Cavalier and Nelson County squared off on Friday night with identical 3-0 records. Both teams have claimed all three of their wins in non-conference match-ups. For both the Tornadoes and the Chargers, this game would be the first Region 3 contest of the season.
Nelson County showed why they were receiving votes as one of the top teams in the state in the 9-man State Media Polls when they stopped the Tornadoes on their opening drive and then went ahead 8-0 with a 79 yard touchdown pass on the ensuing drive. The two teams would trade blows the rest of the half. Cavalier closed the gap to 8-6 thanks to a 9 yard touchdown pass from Sterling Enerson to Adam Ratchenski. Nelson County wasted little time answering with another huge scoring play, this time a 75 yard screen pass to extend their lead to 14-6. Cavalier would finally knot things in the closing minutes of the second quarter when Landon Carter carried the ball for a 14-yard score. Zack Anderson was on the receiving end of an Enerson pass for the 2-point conversion to make it 14-14 going into the halftime break.
After a few scoreless drives in the second half, Nelson County turned the ball over on downs after a bobbled snap on 4th and short. The Tornadoes took advantage of the field position and Sterling Enerson capped off a 4-play, 34 yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown run. He then found Zack Anderson for the second 2-point conversion to go ahead 22-14. Nelson County responded with a 6-play, 70 yard scoring drive, but failed to convert the extra point making it 22-20 in favor of the Tornadoes. Nelson County would get the ball back and was threatening to score, but Talan Devine put an end to the threat with an interception on the Tornadoes 14 yard line. That momentum carried over to the offense as they went 86 yards in 9 plays on a drive capped off with a 6 yard touchdown reception by Jake Steele from Enerson. Enerson would complete the 2-point try to Matthew Keena pushing the lead to 30-20, making it a 2-score game. Nelson County was driving but Landon Carter iced the game with an interception which was the fourth turnover of the game for the Chargers. The Tornadoes were able to run out the clock by taking knees, moving them to 4-0 on the season and 1-0 in Region 3 competition.
Cavalier will take their 4-0 record on the road to Larimore next Friday night where they will battle the Polar Bears. Cavalier and Larimore are tied atop the Region 3 standings as they both sport 1-0 records in the conference. Larimore is 3-1 overall to this point in the season.