Sheldon Iowa — The Sheldon Orabs opened the season with a 20-12 non-district win over Sibley Ocheyedan at Orab Field Friday night. Sheldon opened the scoring on a 45 yard touchdown pass from Jaden Kleinhesselink to Philip Cain. The play capped an 80 yard drive. The 2-point attempt was no good and the Orabs had a 6-0 lead with 10:28 left in the half. That would be the halftime score.
Both offenses came alive in the second half. The Orabs were first scoring on a 23 yard pass from Kleinhesselink to Brandon Winkel. The kick was no good and Sheldon took a 12-0 lead with 3:53 to go in the third quarter.
Sibley Ocheyedan got on the board with 1:29 left in the third quarter as a 48 yard drive came to a close on a 5 yard Hunter DeJong touchdown run. The 2-point attempt was no good but the Generals had cut the lead to 12-6.
Sheldon answered with 11:50 to go in the fourth quarter when Tyler Merley hit Phillip Cain on a 62 yard option pass up the right sideline. The 2-point attempt from Kleinhesselink to Kyle Boerhave made the score 20-6.
The Generals answered that on their next possession as Garrett Sayler found Preston Marco for a 61 yard touchdown pass. The kick was no good and Sibley Ocheyedan had made it an 8-point game with 11:26 left to play.
Late in the game the Orabs were able to get a stop on fourth down with the Generals driving deep into Sheldon territory and run out the clock for the win 20-12.
Sheldon travels to South O’Brien next Friday to close out the non district part of the schedule. Sibley Ocheyedan will be at LeMars Gehlen next Friday night.
