Football: D.C. Everest stays in playoff hunt with win at Eau Claire Memorial behind arm of Kilgas and legs of Rohde.

Sophomore quarterback Bennett Kilgas hit 11 of 21 passes for 200 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception in his first start while Ty Rohde ran 149 yards on 19 carries with 1 touchdown as D.C. Everest earned a must-win 28-6 victory at Eau Claire Memorial on Friday night. Andrew Bangtson added 4 catches for 103 yards and a touchdown as the Evergreens improved to 4-4 overall and 3-2 in the Wisconsin Valley Conference.

On the first offensive series of the night, the Evergreens drove 87 yards for the touchdown. A 28 yard connection from Kilgas to Bangtson set up DCE on the Memorial 3 with Tristan Gast scoring on a run on the next play to put Everest up 6-0 with 2:11 to go in the first quarter after the two-point conversion was stopped. Everest would push the advantage to 14-0 midway through the 2nd quarter when Bangtson took a screen pass from Kilgas on 3rd and 11 from the ECM 41, worked to the right sideline and took it to the end zone for the touchdown. Rohde would run in the 2-point conversion and Everest had a 14-0 lead with 5:01 left in the half.

Memorial would get on the board late in the half behind a big special teams play. With just over 1 minute left in the 2nd quarter, ECM blocked an Everest punt and started on the Evergreen 2 yard line. On the next play, Jayce Larson would plunge into the end zone with :49 left and, after a missed 2-point conversion, make the score 14-6 at halftime.

The score would stay 14-6 until Everest put the game away with a pair of 4th quarter touchdowns. Early in the 4th quarter DCE put together a long drive that culminated on a 2 yard touchdown run by Ty Rohde with 6:49 left in the game to lead 21-6. Then, on the 2nd play of the next ECM drive, Michael Schepp intercepted a Lucas Arndorfer pass and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown and the Evergreens completed the 28-6 victory. It put the finishing touch on a good night on the defense for Schepp, who led the team with 11 tackles in the game. Cal Olafson and Braydan Vang each added 8 tackles for Everest.

The Evergreens will have another big game in their playoff hunt on Friday at home vs. Wisconsin Rapids to finish the regular season.