GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — One scoring drive turned out to be enough for Elkhorn to sneak past Grand Island in the Class A state quarterfinals on Friday.

The third-ranked Antlers scored on their first possession of the second half and survived a missed Islander field goal in the fourth quarter to escape with a 7-6 victory.

Elkhorn (9-2) hadn’t been held to less than 21 points all season and averaged 409 yards of offense per game. No. 8 Grand Island’s defense limited the Antlers to 240 yards, but getting into the end zone once was enough for Elkhorn.

“Grand Island’s defense, oh my gosh, what a defense,” Elkhorn coach Mark Wortman said. “We had some success here and there, but their defense shut us down. We didn’t run the ball well.”

After forcing Grand Island to punt to open the second half, the Antlers took over on their 17-yard line. They marched 83 yards on nine plays with Trevor Roach scoring from 2 yards out with 3:49 left in the third to tie the game at 6. Nick Jacobsen added the extra point to put Elkhorn ahead.

Quarterback Jordan Poehling, who led the Antlers with 72 yards rushing, scrambled for 28 yards to the 2-yard line to set up Roach’s score.

“We didn’t tackle particularly well in that drive,” Grand Island coach Jeff Tomlin said. “We did well overall, but not on that drive. We let their quarterback get out. I knew he was the X factor in the game. It was a matter of when he’d keep it and pull a boot. If your linebackers suck in 6 inches too far, he’s got a crease. He made a big play for them.”

Grand Island (7-4) tried to answer in the fourth quarter. On third-and-8 from its own 37, quarterback Adam Werner found split end Will Bamesberger on a 52-yard pass play.

But, as they did all night, penalties hurt the Islanders. An illegal substitution call on first down and illegal procedure on third helped to force a 33-yard field-goal attempt by Logan Mendez, who connected from 32 and 25 yards in the first half.

This time his try went wide right, and Elkhorn held on to its lead.

“We’ve had close games all year,” Wortman said. “This wasn’t anything too different. The kids have never given up all year.”

Elkhorn appeared ready to add an insurance touchdown in the final minutes after driving to a first-and-goal at the 2. But the Grand Island defense held, giving the offense the ball back at the 2 with 1:08 left and no timeouts.

Poehling’s interception at the 35 gave possession back to the Antlers, and they ran the clock out.

Wortman felt his team’s defense played well while keeping Grand Island out of the end zone. The Islanders were held to 123 yards rushing, including 25 on nine carries by 1,000-yard rusher Aaron Roberg.

“They had some big plays here and there, but overall we played good defense,” Wortman said.

The Islanders were frustrated that they couldn’t score touchdowns despite the pass to Bamesberger, a 51-yard punt return by Louis Kaelin or a 49-yard run by Kaelin.

“We had a huge punt return and the big pass to Will,” Tomlin said. “We had some big plays, but we didn’t cash in. We shot ourselves in the foot.”

Often that was the result of penalties. The Islanders had 11 penalties for 73 yards, including two illegal substitutions, four illegal procedures and two delay of games.

“(The penalties) were tough to swallow,” Tomlin said. “I felt we had them on the ropes a couple of times. We win as a team and we lose as a team. We didn’t play an error-free game on offense or defense.

“Penalties were a factor, and that’s on me. We’ve got to clean those up.”

Switching formations and personnel led to offensive confusion and the penalties, the coach said.

“We felt we had to run some different formations out there than they were accustomed to seeing,” Tomlin said. “They are a formidable defense. We have a lot of kids who play both ways, and they didn’t know what personnel group was in.”

Elkhorn advanced to play No. 1 Millard South at Buell Stadium in next week’s semifinal round.

Elkhorn (9-2)................0 0 7 0—7

At Grand Island (7-4)..................3 3 0 0—6

GI: Mendez 32 field goal, 3:39.

GI: Mendez 25 field goal, 1:46.

E: Roach 2 run (Jacobsen kick), 3:49.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: E, Poehling 10-72, Roach 15-53, Eccles 9-41, Stark 5-16, Maloley 3-11, TEAM 2-(minus-2). GI, Kaelin 2-49, Bamesberger 1-29, Roberg 9-25, K. Werner 7-17, Kawata 3-9, Foland 2-3, A. Werner 7-1, TEAM 1-(minus-1), Fyfe 1-(minus-9).

PASSING: E, Poehling 6-10-0 49. GI, A. Werner 6-9-0 97, Fyfe 0-2-1 0.

RECEIVING: E, Stark 3-26, Raymond 2-12, Nelson 1-11. GI, Bamesberger 2-52, Westerby 1-20, Ayoub 1-15, Martin 1-8, Roberg 1-2.