THOMPSON, N.D. -- Against an undefeated Lisbon football team, Thompson played perhaps its best defensive game of the high school season Friday.
“We did a great job defensively until the end,’’ Tommies coach Brady Schwab said. “We tackled well. I was really happy with our effort. Our game play was good and we executed it 97 percent of the time.’’
It was that remaining three percent -- and the big-play ability of Dawson Parrow -- that did in the Tommies, however. Lisbon pulled away with two fourth-quarter touchdowns to hand Thompson a 30-14 defeat in North Dakota Class A 11-man play.
Parrow had all four Lisbon touchdowns, on runs of 43, 35 and 71 yards and a 62-yard pass reception from Hunter Schultz. Those four touchdown plays accounted for two-thirds of the Broncos’ 317 yards in total offense.
“Four big plays -- the rest of the time they didn’t do a lot,’’ said Schwab, whose defense totaled 13 tackles for lost yardage and had two interceptions. “But they made the big plays.’’
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Parrow was an unexpected playmaker. The senior rushed for a game-high 169 yards on just seven carries. He picked up the slack as Thompson held standout Jordan Sours to just 13 yards on 10 carries. Sours entered the game with more than 1,000 rushing yards on the season.
“They were keying hard on Jordan,’’ Lisbon coach Joe Gerding said. “It was great to see Dawson step up. Dawson hasn’t carried the ball a lot. When he does, they’ve usually been big plays.
“This was by far the most physical team we’ve played. We’ve usually been the most physical team in games all year. But in the second half our kids responded really well.’’
Thompson took a 14-8 lead when Ryan Juve hauled in a 13-yard scoring pass from Clay Odenbach on the opening drive of the second half.
But Lisbon (6-0) took the lead for good on its next possession. Parrow got open behind the Tommies’ secondary on the sideline, Schultz hit him with a long pass and he went in untouched for the 62-yard scoring reception.
It stayed 16-14 until Parrow scored twice in the fourth quarter, the final one on a 71-yard run with 1:10 remaining to clinch the win.
Thompson played most of the game without standout running back Sam Roller, who suffered a hip pointer on the Tommies’ opening drive and never returned.
“You have to have guys step up,’’ Schwab said. “The guys who came in ran hard and did a nice job. But it’s tough to replace a dynamic back like Roller.’’
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Juve rushed for 67 yards, while Odenbach was 15-of-26 passing for 152 yards to lead the offense for the 4-2 Tommies.
