Northwestern scored the game's first 42 points en route to a comfortable win Friday night at Gordon L. Nelson Field in Maple, where the Tigers opened the Division 4 playoffs by overwhelming Ellsworth 42-8.
The Tigers (10-0), seeded second, will host No. 6 Baldwin-Woodville next Friday. The Blackhawks advanced with a 21-14 upset of third-seeded West Salem.
The Tigers got three touchdowns from Reagan Ruffi and two from Trevor Janowicz as they piled up 329 rushing yards.
Northwestern's remaining touchdown was a 39-yard pass from Jake Brill to Brody Payton, which gave the Tigers a 21-0 lead with 44 seconds left in the first quarter.
Ruffi ended the night with 23 carries for 153 yards. Janowicz added 81 on 14 touches.
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The Tigers, who lost four fumbles, put the game into running time on Ruffi's 1-yard TD run with 4:59 remaining in the third quarter.
Sawyer Hamilton had 71 rushing yards on 14 attempts for No. 7 Ellsworth (3-7).
Ellsworth 0-0-0-8-8
Northwestern 21-7-8-6-42
N - Reagan Ruffi 2 run (kick failed)
N - Trevor Janowicz 3 run (Keegan Plasch pass from Jake Brill)
N - Brody Payton 39 pass from Brill (Isaac Nichols kick)
N - Ruffi 6 run (Nichols kick)
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N - Ruffi 1 run (Ruffi run)
N - Janowicz 3 run (kick failed)
E - Logan Melstrom 15 run (Sawyer Hamilton run)
Sparta 36, Ashland 8
The Oredockers' first playoff appearance since 2009 was short-lived.
No. 2 seed Ashland was ousted in a Division 3 first-round affair at Northland College by the seventh-seeded Spartans.
The Oredockers had won eight in a row following a season-opening loss to Northwestern.
No game stats were available at press time.
