RAPID CITY St. Thomas More scored two times in the final nine minutes on Friday night to pull away from Sioux Valley 28-14 in the Cossacks season opener.
Neither team scored in the first quarter and STM broke the scoreless tie early in the second quarter. Noah Wald found Broeden Sales for a 19-yard score and Carter Stamper added the extra point to make it 7-0 with 11:11 left in the first half.
Sioux Valley would then take the lead just 14 seconds later as Mitchell Guthmiller took the ensuing kickoff back 89 yards for a touchdown and then ran in the two-point conversion to make it 8-7. That score held until halftime.
STM regained the lead with 18 seconds left in the third as Kain McLeod took a punt 68 yards to the house and an extra point made it 14-8. Wyatt Hardt then had a 33-yard touchdown run with 10:51 left in the game, but the Cossacks failed on the two-point conversion and it remained 14-14.
St. Thomas More quickly moved down the field and a one-yard run from Grayden Juve made it 21-14 with 8:48 to go. Wald then found Sales for a 49-yard score to put the game on ice as that made the final 28-14.
The Cavaliers outgained the Cossacks 325-238. All of Sioux Valleys yards came on the ground. Guthmiller had 112 yards on 26 carries and Hardt had 73 yards on 10 carries.
Wald was 9-of-18 for 167 yards. Sales had three catches for 81 yards and McLeod had three catches for 70 yards. Josh Elder had 70 yards on 11 carries and Juve had 64 yards on 16 carries.
Sioux Valley will travel to Clark next week to take on Clark/Willow Lake at 7 p.m.
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