VERMILLION Sioux Valleys run to a state championship in football came up one win short as the Cossacks fell to Winner 20-14 in the Class 11B Championship on Friday afternoon at the DakotaDome.
It was the first time since 1988 that the Cossacks played in the state championship and despite not coming out on top this time, Sioux Valley head coach Dan Hughes stressed how proud he was of his team after the game.
Im proud of our team because they battled through adversity. We had every single little thing, little ticky tacky thing get called against us and they battled through it and excelled in spite of it. Im so proud of them for how they handled adversity. They won the response tonight and Im extremely proud of them, Hughes said.
Sioux Valley had all the momentum in the third quarter as Donovan Rose ran in a 55-yard touchdown and then a two-point conversion from Brock Christopherson to Maverick Nelson tied the game at 14-14 with 4:41 to play in the third quarter. The Cossacks then forced a Winner punt and had the ball on their own nine yard line.
However, on the first play after that Christopherson fumbled the ball and the Warriors recovered on the Sioux Valley 15. Two plays later Eli Vobr plunged into the end zone from a yard out on a quarterback sneak on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Warriors did not convert on the two-point conversion and that left the door open for the Cossacks.
Sioux Valley was then driving the ball on its next possession and faced a fourth and three on the Winner 26. The Cossacks had already converted on a fourth and short earlier in the drive but this time Winner saw a sweep from Rose coming and hit him at the line of scrimmage and took over.
Sioux Valley would have one more shot, though. The Cossacks forced another punt and would have the ball at their own eight with 1:26 to play. A holding penalty and a false start backed the Cossacks up even more and Christopherson was eventually tackled on a 15-yard gain as the time expired and the Warriors were crowned champions of Class 11B.
We had 90 yards to go with no timeouts and we were just trying to get snaps and get the ball in space, Hughes said.
Penalties were the story of the game as each team had eight of them. However, Sioux Valleys seemed to come at inopportune times. Such as right before halftime when a 65-yard touchdown from Rose was wiped off the board due to an illegal shift penalty.
Hughes said he saw the replay of that at halftime and was not happy. He added that its tough to get any rhythm going on offense when so many calls were going against his team.
I had the benefit of replay and I know what the replay says and well leave it at that. When you get penalties on literally every play, its difficult. But we persevered through it. Our response was outstanding. No one complained about it and they just went to work and got through it. But yeah, it made it really, really hard, Hughes said.
Both teams were held scoreless in the first quarter. The Warriors would strike first and it came on a fourth and 11 from the Sioux Valley 30 as Eli Vobr connected with Kellen Brozik for a touchdown. Vobr then ran in the two-point conversion and Winner led 8-0 with 5:44 to play in the first half.
The Cossacks answered two and a half minutes later as Rose broke free for his first long run of the afternoon. This one was from 33 yards out, but Jameson Degen missed the extra point and that made it 8-6 with 3:13 left in the first half.
Winner would then extend the lead right before halftime and it came again on a fourth down play. The Warriors faced a fourth and two from the Sioux Valley six yard line and Karson Keiser took a hand off and drove his way into the end zone. The two-point conversion was no good and the Warriors took a 14-6 lead into halftime.
Winner ran for 219 yards but the Cossacks held the Warriors to 73 yards on the ground in the second half. Hughes was happy with his teams response in the second half, especially from the defense.
They dominated [in the second half]. If you showed up after halftime it would have been pretty tough to say that we werent the better team, but it didnt work out. We shut them down in the second half. The kids did what they were capable of and persevered and shut them down, Hughes said.
Rose finished with 151 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries. He finished the season with 1,826 yards and 19 touchdowns and is Sioux Valleys all-time career rushing leader and scoring leader. Hughes said it was a privilege to coach Rose.
Its been an absolute blessing to be able to coach him. Hes a better person than he is an athlete and Ill always admire that. Ill always admire how he uses his attention to make other people better. He wants people to be good people and thats what he uses his influence for and Im extremely proud of him for it, Hughes said.
Christopherson had 59 yards rushing on nine carries. He only threw one pass and it was an eight-yard completion to Logan Mohn.
Keiser led the Winner rushing attack with 86 yards and he also had a 16-yard catch. Vobr was 3-of-6 for 59 yards. Broziks lone catch was the touchdown and Zac Olson had a 13-yard reception.
Jakob Guthmiller and Wyatt Hardt led the Cossack defense with 11 total tackles. Jakob Guthmiller had 1.5 tackles for a loss and half of a sack. Mitchell Guthmiller had nine tackles and Christopherson had eight. Rose had seven tackles and one tackle for a loss. Tobin Squires had a tackle for a loss and Preston Top had half of a sack.
This was the only loss for the Cossacks this season and its the second time in the past four seasons that Winner has won Class 11B as the Warriors finished the season undefeated.
It was the 11th-straight season that Sioux Valley had been to the playoffs, but the trip to the DakotaDome had always eluded the Cossacks. Hughes said when hes going to look back on this season he wont remember the play on the field, but how close the team was, just like every season.
Ill remember the relationships with the players, Hughes said. The championship game was fun, but the relationship with the players is priceless and thats something Ill cherish both this season and in past seasons.
Its a blessing to see ex-players come back and see how well theyre doing and doing the things that we do at Sioux Valley and applying them to their lives. So, its going to be no different and I know these players are going to be extremely successful in the real world when theyre adults.
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