma 4 Yd Run (Teigan Bjerke Run For Two-Point Conversion)

OTC TD- William Schwartz 7 Yd Run (Kick No Good)