BROOKINGS – Keegan Fields followed up a goal-line stand with an explosive play as the Bobcats toppled three-time defending Class 11AA state champion Pierre 21-14 on a gorgeous Friday night at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.
The Governors had a first-and-goal at the 8-yard-line leading by a point late in the third stanza. Collin Brueggeman picked up 5 yards on first down and 1 yard on second to move the ball to the 2.
Josh Devine then stuffed Brueggeman at the line of scrimmage on third down, before John Noordsy and Sam Hardin came through with the stop on Maguire Raske’s fourth-down carry.
Pierre came up empty on the drive despite possessing the ball for more than 8 minutes.
Five plays later, Fields caught a short pass from Jaxon Bowes and took it to the house from 78 yards out to give Brookings the lead for good with 8:13 showing on the clock.
Noordsy hauled in a tipped pass on the two-point conversion, leaving the score at 21-14.
“Like I’ve been saying all year, we tend to be a team that can deal with adversity well and we dealt with it tonight once again,” said BHS coach Brady Clark. “We made some halftime adjustments and the boys came out and really played a solid second half.
“We know who we are and we know what we’re capable of and we came out and showed it in that second half.
“Pierre’s a great team – very well-coached. I’m just proud of our guys; very happy for them.”
The ‘Cats outgained the Govs 283-205 in total yards of offense, with both teams picking up 129 on the ground in a rematch of last season’s state final. Each squad had one turnover.
Josh Buri totaled 78 yards on 16 rushes and Fields added 72 on 11 carries to go with the big reception.
Bowes ended up 8-of-10 for 154 yards with a pair of scores.
Brock Longville (sack) and Jaxton Eck paced the defense with seven tackles apiece, while Noordsy and Wes Koenig both added five stops.
The Bobcats took the opening kickoff and marched 72 yards on seven plays to grab the early lead. Bowes hooked up with Max Struck for a 6-yard score on a screen pass and Fields booted the PAT.
Raske, who totaled 125 yards on 26 rushes, found the end zone from 3 yards out late in the opening period and Carston Miller added the point after to knot things up.
The Governors took advantage of the game’s first turnover – Preston Taylor forced Buri to fumble and then recovered the loose ball at the BHS 17. Raske ran three times, plunging to paydirt from a yard out at the 11:48 mark of the second.
Fields connected on a 31-yard field goal 3:15 before halftime.
Gavin Fixsen sparked the Bobcat defense on the opening possession of the second half, intercepting a pass on the fourth play. That led to Fields’ 32-yard field goal with 7:23 to go in the third, cutting the deficit to 14-13.
The Brookings ‘D’ took care of business after that.
Pierre dropped to 4-2. The Governors’ other loss was a 52-29 setback at Yankton on Sept. 11 and they missed their Sept. 18 game at Tea Area due to COVID-19.
Pierre is host to Mitchell this week and Douglas in its finale.
Brookings is now 7-0.
The Bobcats head west to play Spearfish (0-6) on Friday at 7 p.m.
Brookings then closes out the regular season playing host to Class 11AA seed-points leader Yankton (7-0) on Thursday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. The Bucks, who beat Huron 44-3 on the road in Week 7, are host to Douglas this week.
BROOKINGS 21, PIERRE 14
Pierre (4-2) 7 7 0 0 – 14
Brookings 7 3 3 8 – 21
First Quarter
BHS – Max Struck 6 pass from Jaxon Bowes (Keegan Fields kick), 8:09
P – Maguire Raske 3 run (Carston Miller kick), 1:36
Second Quarter
P – Raske 1 run (Miller kick), 11:48
BHS – Fields 31 FG, 3:15
Third Quarter
BHS – Fields 32 FG, 7:23
Fourth Quarter
BHS – Fields 78 pass from Bowes (Noordsy pass from Fields), 8:13
P BHS
First Downs 15 14
Plays-Yards 55-205 49-283
Rushes-Yards 42-129 41-129
C-A-Int.-Yards 7-13-1-76 8-10-0-154
Fumbles-Lost 2-0 4-1
Penalties-Yards 2-17 3-32
Punts-Avg. 4-23.8 2-36.5
Kickoffs-Avg. 3-52.7 5-56.8
Punt Returns-Yards-TD 0-0-0 0-0-0
Kickoff Returns-Yards-TD 3-52-0 2-39-0
Interception Returns-Yards-TD 0-0-0 1-0-0
Fumble Returns-Yards-TD 0-0-0 0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards 0 0
Possession Time 20:40 25:08
Third-down Conversions 5-of-12 3-of-10
Fourth-down Conversions 0-of-2 1-of-2
Red Zone Chances-TD-FG 4-2-0 4-1-2
Sacks By-Yards 5-14 1-3
Field Goals 0-for-0 2-for-2
RUSHING: P – Maguire Raske 26-125, Collin Brueggeman 6-6, Lincoln Kienholz 8-3, Josh Strand 1-2. B – Josh Buri 16-78, Keegan Fields 11-72, Tyson Brandt 2-2, TEAM 1-(-4).
PASSING: P – Lincoln Kienholz 7-13-1-76. B – Jaxon Bowes 8-10-0-154.
RECEIVING: P – Jack Merkwan 2-26, Maguire Raske 2-1, Aaron Booth 1-27, Regan Bollweg 1-26. B – Max Struck 3-29, John Noordsy 2-45, Josh Buri 2-2, Keegan Fields 1-78.
DEFENSE: P – Cord Ellis 9 tackles; Regan Bollweg 6 tackles, sack; Triston Curry 5 tackles, sack; Collin Brueggeman 4 tackles. B – Brock Longville 7 tackles, sack; Jaxton Eck 7 tackles; John Noorsdy 5 tackles; Wes Koenig 5 tackles.
