Amazing 'Riders unleash deluge on rainy Thursday night

Southwest‘s Hunter Cunningham (above) escaped Wauneta-Palisade tacklers for 10 yards a carry Thursday night in Bartley.

Steve Towery/McCook Gazette

BARTLEY, Neb. — On a rainy Thursday, no deluge could match what Southwest unleashed upon Wauneta-Palisade in their six-man football showdown.

Senior Carter VanPelt took the opening kickoff 70 yards to a touchdown, and those Roughriders struck for four more scores before darkness even fully arrived.

The early 37-7 lead became 51-15 and a mercy-rule running clock finished Southwest’s 58-21 home win.

Southwest's Hunter Blume was a force whether he was running or blocking with teammates like Trenton Williams during the big win over Wauneta-Palisade Thursday.

Steve Towery/McCook Gazette

Just like that, the ’Riders are 3-1 following a season where Southwest earned just one win.

“It’s a tribute to guys who have worked their tails off to be a good team,” coach Christian Arterburn said. “Wauneta-Palisade is a very good team, but this was the best our guys have played in a long time.”

Senior Hunter Cunningham ran for two of those Southwest TDs while gaining 90 yards on only nine carries.

Cunningham blasted 22 yards to the second SW score capping a three-play drive. His second TD needing just three yards made it 21-0.

VanPelt then pulled in a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Nathan Rippe.

Freshman Blake Nickerson answered with the first of his two TDs for Wauneta-Palisade (3-1), who earned a Six Man top 10 ranking from the Lincoln Journal-Star.

However — just one play after the ensuing kickoff — Rippe zoomed 47 yards through wet grass to a fifth Southwest score. The margin became 44-15 at halftime on freshman Hunter Blume’s three-yard run.

Blume reached pigskin paradise again from that same distance, and Rippe’s 54-yard pass to sophomore Kaiden Ruggles capped Southwest’s scoring. W-P’s Draven Miner added a final TD.