The Thunder Ridge Longhorns, making their first state championship appearance in the consolidated school's brief history, rolled over defending champion Baileyville B&B, 46-14 Saturday in Newton.
The win brings the town of Kensington its first state championship since winning as Kensington-West Smith Co. in 1994.
After Baileyville B&B jumped out to an early 6-0 lead on a Cody Heiman 25-yard touchdown run less than two minutes into the game, Thunder Ridge rattled off 24 straight points to close out the first half.
Trevor Lowe scored on runs of 1 and 48 yards and Joel Struckhoff added a 7-yard score for the Longhorns who led 24-6 at the break.
Things only got worse for the Falcons in the third quarter.
Struckhoff took the opening kick-off of the second-half back 73 yards to push the lead to 32-6.
Lowe then found the end zone for the third time less than four minutes later on a 37-yard run.
Thunder Ridge also converted on its first five 2-point conversions to lead 40-6 with 7:59 left in the third quarter.
The two teams would each score one more time in the final 20 minutes.
Baileyville B&B's second touchdown came on a 44-yard pass from Dustin Rottinghaus to Heiman.
Struckhoff scored the final touchdown of the game on a seven yard run to make it 46-14 at the 9:16 mark of the fourth quarter. Struckhoff and Lowe each had 3 touchdowns for the Longhorns.
@KPREPS TWITTER GAME TIMELINE
- Cody Heiman 25-yard TD run. 10:23 1Q B&B 6, Thunder Ridge 0
- Thunder Ridge converts on 4th & goal at the 1, then 1-play later Trevor Lowe scores from 1-yard out. Lowe adds the conversion. 8-6 TR 4:03 1Q
- Joel Struckhoff 7-yard TD run. Trevor Lowe breaks about 7 tackles on the conversion run. 1:20 1Q: Thunder Ridge 16, B&B 6
- Thunder Ridge holds B&B on downs at the 10 yard line
- Trevor Lowe 48-yard TD run. 3:53 2Q: Thunder Ridge leads 24-6
- 24-6 Thunder Ridge at halftime
- Joel Struckhoff returns 2nd half kickoff 73 yards for a TD. Thunder Ridge 32, Baileyville B&B 6
- Trevor Lowe 37-yard TD run. He adds 2-point conversion catch. 7:59 3Q, Thunder Ridge up big: 40-6
- 7:20 left in 3Q, Dustin Rottinghaus 44-yard TD pass to Cody Heiman. Conversion pass to Tyler Deters. 40-14
- End of 3Q: Thunder Ridge 40, B&B 14
- Struckhoff 7-yard TD run. 9:16 4Q, Thunder Ridge 46, B&B 14
- Final: Thunder Ridge 46, Baileyville B&B 14. Longhorns are 2011 8M-II state champions.
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