North Platte senior Liam Servaes found the end zone three times and ran for 142 yards in the Class 1 District 3 Semifinals.
DEARBORN – Failing to reach a district championship for nearly a decade, the North Platte football team (10-1) ended that drought and continued its dominant start to the postseason with a 46-12 beat down over Crest Ridge with Chilhowee (7-4) on Nov. 10.
Entering the Class 1 District 3 Semifinals with a matchup with the No. 3 seed, North Platte clinched its first district championship appearance since 2015. The Panthers have dropped at least 44 points in their last three home game and have outscored opponents 105-26 since the end of the regular season.
Having the luxury of being the top seed, North Platte has played at home in the opening two games of the postseason which isn’t something that’s happened in recent memory. The last time the Panthers went to a district championship, they had to take down top-seeded Wellington-Napoleon 34-28 in overtime on the road in the district semifinals on Oct. 30, 2015.
The path to getting back to a district championship was a bit easier this time, but Crest Ridge put up a fight early on. North Platte started the game on defense and turned the ball over on downs on its first possession.
Jesse Williams sacked Crest Ridge with Chilhowee senior quarterback Daniel Doak twice in the Panthers’ dominant 46-12 victory.
The Cougars went three-and-out and the Panthers struck first with a 61-yard, 2:17 scoring drive. Colton Kirkham scrambled for 29 yards on a 3rd and 12, which led to a 2-yard rushing touchdown by Liam Servaes and Kirkham ran in for two.
Crest Ridge responded with a 23-yard pass from Daniel Doak to Conner Buttram, making the score 8-6 in North Platte’s favor with 43 seconds left in the first quarter. On the ensuing series, Servaes broke loose for a 40-yard touchdown on a 3rd and 4 and Chance Garber ran in for the 2-point conversion to push the lead to 16-6.
Dylan Armstrong took a turn on getting into the end zone on the next Panther possession, rushing in from two yards out. Late in the first half, the Cougars drove down the field and had a chance to put more points on the board.
Crest Ridge attempted a field goal that barely made it off the ground and Kirkham picked the ball up that appeared to be blocked by Jesse Williams and returned it 84 yards to the house with 18 seconds left. Armstrong converted the 2-point conversion, making the halftime score 30-6.
North Platte senior quarterback Colton Kirkham (#3) runs behind junior backup quarterback Westin Snook (#12) as his lead blocker in the first half on Nov. 10.
Servaes ran in for his third score of the night in the opening minutes of the second half as the senior ended the night with 142 yards on the ground. Jason Shanks became the fourth Panther to score with a fourth quarter rush, which made the score 46-6 with 8:54 remaining.
The Cougars scored a late touchdown after the running clock started. Williams came away with three sacks and Garber added two as the senior duo both had two quarterback hurries too.
The Panthers relied heavily on the ground, running for 287 yards and averaging 8.2 yards per rush attempt. Jaxson Carpenter had four receptions for 14 yards to lead the vertical attack.
The Panthers’ last and only district title came in 1998 as they came up short against West Platte in 2015. North Platte will host Windsor (8-3) – who beat sixth-seeded Skyline (2-9) by 10 points in the semifinals – for the Class 1 District 3 Championship on Nov. 17.