Bears pull huge first-round playoff upset

HEBRON — Laurel-Concord-Coleridge used a big fourth quarter to pull away and beat Thayer Central 76-36 in the opening round of the Class D-1 playoffs on Thursday night.

Evan Haisch did most of the damage as the Bear standout carried the ball for 306 yards on 48 carries, scoring seven touchdowns.

Thayer Central held the lead briefly in the first quarter, thanks to a 69-yard pass from Logan Wiedel to Andrew Heinrichs.

The Bears wasted zero time in responding, as Lucas Rasmussen returned the ensuing kickoff 78 yards for a score and Evan Haisch ran in the two-point conversion to tie the game at 8-8.

Haisch scored on runs of 18 and four yards and caught a 35- yard pass from Evan Schmitt, who also called his own number for a score to make it 38-20 at the half.

Thayer Central would get within 10 in the third quarter on a Wiedel scoring pass play, but it was all LCC after that.

Haisch answered with scoring runs of 1 and 11 yards to make it 54-28, and after Thayer Central scored one final time, Haisch added two more touchdown runs and Rasmussen closed the scoring with a 71-yard run to cement the Bears’ advancement into the next round.

Haisch’s 306 led all players. Rasmussen added 71 yards on one carry and Nolan Ohlrich had 17 yards on five carries.

Evan Schmitt was 6-of-12 passing for 92 yards and ran 13 yards on nine carries. Cael Hartung was the leading receiver with 46 yards on three catches.

Defensively, Haisch led the team with 10 tackles with Sutton Ehlers had seven and Ohlrich had five.

The Bears will go for another upset this week. They will play host to the top seed in the East bracket, Tri County, on Friday at Haskell Field. The game starts at 5 p.m.

Thayer Central 8 12 8 8 — 36

LCC 16 22 8 30— 76

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