BROOKINGS – The Brookings football team improved to 3-1 on the season with a 33-20 victory over Spearfish on Friday night at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
Brookings racked up 393 yards of offense and 315 of those yards came on the ground. Brookings head coach Brady Clark said he thought the offense showed that it is continuing to get better.
“The offense I felt executed better. There are definitely some things I wish I would’ve seen. There’s always something to improve on, but when we needed a play in certain spots, we were able to get it. So, that was kind of where we’re at there,” Clark said.
The Bobcats went 66 yards in three plays on their first drive. Israel Caldron capped off the drive with a five-yard touchdown run and Jared Erickson’s extra point made it 7-0.
Caldron then scored another touchdown in the second quarter. He charged his way into the end zone from one yard out and it was 14-0 with 7:10 to play in the first half. Erickson then hit a 31-yard field goal with 4:27 left in the half to make it 17-0.
Spearfish then lined up for a punt in its own end zone and the snap was bad and the play resulted in a safety, making it 19-0 heading into halftime.
Caldron would score his third touchdown of the game with 2:26 to go in the third quarter. This one was from one yard out again and Erickson’s kick made it 26-0.
Will Conrad scored the final touchdown for Brookings. He plunged his way into the end zone from one yard out and it was 33-0 with 6:44 left in the game.
Seth Hamilton threw three touchdowns in the final 5:35 of the game to make it closer than the stats showed. The first one was from 34 yards out, second one was 19 yards and the last one was from 13 yards out.
Clark said he did not like the way his team finished the game.
“We put in our two’s and three’s, and it’s a great opportunity for them to get playing time, game experience, but we have to be able to come out and execute and do our jobs. [We can’t] make the excuse that [Spearfish’s] one’s are in and they’re better than us. To me, that’s a poor excuse. We have to do a better job of getting our kids ready to transition that and be ready to play. Because that’s just too much to give up at the end. You know, you want to give your kids chance and an opportunity to play, but at the same sense, [Spearfish] won the second half because they didn’t quit. But we’ll get there. Like I’ve said before, we’re young , we’re still learning, but we’ll get there,” Clark said.
Caldron finished with 174 yards on 15 carries. Tyson Brandt had 66 yards on nine carries.
Justin Cofell was 13-for-20 with 78 yards. He also had five rushes for 42 yards. Brandt had nine catches for 54 yards.
Brookings held Spearfish to 146 total yards of offense. The Spartans had 131 passing yards and just 15 yards on the ground. Clark said he thinks the defense has been ahead of the offense so far because they have more experience on the side of the ball.
“I think our defense does a really good job communicating. We set the tone on defense. We have a lot of good energy there. I think maybe there’s a little more experience and leadership on that side. We have some young guys on the offensive side that are in some difficult spots and it’s just going to take time. Offense always takes longer to get going and defensively we’ve been doing alright there,”
Caleb Loehr had a monster game for Brookings. He led the team with 11.5 tackles, nine for a loss, seven sacks and a forced fumble. Carter Wright had six tackles and Jaxton Eck had six tackles, three for a loss, and one sack.
Brookings will hit the road again this weekend. The Bobcats will travel to Douglas to take on the winless Patriots. Douglas has been outscored 171-32 in its four games and lost to Spearfish 36-8 on Sept. 9. Kickoff between the Bobcats and Patriots is set for 7 p.m. Central time.
