Sports

Sioux stop Aggies, earn third seed

By Tyler Ohmann

10/16/2012

The Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn Sioux earned their fifth win of the season and in Region 2 play last Friday night as they held on for a 26-22 victory over Park River-Fordville-Lankin.

The game was senior night in Westhope for the Sioux, and the win made them the third seed out of Region 2.

“I told them that we need to keep fighting,” Nesvold said. “We played last week, we fought, we fought and we came up short. This week we kept fighting and we came up on top.”

“I said they laid it on the line last week, and it hurts when you lose, but now maybe they learned that when you lay it on the line it feels pretty good when you win,” Nesvold added.

The Aggies struck first in the game as they drove the length of the field and scored on a two-yard Chad Jelinek run to take a 6-0 lead.

On the ensuing drive junior quarterback Hunter Braaten broke free and scampered 52-yards for a touchdown. Braaten then hit freshman Chase Conway on the conversion try to take an 8-6 lead. The Sioux never looked back.

Conway and Braaten hooked up again in the second quarter, this time for a seven-yard touchdown. The score gave the Sioux a 14-6 lead.
Senior Kodie Hancock rumbled 20 yards to score once again for the Sioux in the second quarter. It was a 20-6 Sioux lead at that point.

The Aggies would strike once more before half as Abraham Hankey hit Esten Benada for a four-yard score. Cole Rehovsky ran in the conversion to cut the lead to 20-14 Sioux.

WNG came out running the ball in the second half and the attack worked in the third quarter as Braaten scored his second touchdown on the ground of the day with an 11-yard score to put the Sioux up 26-14.

Jelinek scored from 20 yards out, and ran in a two-point conversion to cut the Sioux lead to 26-22, but the Sioux were able to run out the clock and hang on.

“I expected them to hit hard, but I didn’t expect them to come out as they did,” said senior linebacker and center Logan Hermes. “They didn’t look excited, so we kind of weren’t as physical as we should have been in the first half, but we got in there, we stuck with it.”

Offensively the Sioux were led by Braaten who led the team in rushing with 14 carries for 113 yards and two scores. Through the air the junior was 9-for-14 for 118 yards, two touchdowns and one two-point conversion.

 “Offensively I felt like we kind of did the things that we wanted to do,” Nesvold said. “We spread it out a little bit, and threw the ball well.”

Kodie Hancock also played strongly averaging 12 yards per carry as he had six carries for 72 yards. He also added three catches for 45 yards.

“We knew coming in that they were going to come up and try and stop the run,” Nesvold said. “We wanted to get outside, and I thought we did that somewhat, but they are a hell of a team.”

Again it was Braaten who anchored the Sioux on the defensive side of the ball. Braaten had a team-best 22 tackles and seven assists.

Hermes too had a good day on the defensive side of the ball. He had six tackles, nine assists and forced a fumble on the day.

Hermes was excited about the game, which could wind up being his last if the Sioux don’t advance in the playoffs.

“It was wonderful,” Hermes said. “Being our projected last time on this field, my last time on this field, with all our seniority here, it was a beautiful moment with a bunch of wonderful people.”

The Sioux appear to have a little Deja Vu as they will travel to take on Linton-HMB for the second straight year. The third-seeded Sioux out of Region 2 play the second-seeded Lions on Saturday.

“We are just going to take a look and see who we’re going to play, and we’ve looked at some film on all three or four possibilities, but we’ll start zeroing in tomorrow and Sunday and get right after it Monday,” Nesvold said after the game Friday.

The Sioux are 5-4 overall, 5-2 in region play, while the Lions were 5-3 overall and 5-2 in region play.

“We just have to work on our mistakes,” Hermes said. “We have to get more push on the defensive line, and really get everyone motivated and up-tempo, I mean it’s a playoff game and we need to go and get ‘em.”

Whoever wins between the Lions and Sioux will play the winner of North Sargent and Larimore the following Saturday, Oct. 27.

Notes:

•  Braaten now has team-high’s in tackles (97), tackles for a loss (eight), interceptions (three) and deflections (four).
•  Braaten has rushed for a team-best 722 yards and 11 touchdowns. He has gone 57-for-112 for 824 yards passing nine touchdowns and only four interceptions. Braaten has also rushed for six two-point conversions and threw for six more.
•  Kodie Hancock has the team lead in receiving 14 catches for 231 yards and three scores. He has also been successful on the ground with 82 carries for 600 yards and six touchdowns.