YANKTON – Aberdeen Central did what it does Friday evening.
The fourth-rated Golden Eagles held their ground in the first half, then pushed their way through the second half en route to a big 29-7 Eastern South Dakota Conference football win over third-rated Yankton Friday night at Crane-Youngworth Field in Yankton.
The win moves Central to 5-3 overall, having won five straight after an 0-3 start to the season. It also moves the Golden Eagles into third place in the Class 11AA power points with one game left in the regular season.
“It’s nice to be in a situation where we have five straight wins coming into the last game of the season,” said Central head coach Justin Briese.
As has been its pattern of late, the Golden Eagles began Friday’s contest in deliberate fashion, taking a slim 8-7 lead into halftime.
Central then turned things over to its ground game, handing the ball off to the trio of Karson Carda, Drew Salfrank and Austin Erickson, who punished the Yankton defenders more and more as the night waned.
“That’s just how it works out sometimes,” Briese said. “We do some things in the first half and then go into halftime and make adjustments to put us in better situations. Just happens that we’re doing a good job of that right now.”
Central’s defense also stepped up with a handful of fourth-down stops in the second half, rarely allowing the Bucks into the red zone.
“They were down there a couple times,” Briese said. “Inside the 30 for sure. But our defense did a great job of stiffening up. When you have athletes on your team, they’re going to make plays and Yankton did that. … It was really good for our defense to come out and show they can play with a good offense like Yankton has.”
Carda finished the night with two of Central’s second-half touchdowns on runs of 54 and 34 yards. Salfrank had the Golden Eagles’ first-half score, which came in the second quarter, then caught a 65-yard pass from Dustin Hermansen with 6:05 left in the fourth quarter for the final score of the night.
Central will host Sioux Falls Lincoln Thursday in the regular season finale. Game time is set for 6 p.m. at Golden Eagles Field. The Patriots are also 5-3 on the season and will bring a three-game winning streak into the contest.
