A team known for its offense, relied on its defense to pave the way to the Class 9AA football championship game this evening.

Hamlin (11-0) will face Parkston (11-0) at 7 tonight at the DakotaDome in Vermillion in a rematch of a playoff contest last season.

Hamlin, which was averaging more than 50 points per game heading into last weekend’s semifinal game against Elkton-Lake Benton, took a different route to victory in that game after starting quarterback Jackson Wadsworth dislocated his shoulder in the opening quarter.

“It was a good game for us. Our kids played hard, they played well,” said Hamlin coach Jeff Sheehan. “Overcame a lot of adversity during that game. Our defense stepped up and did great things last week.”

The Elks were averaging around 300 yards rushing per game, and Hamlin held them to less than half of that.

“Our defense really stood out and played well,” Sheehan said.

Next up for the Chargers is another potent rushing attack in Parkston, featuring standout Kolton Kramer.

“They are a very good program,” Sheehan said of the Trojans, who have won 23 straight games. “They do everything they do the way they want to do it. They’re not going to change for somebody else.”

Sheehan said his team was able to move the ball on Parkston in last year’s playoff game, but was not able to finish off drives.

“Last year against them we got down in the red zone quite a bit,” Sheehan said, “but we just couldn’t get in the end zone.”

The Chargers used a variety of defenses to help slow down Elkton-Lake Benton last week and will likely employ the same strategy tonight.

“Our defensive coaches did an excellent job of game planning, gave them a bunch of different looks to think about to slow them down just a little bit. I think that helped,” Sheehan said of the semifinal win. “We probably didn’t run the same defense two or three plays in a row so they could get comfortable.”

Hamlin will now try to slow down Parkston’s double wing offense.

“Defensively, just now your job,” Sheehan said. “Know your keys and trust what you’re seeing on the defensive side, because that’s going to help you out a lot.”

The Chargers feature a decorated group of senior athletes, who won the State A basketball championship last winter. Sheehan said this year’s football team can be summed up by what happened following last week’s semifinal victory.

“One of our seniors after the game Friday, you could just tell the excitement when they got done,” Sheehan said. “He just came in and said, ‘This is what we’re built like. We’re a brotherhood, we’ve got each other’s back. Things are going to go wrong, but we all believe in each other. It’s the next-play mentality.’ When you get a kid saying that and the kids really buy into what the seniors are saying, that’s pretty special.”