Aberdeen Central was tested early, took control late, and put itself in position to defend its Eastern South Dakota Conference championship.

The Golden Eagles turned back Pierre 3-0 in an ESD boys’ soccer contest Thursday afternoon at Brownell Activities Complex and will now face unbeaten Watertown on Tuesday with the conference title at stake.

“Your reward for working so hard in practice and coming to games and showing up, is you get to play in big games. And that’s what we want,” said Central coach Lance Mohr of the showdown with Watertown next week. “These guys want to play in a big game. That’s what I told them before, if you want to play in a big game, take care of business today, and that’s what they did and I was super proud of them.”

Gus Bjerknes had a hat trick, scoring all three goals for the Golden Eagles. His first score featured some nifty dribbling as the senior worked his way through three Pierre defenders before putting the ball past the goalkeeper into the back of the net.

“I caught the ball and I was going to play it out to our winger, and the guy was just a little too far over for me to have a clear pass to our winger, and so I just took it, got past one,” Bjerknes said. “I didn’t have the angle so I went past another, I didn’t have the angle again, took it on my left foot on the last one, and somehow found the back of the net. Somehow.”

Bjerknes thought he could find a way past the trio of Pierre players, but then realized after the fact it was unlikely.

“During it I was very confident in what I was doing,” Bjerknes said, “but after thinking about it, I’m like there’s really no way I should have gotten through all of them.”

He said he has never scored a goal like that before, but has watched teammate Linus Johnson do it.

“That felt like Linus Johnson. That’s the goals that he scores,” Bjerknes said. “He dribbles like that. That’s him.”

Bjerkness then scored two more goals in the second half, the first one right in front of the goal on an assist from Jamison Frericks.

“I trusted ‘Jamo’ was going to get some sort of touch,” Bjerknes said, “and so I tried to get up and find the ball and find the back of the net.”

Bjerknes added a third goal six minutes later for his first three-goal game as a varsity player.

“When Gus does that and he goes to this game and he scores three goals, and they’re three great goals, nobody sitting here is surprised, because we see it every day in training,” Mohr said. “He’s not a selfish player, so to see him have three goals, and get those moments, and really earn it for himself, I was really, really proud of him, because that’s a big mentality shift for him to do that.”

Central’s defense, a cornerstone all season, recorded yet another shutout. It was the ninth of the season for goalkeeper Koltin Swearingen.

The Governors had a couple of opportunities in front of the Central goal in the opening half, but came away empty and did not have a shot on goal in the game.

“That is their strength, is getting the ball in and creating those dangerous opportunities. Inevitably in soccer you give up a couple corner kicks, you just told them not to give up, and that just happens. It’s just part of the game,” Mohr said. “We dealt with it, luckily, and then came out of there with getting the ball and surviving actually, but once the guys got settled, I was so impressed with how they handled and moved it, and went through those challenging moments of the game and really took care of it.”

Swearingen said those scrums in front of the goal can be a bit unsettling.

“It’s very nerve-wrecking. It’s just about finding moments to go for the ball,” Swearingen said. “I should have done a little better on that this game, but it’s just about picking and choosing good moments.”

He said the key is to stay focused on all of the pieces.

“I just make sure I’m engaged the whole time,” Swearingen said, “making sure what I’m doing, making sure what those guys are doing.”

Central’s defense has played a key role in the team’s success this season, and Bjerknes knows what it feels like to face that unit.

“Our back line has been putting so much work in at practice. They’re some of the most solid people I’ve ever seen,” Bjerknes said. “In practice it’s obnoxious. When we’ve got to do drills and were going against them … 1 in 15 we’re scoring. They make us look terrible.”

Central, 10-1-2 on the season, will now get a chance to extend their two-year hold on the ESD crown, when it faces Watertown at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Brownell Activities Complex.

“They have a tie in the ESD and we have a loss in the ESD, so we win the game we’re ESD champions again,” Mohr said. “That’s obviously what we want to do and that’s what we’re working towards.”

The Golden Eagles will be highly motivated in that contest.

“It’s going to be huge. It determines who wins the ESD between the two teams,” Swearingen said. “It will be fun. I’m very excited for it and I’m ready.”

Bjerknes said the key will be to keep emotions in check in what promises to be an intense battle.

“I think the absolute biggest thing in that game is to stay level-headed, because it will get chippy,” Bjerknes said. “That’s just how those big games are, and just stay level-headed and to play our game is going to get us the result.”

Pierre 0 0 – 0

Aberdeen Central 1 2 – 3

First Half: 1, AC, Gus Bjerknes (unassisted), 39th minute.

Second Half: 2, AC, Bjerknes (Jamison Frericks), 57th minute; 3, AC, Bjerknes (Logan Heier), 63rd minute.

Shots on Goal: Pierre 0; Aberdeen Central 6.

Goalie: Aberdeen Central, Koltin Swearingen.