BROOKINGS – A bit of deja vu played out on the gridiron Friday night.
For the second time in as many years, the Brookings Bobcats stole victory away from Aberdeen Central in the closing seconds of an Eastern South Dakota Conference football contest, this time at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium on homecoming.
In last year’s heartbreaker, Brookings quarterback Gavin Anderson found teammate Bergan Tetzlaff for a long catch-and-run touchdown with 23 seconds remaining.
This time, Tetzlaff did it on his own, running the ball in from a yard out off a direct snap with 14 seconds remaining, boosting the Bobcats to a 14-10 victory.
“We can’t fault our effort,” Briese said. “We worked hard, just the lack of focus at times led to not being able to execute and do what we’re supposed to do. It’s encouraging that the things we made mistakes on are things we can change and get better at. It’s not like we were outmatched or out-manned or anything like that.”
The touchdown was Tetzlaff’s second score of the night, as the senior South Dakota State recruit also snared a 12-yard pass from Anderson in the second quarter.
Those two plays sandwiched a 10-point scoring run for the Golden Eagles. Ridley Waldo hauled in an eight-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Brayden Bowman, capping what was Central’s first real scoring threat of the night.
Briese said both players were able to buy time before Waldo found a bit of clearance in the defense.
“He found that soft spot in the defense and settled down and Bowman found him,” Briese said.
The Golden Eagles had struggled to find an offensive rhythm in the first half, committing several penalties and managing just one first down in the half, that coming on their final drive of the second quarter.
“We made too many mistakes,” Briese said. “It’s hard to win a game when you’re playing against an opponent and you’re also beating yourself.”
Still, Central kept the Bobcats close with defense, allowing the one second-quarter TD, but also coming up with a trio of interceptions in the game, including one in the endzone late in the first stanza. Central’s run defense, in particular, also kept the Bobcats bottled up in the early stages of the night.
“Defense in the first half played really solid, and even in the second half, they played solid,” Briese said. “All but that last drive, we gave up some plays, but the defense was there.”
After Waldo’s touchdown reception and ensuing PAT kick, Joey Dallmann then put the Golden Eagles in front in the fourth quarter, booting a 20-yard field goal with 3:27 to play that made it a 10-7 Central lead.
But those three-and-a-half minutes proved to be too much time, as the Bobcats picked up yards in chunks from Tetzlaff in the wildcat formation and Gus Armenta on a handoff. Tetzlaff then ran it in from the 1 on a 4th-and-goal play.
Brookings, which is receiving votes in the latest media poll, improved to 2-1 with the win.
Central, now 0-3, will head west to play Spearfish next Friday before returning to Brownell Activities Complex to host Sturgis on Sept. 26.
Aberdeen Central 0 0 7 3 – 10
Brookings 0 7 0 7 – 14
First Quarter
No scoring.
Second Quarter
BRO – Bergan Tetzlaff 12 pass from Gavin Anderson (Drew Johnson kick), 5:05.
Third Quarter
AC – Ridley Waldo 8 pass from Brayden Bowman (Joey Dallmann kick), 4:55.
Fourth Quarter
AC – Dallmann 20 field goal, 3:27.
BRO – Tetzlaff 1 run (Johnson kick), 0:14.
