VOLGA The Sioux Valley Cossacks shook off a slow start and pulled away in the second half as they defeated 35-0 in their season opener on Friday night.
The victory also made Dan Hughes the winningest coach in the history of the Sioux Valley football program.
It feels good, Hughes said of the win. It means Ive been here long enough, I guess.
The game began with some opening night jitters as Donovan Rose fumbled on the second play of the game and Maverick Nelson fumbled in the red zone to kill an opportunity to score on the opening drive.
The Cavaliers moved inside the Cossacks red zone on the following drive but a sack by Mitchell Guthmiller forced St. Thomas More to punt and swung momentum back to Sioux Valley.
This time the Cossacks took advantage as Brock Christopherson took a 74-yard keeper to the house with 4:39 left in the first quarter but the long run didnt open the floodgates. The Cossacks had another long drive midway through the second quarter that ended with a Christopherson interception but it was the defense that kept Sioux Valley in front until Christopherson plunged in from a yard out for his second touchdown of the game to give the Cossacks a 13-0 lead at halftime.
They stopped the run, Hughes said when asked about his defense. We knew they would be able to throw a little bit, but we figured that if we made them one-dimensional, we would be in pretty good shape.
With the defense executing its game plan, the offense got going in the second half. A bad snap on a punt sailed over the head of Cavaliers punter Broeden Sales and into the back of the end zone put the Cossacks up 15-0 with 5:46 left in the third quarter and Jakob Guthmiller added to the lead with an 11-yard touchdown one minute later to put Sioux Valley up 22-0.
Rose showed his explosiveness on a 69-yard touchdown run with 10:56 left in the fourth quarter and Nelson added a four-yard touchdown with 8:41 left in a game where the Cossacks ran for 494 yards.
It looked pretty good up front, Hughes said of the Cossacks rushing attack, which put the game away in the second half. I liked our explosiveness through the hole and they really took charge.
Rose finished with 206 rushing yards on 17 carries while Christopherson had 14 carries for 170 yards.
Mitchell Guthmiller had seven tackles and a sack for the Cossacks while Preston Top had six tackles. Jakob Guthmiller, Broaden Teske, Jameson Degen and Braden Danzeisen each had five tackles in the win.
Josh Elder led the Cavaliers in rushing with 37 yards on eight carries. Kain McLeod completed 8-of-19 passes for 52 yards. Max Speed caught four passes for 20 yards while Broeden Sales caught two passes for 20 yards.
Elder led St. Thomas More with 11 tackles. Noah Wald had eight tackles and a fumble recovery.
While the final score looked good, the Cossacks knew they had work to do. With an extra week to prepare before their next game against Baltic on Sept. 6, Hughes said his team will work on the little things.
Its the little things like are we sustaining our blocks long enough? Hughes said. Are we breathing in between plays? Are we focused? I just want to see improvement in the ordinary things.
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