PIERRE – Peyton Zabel had a hand in all four Governor touchdowns as Pierre pulled away from a 7-7 halftime tie to beat Brookings, 28-13, in Eastern South Dakota Conference football action on Friday at Hollister Field.
Zabel threw for three touchdowns – 2 yards to Gage Gehring; a 59-yard catch-and-run to Garrett Stout; and a 13-yard strike to Jack Maher – and then, the senior All-State quarterback capped off the scoring with a 33-yard run to paydirt as the Governors improved to 4-0 on the season and 3-0 in conference play.
The 2-yard TD pass to Gehring with 3:44 to go in the second quarter got the Govs on the scoreboard and Casey Williams’ PAT kick gave the hosts a 7-0 lead.
But the Bobcats answered quickly when Parker Beers broke off a 64-yard run to score with 3:28 left in the half.
Justin Devine’s PAT kick tied the game at 7-7 and it stayed tied heading into halftime.
Zabel put the Governors back in the lead when he scrambled 33 yards to score early in the third quarter and Williams’ PAT kick made it 14-7.
With 5:10 left in the third quarter, Beers bulled in from 2 yards out, but the PAT kick hit the upright and the ‘Cats still trailed, 14-13.
A little over a minute later, Zabel connected with Garrett Stout and the sophomore wide receiver outran the Bobcat secondary for a 59-yard score. Williams added his third PAT kick as Pierre went up, 21-13, with 4 minutes showing on the clock in the third.
The Governors pushed their lead to 15 points when Zabel and Jack Maher hooked up from 13 yards out with 10:54 to play in the game as Williams converted his fourth PAT kick.
Brookings ended up turning the ball over twice – one fumble and one interception – in the final 10 minutes to thwart any chance of a rally.
Zabel completed 17-of-27 passes for 174 yards and three touchdowns with one interception and added 55 rushing yards on 14 carries with a score.
Barry Browning contributed 39 rushing yards on nine carries while Hudson Rohrbach chipped in with 17 on seven rushes.
Beers led the Bobcat offense with 123 yards on 19 carries as Isaac von Fischer added 38 on three touches and Tanner Shepardson finished with 41 yards on nine rushes.
Brookings dropped to 2-3 overall and 1-2 in the ESD. The Bobcats play host to Sioux Falls Washington on Friday at DJD Stadium. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
