There would be no late-game drama this time around.
After a pair of nail-biters between Clark-Willow Lake and Aberdeen Roncalli the past two seasons, the Cyclones established control early Friday night at Dacotah Bank Stadium.
Last year Clark-Willow Lake won 2-0, and in 2023, Roncalli won 7-2. This year was different as the Cyclones produced a 38-0 Class 11B football victory.
The Cavaliers found themselves chasing from the very beginning.
“I just think that we dug ourselves in an early hole and we lost some momentum, really on the first kickoff. We could have maybe pinned them back deep and he slipped the tackle and that gave them great starting field position,” Young said. “And a couple of plays later, they were in the endzone.”
The Cyclones looked to take advantage of that starting field position, however, back-to-back penalties had CWL starting its drive with a first down and 25 from its own 25. It didn’t take long though as the Cyclones scored on their first official play from scrimmage.
“Roncalli has always got a great football team, so we expected a great battle. Billy Young and the crew up here always gives us a great battle,” said Cyclones coach Dave Severson. “We haven’t scored an offensive touchdown against them in three years, so it was nice to come out and get that first one.”
It was Emmerson Larson who crossed the goal line first on a 75-yard touchdown pass from Joey Ries. Larson caught the ball on a deep out and made a couple defenders miss on his way to the endzone.
Larson knew the importance of finally being able to score against the Cavaliers.
“It gives us great momentum to start the game, and it just keeps going from there,” Larson said. “We used that all week for practice to get us going.”
And that momentum carried into their following drives, forcing a Cavaliers 3-and-out followed by a score on the first play of Cyclones’ next drive. This time Ries hit Talen Huber for a 28-yard touchdown. Following the PAT, Clark-Willow Lake owned a 14-0 lead with 9:23 remaining in the first quarter.
“Offensively, we came out the gate firing on all cylinders. Had some right, lefts, some up the middle and finally able to spring a couple, and score some good points against a good defense,” Severson said.
The Cavaliers then began to shift the momentum a bit as they forced a 3-and-out on the next Cyclone drive and gained two first downs on their own drive. But a holding penalty put the Cavaliers at second and 21, and the next play resulted in an interception by Damian Severson at the Clark-Willow Lake 43-yard line. He returned the pick to the Roncalli 26.
“Yeah, big momentum swings. We talk about that all the time in practice. You know you’re gonna give up a first down here or there,” said Coach Severson. “That bend, don’t break defense and that’s kind of what we preach, what we live by. You reset, the next play’s coming.”
The Roncalli defense responded by forcing another 3-and-out after the Cyclones drove to the 11-yard line. The Cyclones defense also responded, getting the ball back to their offense on the Cavaliers 36-yard line. This time, it was Jakob Steen who found the end zone on a 12-yard rush with 8:39 left in the half to push the margin to 22-0.
On the ensuing kickoff, Roncalli’s Brooks Jett suffered an injury, and on the very next play, Luke Kaiser suffered one as well, making things even more difficult for Roncalli, which was now down a couple key players.
“It just seemed like we were playing from a bad position all night, and then you add in all the injuries that we had. Three starters that went down,” Young said. “Two of them are really our top playmakers and then a starting lineman. We already had some starting linemen hurt to begin with. It’s just one of those nights where nothing went our way.”
After a 3-and-out for the Cavaliers, the Cyclones struck again with a 81-yard touchdown run from Lincoln Reidburn for the team’s second touchdown of over 75 yards on the night.
“That just comes with effort. That’s kind of what we preach in practice. Second level guys, we gotta get to them,” said Coach Severson.
With just 2:36 remaining in the first half, Ries found Larson again, this time with a 10-yard touchdown passs to make it 38-0.
“Offense was rolling. Our playmakers get it in space and they take it to the house,” Ries said. “They get open and they catch the ball. I did my job, threw it to them and they just run the rest of the way.”
The Cyclones scored five times in the first half totaling 206 yards on just the touchdown plays alone. They totalled just under 300 yards of offense making their scoring plays amount to about two-thirds of their total offense in the first half.
On the flip side of that, when Clark-Willow Lake didn’t have a big play, the Cavaliers found themselves finding success defensively.
“I mean, it’s nice when you can get off the field like that and make them punt,” Young said. “But the big plays still have to be fixed. We can’t just ignore that.”
With a running clock in the second half, it allowed for some younger players to see the field, including Roncalli’s Brock Bowman, who rushed four times for 25 yards.
“I’m really excited to see what he can do in the future. I think he’s a star in the making,” Young said. “He’s still our JV running back, but if he continues to do what he did tonight, he’s gonna get more and more varsity touches over the next few weeks.”
With the Cyclones opening the season with a win, they will look to get back to work and go 1-0 again next week.
“We gotta be 1-0 every week. Every practice, 1-0. Every day, 1-0,” Larson said, “So we’re gonna keep moving on.”
Even with the decisive victory, the Cyclones will still look to be aggressive against future foes.
“We gotta act like we’re still in the hunt,” Ries said. “I mean, just because we won by 38 first game doesn’t mean the next games are gonna come easy.”
Clark-Willow Lake (1-0) 22 16 0 0 – 38
Aberdeen Roncalli (0-1) 0 0 0 0 – 0
CWL – Emmerson Larson 75 pass from Joey Ries (fun failed).
CWL – Talen Huber 28 pass from Ries (Huber run).
CWL – Jakob Steen 12 run (Mato Denoyer run).
CWL – Lincoln Reidburn 81 run (Denoyer run).
CWL – Larson 10 pass from Ries (Steen run).
OFFENSE: Clark-Willow Lake, rushing 225 (Lincoln Reidburn 83, Jakob Steen 51, Emmerson Larson 45); passing 6-8 for 167 (Joey Ries 5-7 for 133, Eli Jorgenson 1-2 for 34); receiving (Larson 85); Aberdeen Roncalli, rushing (Brock Bowman 25, Will Haskell 15); passing 7-15 for 61 (Austin Fisher 7-12 for 61, Jett Johnson 0-3 for 0); receiving (Johnson 17, Ian Kramer 16).
