The Thunder rolled on Tuesday night as Nemaha Central scored on three of their first five offensive plays and five of their 12 offensive plays in the first half with a special teams score also in the half. Nemaha Central continued to roll this season as they opened the 3A playoffs at home squaring off with Pleasant Ridge in the first round on Tuesday and earned the 61-6 win winning for the eighth time this season by 41 or more points. 

Pleasant Ridge started the game strong with a big return on the kickoff to get deep into Thunder territory and the Rams managed to work themselves down to the 10-yard line but the Nemaha defense turned them over on downs at the 10 and on the first offensive play for Nemaha the speedy Jacob Koelzer was off to the races gliding down the field for a 90-yard touchdown and it was a 7-0 with 8:19 left in the first quarter. The Rams continually managed to get the ball into Thunder territory with their offense in the first half but never really mounted a consistent drive, as Nemaha forced a punt and set up shop on their own 15 for their second drive and Ryan Hasenkamp hit Mitchell Henry down the middle and Henry ran wild for an 85-yard touchdown to make it 14-0 with 5:46 left in the first quarter. The next offensive drive tripled in plays for the Thunder as they took three plays to score but Koelzer got his second touchdown on as many carries with a 55-yard run and it was 21-0 towards the end of the first quarter. 

The scoring continued for Nemaha Central as Henry caught his second touchdown on a 19-yard pass from Hasenkamp and the then with just under five minutes left in the first half Henry returned a punt 60-yards for another Thunder score making it 34-0. Pleasant Ridge continued to take their time on offense and again got into Thunder territory and this time as the clock dwindled down for the first half final broke through into the endzone on a Breydon Baragary one-yard touchdown but missed on the two-point try making it 34-6 with 22.4 seconds left in the first half. Only 22 seconds left in the first half the Thunder weren't done scoring as Koelzer got his third carry of the first half and busted a 78-yard touchdown run scoring in just 12 seconds and Nemaha Central led 41-6 at intermission. 

The Thunder defense in the second half complete clamped down harder on Pleasant Ridge and the Rams were unable to move the ball much while Nemaha added three more scores. Hasenkamp hit Jacob Schmitz for a 33-yard touchdown pass, Mitchell Heiman added a 20-yard touchdown run and Dalton Schmelzle tossed a 23-yard to Austin Gerety for the final score of the game as Nemaha Central won 61-6. 

Pleasant Ridge wraps up their season 3-7 making the playoffs yet again this season but falling in the first round. The Rams totaled 230 yards of offense with 154 coming in the first half, Baragary finished 5-17 for 106 yards and 24 yards on 15 carries with a touchdown, while Clayton Richter caught three passes for 76 yards. Tanner Morris and Nic Bridges added 42 and 46 yards rushing on nine and 10 carries. 

For the Thunder it marks the second straight year with an opening round playoff victory and they improve to 10-0 on the season. Nemaha Central totaled 587 yards of offense in the game with 385 yards on 13 plays in the first half (rushing for 245 yards on five carries in the first half). Koelzer finished the game with 264 yards on seven carries with three touchdowns on his first three carries and earned "Community National Bank" Player to Bank honors on KMZA. Hasenkamp finished 5-11 for 173 yards and three touchdowns, while Henry caught two passes for 104 yards and two touchdowns, ran for 53 yards on three carries and had a 60-yard punt return touchdown. 

The Thunder now square off with the #1 team in the State in Silver Lake in the Regional round of the 3A playoffs on Saturday in a battle of 10-0 teams. The game will be played in Silver Lake with kickoff time TBA. (The game will be broadcasted on 92.1 KMZA)