It's hard to say that your first District game might be the one that means the most but on Friday night in week five both Axtell and Frankfort were presented with a must win to open District play as many think it's a three team race in 8-Man DII District one between them and Pike Valley for the two playoff spots. 

The game proved to be the best in the series between the two teams since 2008 as a one-yard touchdown run by Kaleb Buessing with 8.1 seconds left in the game secured the 30-24 Axtell win. 

A methodical drive that took 6:30 off the clock to open the game resulted in a one-yard touchdown run by Adam Kenworthy of Frankfort on a fourth and goal and with the two-point conversion it was 8-0 Frankfort up on the road. Axtell responded on their first offensive drive as went down the field in just over a minute and tied the game up on a Kaleb Buessing 25-yard touchdown passes to Brice Koch and with the two-point conversion it was tied at 8-8 with 4:24 remaining the the first. Buessing was stepping in at quarterback for the Eagles for the second straight week with senior quarterback, Colton Buessing out due to injury. 

After two offensive drives it looked like it could be a shootout but the defenses buckled down and started stopping each other. On a Frankfort punt, Koch called for the fair catch around his out 16-yard line and fumbled the punt and the Wildcats recovered and were in the redzone once again. Axtell forced a fourth down and Kenworthy found an open Sheldon Parthemer for what would have been a touchdown but the ball wasn't secured and it was in incomplete pass and turnover on downs. 

The Eagles would take in the lead in the second quarter after Kenworthy lofted a deep pass up and it was picked off by Adam Kuckelman who took it back 60-yards down the sideline to the goal line and fumbled it but Koch scooped it up and scored for Axtell and with the two-point conversion led 16-8. 

Frankfort had one final opportunity in the first half as the marched down the field and got in the redzone setting up for one final play before halftime and again Kenworthy found Parthemer for what would have been a touchdown but Parthemer couldn't hold on and Axtell led 16-8 at intermission. 

Neither team found a groove in the third quarter until with 4:03 left in the third Axtell took a two score lead on a three-yard Kaleb Buessing run, to lead 24-8. But Frankfort answered right back to draw within a single score again as Kenworthy had a three-yard touchdown run with 1:20 left in the third. 

Down to the final minutes of game time Frankfort went back to what they do best and ran the ball down the field setting up the third rushing touchdown on the night for Kenworthy (one-yard) and tied the game at 24-24 with 1:19 left. 

That 1:19 proved to be enough for Axtell as the orchestrated a solid two-minute drive with plays at the sidelines to get outbounds and got a key penalty against Frankfort on the drive, too setting up a Kaleb Buessing one-yard touchdown run with 8.1 seconds left to give them the 30-24 lead, as the two-point conversion was unsuccessful. 

Frankfort had one final opportunity and Kenworthy hit Ryan Kraushaar for a 23-yard pass but he was brought down by the Eagles defense just over middle field and the final horn sounded giving Axtell the 30-24 win. 

With the win Axtell moves to 4-1 on the season and Kaleb Buessing stepped in well for Colton Buessing at quarterback finishing with 203 yards passing on 17-22 with a touchdown and 51 yards rushing with two scores. While, Caleb Heiman moved to guard for the Eagles and played well, stepping in place of Khristian Scheibe who was out. Koch snagged eight balls for 104 yards and a touchdown, while also scoring the touchdown on the interception return from Kuckelman as Kuckelman fumbled at the goal line and Koch scooped a scored. Kaleb Buessing and Brice Koch along with Nathan Porting who was a defensive force for the Eagles all earned Community National Bank "Player to Bank On" honors on KMZA. 

Frankfort in the loss was led by Jase Suther who ran for 123 yards on 28 carries, while Kenworthy finished with 38 yards on 19 carries with three touchdowns and was 6-16 for 95 yards. The Wildcats did win the turnover battle 2-1 but suffered their third loss of the season and are now 2-3 on the year.

District play continues next Friday, October 9th for both teams as Axtell travels to Southern Cloud and Frankfort takes on Pike Valley on the road in an almost must win situation to keep their playoff hopes alive.