By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
DEARBORN - North Platte scored 36 unanswered points and held Windsor off the board in the second half in a 42-6 win over the Greyhounds in the Class 1 District 3 championship in Dearborn Friday.
North Platte (11-1) has its first district title since 1998.
The Panthers kicked off to start the game, but the opening kick was muffed by Windsor's Chase Hampton and recovered by the Panthers.
Taking over at the Windsor 36-yard line to start the game, North Platte scored just two plays later on a two-yard touchdown run from Liam Servaes.
Windsor (8-4) had the answer early, driving 64 yards on 11 plays to knot the game at 6-6.
North Platte, though, stayed in a groove offensively, scoring touchdowns on each of their next two possessions to go up 20-6 with 11:55 left in the second quarter.
Windsor had trouble getting anything going offensively after they scored on their opening series.
A pair of interceptions on back-to-back drives by Windsor quarterback Reece Heany only helped the Panthers' cause in the first half.
Servaes scored on his third rushing touchdown of the night late in the second quarter, putting North Platte ahead 28-6 at halftime.
The Panthers got the ball to start the second half, but had to punt on their first series coming out of the locker room.
Windsor punted it right back to North Platte on the ensuing drive, and that kick was taken 51 yards to the house by Colton Kirkham, extending the Panthers' lead to 34-6 with 8:32 left in the third.
Just minutes later, Kirkham threw a 42-yard bomb on a touchdown pass to Jaxson Carpenter with 6:27 left in the third, putting the finishing touches on an all around dominant night for North Platte.
Kirkham finished with three all-purpose touchdowns. He had 92 yards passing and 58 yards rushing.
Servaes toted the ball seven times for 26 yards and three scores. Dylan Armstrong finished with 67 all-purpose yards.
Defensively, Windsor committed two turnovers and the Greyhounds were stopped on fourth down on four of their drives. The Panthers also had eight tackles for loss on defense.
Carpenter and Jason Shanks each had INTs for North Platte.
In all, Windsor had nine possessions after their first quarter touchdown, and the Greyhounds were held out of the end zone on all of them.
North Platte has now won nine straight games and they'll stay home next Saturday to host Milan (11-1) in a state semifinal. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
Milan beat Hamilton/Penney in quarterfinals Friday, 13-12.
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