Ipswich-Edmunds Central dropped a 40-8 Lake Region Conference high school football showdown to Faulkton Area last Friday in Ipswich.

The hosts were really stingy defensively for much of the first half, but so was Faulkton. Especially after the Trojans had fumbled on their own 37, recovered by Josh McQuarie on Faulkton's opening possession of the game! That would be the first red zone bullet the Trojans would dodge, but not the last. Later in the half, the visiting defensive unit stopped a Tiger drive at around their own 3-yard line and their offense then generated a 97-yard scoring drive, capped by Tyler Ogle's 24-yard pass reception from Derek Heitman. And the conversion-play pass completion made it 8-0 at the 4:15 mark of the second quarter.

The Trojans didn't have quite so far to go the next time they were able to score, starting a possession from around mid-field. Heitman again hooked up with Ogle, this time from 56 yards out, which put the Trojans up 14-0 with just under three minutes until halftime and that's how it stood at the halfway mark.

An interception early in the third quarter at the Tiger 22 would put the Trojans in business once again and Heitman found Ogle for a short TD pass play, this one from only five yards away. It put the Trojans up 20 -0 at the 9:32 mark of the third quarter.

They got another third-quarter score on a Heitman run of nine yards and then Heitman found Gage Martinmaas for a 24-yard aerial hook-up TD that put the Trojans up 32-0.

Ipswich-EC finally got on the board in the final quarter, thanks to a 43-yard touchdown completion from Ethan Gilbert to Ben Kulesa and Faukton was able to get a 92-yard scoring pass from Parker Geditz to Hunter Niederbaumer plus a conversion play.

Faulkton amassed 252 rushing yards (84 by Ogle) and 188 more yards through the air.

Meanwhile, Ipswich-Edmunds Central was limited to 61 rushing yards, led by 20 each by Carter Heinz and Riley Nehlich and nine from Kaden Hix. Ipswich-EC was 8-28-3 through the air for 188 yards. Kulessa was 4-16 for 59 yards and Gilbert 4-12 for 73 yards, including that lone touchdown completion. Kulesa had the longest pass reception, that 43-yarder for the score and Hix added three catches for 45 yards and Jordan Richardt reined in two passes for 26 yards.

Kaden Hix (34)

Defensively, I-EC racked up 63 tackles with a balanced effort, led by Daniel Braun with 14 and Kulesa with 10. McQuarie finished with eight and Jacob Nierman with seven. McQuarie and Carter Heinz each included a sack.

The LRC loss dropped Ipswich-EC to 1-2 in league play and 2-2 overall. The I-EC gridders will next travel to Miller against Miller/Highmore-Harrold in a non-league clash on Friday.