Follett’s Dakota Woods and Chris Bechthold combined for seven touchdowns to lead the No. 5 Panthers past No. 8 Motley County, 54-8, in a Six-Man Division II quarterfinal Friday night at River Road’s Wildcat Stadium.

The game ended by the 45-point mercy rule after Bechthold’s third touchdown, a 34-yard scoring run, in the third quarter.

“We’ve been working toward this game for three weeks,” Follett coach Harley Ethridge said. “The defense was really prepared. They didn’t pass as much as we expected, and that helped us.”

The Panthers held Motley County to 90 yards passing and outrushed the Matadors 195-57.

Follett (8-4) advanced to play Grandfalls-Royalty in next week’s semifinals. Grandfalls-Royalty defeated Balmorea, 82-40.

Woods accounted for five of the Panthers six first-half touchdowns.

“Woods is really getting confident, and he’s turned into our leader,” Ethridge said. “He’s starting to buy into the idea of being a leader, and that makes all the difference.”

Woods scrambled and found Nicholl Maxwell down the middle for a 36-yard touchdown to put the Panthers up 8-0 with 6:38 left in the first half.

Woods set up Follett’s next scoring drive with an interception at the Panthers’ 7-yard line. Bechthold took a pitch around the left end in for a 27-yard touchdown to cap Follett’s eight-play, 73-yard scoring drive.

“This was probably the best game we’ve played all year,” Said Woods, who completed seven of eight passes for 158 yards and three touchdowns. “We did the little things well tonight.”

Woods added another a pair of touchdown runs (7 and 16 yards) and touchdown passes to Bechthold and Errol Ormesher to help the Panthers build a 48-0 lead with 48 seconds left in the first half.

Motley County quarterback Austin Taylor floated a pass to Britt Simpson who raced 46 yards down the left sideline for the Matadors only score with 13 seconds left in the second quarter.

Follett 54, Motley County 8

Follett 16 32 6 x — 54

Motley County 0 8 0 x — 8

F—Nicholl Maxwell 36 pass from Dakota Woods (Eduardo Valtierra kick)

F—Chris Bechthold 27 run (Valtierra kick)

F—Bechthold 40 pass from Woods (Valtierra kick)

F—Woods 7 run (Valtierra kick)

F—Woods 16 run (Valtierra kick)

F—Errol Ormesher 22 pass from Woods (Valtierra kick)

MC—Britt Simpson 46 pass from Austin Taylor (Juan Flores kick)

F—Bechthold 34 run

Follett Motley County

First Downs 3 3

Rushing Yards 195 57

Passing Yards 163 90

Total Yards 358 147

C-A-I 8-10-0 6-9-1

Punts-avg. 0-0 0-0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-2

Penalties-yards 4-35 3-20

Individual statistics

Rushing—Follett: Chris Bechthold 2-61, Dakota Woods 7-86, Errol Ormesher 7-48. Motley County: Austin Taylor 9-27, Juan Flores 6-23, Bryant Bigham 2-7.

Passing—Follett: Woods 7-8-0-158, Nicholl Maxwell 1-2-0-5. Motley County: Taylor 4-4-0-67, Conner Mason 2-5-1-23.

Receiving—Follett: Ormesher 5-71, Bechthold 1-40, Maxwell 1-36, Corey Pell 1-16. Motley County: Flores 2-23, Conner Mason 2-11, Taylor 1-0, Britt Simpson 1-46.

Valley blanks Petersburg

The rematch was no match for the Valley Patriots on Friday night.

In the second meeting of the season between the two teams, Valley was more dominant than the first time, routing Petersburg, 46-0, in a Six-Man Division I quarterfinal in Lockney.

The Patriots (12-1) advanced to play the winner of Throckmorton and Rankin next week in the semifinals.

Earlier in the season in a District 2 game, Valley beat Petersburg, 79-44. This time the game ended in the third quarter because of the 45-point mercy rule.

Valley’s Kameron Buchanan again carried the load with 53 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries, along with three catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns. He also returned a punt 71 yards for a score.

Ketch Smith had a big game, completing 7 of 10 passes for 194 yards.

The game ended after a 25-yard touchdown run by Carson Crocker and Buchanan’s two-point conversion kick.

— Lee Passmore

Valley 46, Petersburg 0

Valley 16 14 16 x — 46

Petersburg 0 0 0 x — 0

V—Kameron Buchanan 1 run (Buchanan kick)

V—Buchanan 43 pass from Ketch Smith (Buchanan kick)

V—Buchanan 7 run (kick failed)

V—Buchanan 71 punt return (Buchanan kick)

V—Buchanan 43 pass from Smith (Buchanan kick)

V—Carson Crocker 25 run (Buchanan kick)

Valley Petersburg

First Downs 9 2

Rushing 103 33

Passing 194 43

Total yards 297 76

C-A-I 7-10-0 4-8-0

Punts 0-00.0 4-34.7

Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0

Penalties-yards 2-25 1-10