BROOKINGS The Brookings Bobcats and Watertown Arrows didnt meet in the regular season, but the Bobcats made sure they would see each other in the playoffs.
The third seed in a wide-open Class 11AA field, the Bobcats took care of business, defeating No. 6 Tea Area 23-13 at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium on Thursday night. The win sets up a trip to Watertown next Friday night with, the winner heading to the DakotaDome to play for the state championship.
Its a big game going up to Watertown for a semifinal game to go to the Dome, Brookings head coach Brady Clark said. Were definitely going to look forward to it.
Playing a Titans team that they had defeated 29-22 on Oct. 4, Brookings made sure they got off to a fast start as Will Conrad ripped off a 65-yard touchdown run on the third play of the game.
While the Bobcats scored first, they still needed a while to find their footing. A bad snap led to a missed PAT after Conrads touchdown and although the Bobcats drove into Titan territory on their next drive, they couldnt completely cash in, settling for a 29-yard field goal by Drew Johnson.
Tea Area answered with a 13-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a two-yard touchdown run by Daschle Lowery that made it a 9-7 game with 9:12 left in the second quarter. Conrad fumbled on the following drive and the Titans took the lead two plays later on a Carter Brown two-yard touchdown that put Tea Area ahead 13-9 after a missed extra point.
The struggles set the stage for the Bobcats to post an impressive response, however, marching 80 yards in six plays before Ben Schulte scored on a nine-yard touchdown run with 4:53 left in the second quarter.
We talk all the time about how you respond to anything is what matters, Clark said. Things werent really going our way for a while there, but we stuck together, didnt get down and kept picking each other up. And our leaders did a good job of keeping guys in the game.
The Bobcats got another touchdown on a 25-yard pass from Gavin Anderson to Dagi Thomas to give Brookings a 23-13 lead going into halftime and while Tea Area marched into field goal range on a drive that took over seven minutes off the clock, Marshall Swythes 29-yard field goal attempt was blocked with four minutes left in the third quarter.
Tea Area had another chance to score early in the fourth quarter but the Bobcats shut down another promising drive when Andrew Hahn sacked Lowery with 8:50 to play.
The Brookings offense took it from there, killing the rest of the clock on an impressive drive that included a 4th-and-2 conversion on an Anderson scramble with 1:58 remaining but Clark stressed the importance of consistency on both sides of the ball moving forward.
We had some good drives, but we kind of stalled out, Clark admitted. We missed some things on defense, here and there and allowed them to put together some good times but there were times in the game where we bent but didnt break and thats okay.
Anderson completed 4-of-6 passes for 96 yards and a touchdown. He also added 46 yards on six carries.
Conrad finished with 124 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries. Ben Schulte had 40 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. Mason Mathis had 29 yards on eight carries.
Jay Harris had a 65-yard reception. Ezra Eidem had a seven-yard reception. Cole Hockett had a reception.
Lowery completed 2-of-5 passes for 49 yards. Tyler Rhead led Tea Area with 84 rushing yards on 14 carries and had a 25-yard reception. Griffin Wiebenga also had a 24-yard reception.
With the quarterfinals in the books, the Bobcats will look forward to renewing their rivalry with the Arrows but have their sights focused on the bigger picture which includes a potential trip to the state championship game.
Theyre a dang good football team, Clark said of Watertown. Theyre big physical and theyve got some good skill players. But at the end of the day, its a rivalry game. So a rivalry game on top of a playoff game to go to the dome? Its going to be quite a night.
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