Saturday, September 4 marked the first home football game of the season against the Hasting Broncos. Before the game, 14 Northwestern seniors were recognized for Senior Day. In typical fashion at NW sporting events, everyone was asked to stand for the anthem. However, before the Raider Athletic Band played the anthem, 13 seconds of silence were observed in remembrance of the 13 Marines who died in Afghanistan back in August.
The Raiders took to the field ready to play strong and taking the lead after a slow first quarter. Senior Blake Fryar was a powerhouse throwing 293 yards in 24 attempts, 17 of which were complete. Fryar’s longest complete pass of 49 yards was caught by senior Conon Flores. On top of his 293 passing yards, Fryar had a total of four touchdown passes of the day.
The first quarter went a little slower than a typical Raider first quarter. In the second possession, Fryar completed a pass to junior Konner McQuillan. McQuillan would then go one yard to put the Raiders on the scoreboard. The touchdown occurred with almost four minutes left in the quarter. Not long after that, Fryar would complete another pass, this time to senior Cade Moser. This pushed the Raiders ahead even more, ending the first quarter with a score of 14-0 over the Broncos.
Raider offense found its groove shortly into the second quarter. Early on, Fryar tossed one pass to senior Blake Anderson to raise the score to 21-0. A majority of the second quarter saw slow action, until Fryar scored for the Raiders with only 30 seconds left in the first half.
The third quarter saw NW score two more touchdowns. In the last five and a half minutes of the quarter, Fryar connects a pass to McQuillan for another Raider touchdown. With only 41 seconds left in the third quarter, Fryar mades a connecting pass to junior Lorenzo Jones, bringing the score up to 42-0 going into the fourth quarter keeping the Broncos to a null score.
Raider defense, paced by sophomore Parker Fryar with 11 solo tackles and 12 tackles total, were put on their toes when the Broncos found the end zone only two times. Junior Garrett Raymond and senior Tyler Jones gathered one and a half sacks. Sophomore Eli Stader went six for six in the PAT attempts. With only three and a half minutes left in the game, Stader scored a field goal on a 45-yard kick. The game ended with the Raiders defeating the Broncos 45-13, improving the Raiders to 2-0 in the season.
NW football looks to continue their winning streak as they head to Fremont, Nebraska to face the Midland Warriors (1-0) on Saturday, September 11th.
