No second-half meltdown for Elkhorn this time around.

The Class A No. 3 Antlers erased the memory of last year’s post-halftime collapse against Millard South with Friday night’s 42-14 Class A first-round playoff win over Lincoln North Star. Elkhorn led Millard South 19-0 late in the first half of a 2008 first-round game but wound up losing 36-26.

“It kind of left a sour taste,” Elkhorn Keith Wortman said. “We want to finish the season strong. We may not win them all, but we want to finish strong.”

The Antlers churned out 441 yards rushing, including a game-high 150 yards and three scores from running back Trevor Roach. The 6-foot-1, 230-pound senior broke the game open with his 64-yard touchdown run on Elkhorn’s opening possession of the second half.

“At halftime we were like, ‘Don’t have that happen again,’” Roach said, referring to the Millard South loss. “I think we came out and did the job.”

Roach got Elkhorn off to a fast start, scoring on a 4-yard run to cap a 69-yard drive. North Star took the ensuing possession all the way to the Elkhorn 17 before fumbling. It was the first of five straight Navigator possessions to start the game that got inside the Antler 40.

All five ended without points.

North Star fumbled inside the Antler 20, threw an interception from the Elkhorn 39 and turned the ball over on downs at the 33 and 18 on its final two possessions of the first half. Then, after showing some life to start the third quarter, North Star fumbled at the Elkhorn 7.

“We couldn’t finish the drives,” North Star coach Mark Waller said. “We had nice drives, but just didn’t finish. They didn’t really stop us offensively, just like we didn’t stop them. We had a fumble or two, an interception. We didn’t take care of business.”

Elkhorn did. Roach bulled in from 1 yard out early in the second quarter and quarterback Jordan Poehling capped a 10-play drive with a 19-yard touchdown scamper to put the Antlers up 21-0 at halftime.

“Roach is huge,” Wortman said. “He takes the brunt of it and does a nice job. It’s nice to have two tailbacks. In our offense, (the) tailback gets a pounding. If we just had one we’d be in trouble.

Roach’s long touchdown run after halftime gave Elkhorn a 28-0 lead before third-string running back Sam Housh went 58 yards on a toss play to the right to get North Star on the board and give it hope.

But Elkhorn countered with a 10-play, 70-yard drive that chewed up more than five minutes and ended with Nick Jacobsen’s 12-yard touchdown run. The Antlers sealed the win by sandwiching scores from Scott Stark and Wolfgang Gottsch around another long Housh touchdown run.

“It was a big game,” Roach said. “It was real physical. Our line played great up front and we found some room to run.”

Poehling finished with 91 yards and a touchdown on his six carries after battling a nerve problem in his leg that kept him out a week ago. Backfield mate Dane Eccles, who also missed the regular-season finale with an ankle injury, carried 11 times for 68 yards.

Housh, who was forced into action at running back because of injuries to Yusef Wade and Alex Romero during the game, finished with 92 yards on four carries. He also had four catches for 90 yards.

Elkhorn (8-2) faces a second-round game at Grand Island, a 31-18 winner over Omaha North.

Lincoln North Star (7-3)..................0 0 7 7—14

At Elkhorn (8-2)........................7 14 14 14—49

E: Trevor Roach 4 run (Nick Jacobsen kick)

E: Roach 1 run (Jacobsen kick)

E: Jordan Poehling 19 run (Jacobsen kick)

E: Roach 64 yards (Jacobsen kick)

LNS: Sam Housh 58 run (Adam Meirose kick)

E: Jacobsen 12 run (Jacobsen kick)

E: Scott Stark 7 run (Jacobsen kick)

LNS: Housh 33 run (Meirose kick)

E: Wolfgang Gottsch 4 run (Jacobsen kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: LNS, Yusef Wade 12-71, Alex Mertes 1-minus 1, Alex Romero 5-9, Dillon Schrodt 1-1, Joe Hartley 1-minus 10, Sam Housh 4-92, Brandon Krause 2-12, Brady Bolles 1-0, Total 27-174; E, Trevor Roach 14-150, Jordan Poehling 6-91, Scott Stark 4-24, Dane Eccles 11-68, Pete Maloley 3-20, Nick Jacobsen 6-38, Jeremy Meyer 1-5, AJ Lowe 4-15, Wolfgang Gottsch 1-4, Michael Weber 1-6, Drew Schroeder 4-20 Team 2-minus 2. Total 55-441.

PASSING: LNS, Hartley 9-20-1 186; E, Poehling 2-7-0 27.

RECEIVING: LNS, Housh 4-90, Krause 2-50, Wade 1-14, Zach Lomison 1-6, Austen Stephens 1-26; E: Vince Aurora 2-27.

Contact the writer:

850-0781, nickrubek@hotmail.com