There won’t be many secrets when the first of seven football championship games kick off this morning at the DakotaDome in Vermillion.
Faulkton and Sully Buttes, separated by just 70 miles, will meet in the Class 9B title game at 11 a.m. in a rematch of a contest earlier this season. Faulkton won that regular-season matchup, but both sides say that result has little to no impact on the rematch.
“I don’t think there’s any real bearing on the end result of this one,” said Faulkton coach Shayne Geditz. “It may go into our scouting a little bit.”
Chargers coach Tom Moore said facing Faulkton before gives his team a better understanding of what it will be facing today.
“It’s one thing to see them on film and it’s another to go against them. …. They’re a darn good football team,” Moore said. “The better team won that night. Both of us have made adjustments and made gains, so it will be interesting.”
Both sides are similar in many ways. Both are dominant up front, each feature solid defenses, and there are plenty of playmakers on both rosters.
Geditz and Moore each feel that prior games against other foes have helped them prepare for the task at hand this morning.
Sully Buttes is coming off of facing powerful running opponents in Corsica-Stickney and Canistota, and Moore knows it will be more of the same against the Trojans.
“They’re a wrecking ball. We’re going to see three in a row of doing the same thing,” Moore said. “We knew that going into last game. You have to be creative in how you’re going to block them. It’s going to be hard for us to one-on-one block in all the spots.”
Meanwhile, Faulkton saw a solid passing attack with Colman-Egan two weeks ago, and now has to deal with a multi-faceted offense of the Chargers.
“Their offense is scary, because they have a quarterback that’s dynamic, that can run it and throw it, similar to Colman-Egan. …. They’ve got two running backs that are really solid, so that makes a difference and they’ve got a nice line,” Geditz said. “They’re a good football team. I feel like we’re kind of battle tested for it because of the Colman-Egan game a little bit.”
Tristen Baloun scored five touchdowns for Faulkton in a semifinal win last Friday. The Trojans dominated the line of scrimmage the entire evening in that contest.
“They did a nice job on both sides of the football,” Geditz said. “That was kind of our goal, let’s get off the bus and let’s make sure we show up and we’re ready to go. They definitely answered the call.”
Sully Buttes is led by quarterback Wesley Wittler who has passed for nearly 2,000 yards and run for almost 750 more. Kadyn Westergren has rushed for 1,282 yards and given the Chargers a balanced attack.
“We’re one of the few teams probably in nine man that’s a 50-50 mix getting yardage both ways,” Moore said.
It should come to no one’s surprise that both coaches feel that the contest will likely be determined by what happens on the lines of scrimmage in this one.
“We have to win the offensive and defensive line. If we play well up front, things will go well for us,” Geditz said. “We’ve got to obviously tackle well and do our jobs. If everybody does their job and executes, that’s what we need to do.”
Moore said his team’s defense will need to get off the field, something it struggled with in the first meeting.
“They’re a good offense. They’re going to move the ball,” Moore said, “but we need to get them in some third down situations to force them to have to punt.”
The two teams share a rich football tradition, and this morning will share one other thing in common: a large and loud fan base.
“It’s two communities that travel really well,,” Moore said, “so there will be lots of black and yellow, and lots of purple and gold, so it will be fun.”
