Sports

Sioux rally from 28 points down to upset Lions

By Tyler Ohmann

10/23/2012

In 2011 early turnovers cost the Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn Sioux a win in the first round of the Class A playoffs against Linton-HMB.

In 2012 the two teams clashed again, and it might felt like Deja Vu for the Sioux (6-4) as two Linton (5-4) fumble recovery touchdowns in the first quarter helped give the Lions a 28-0 lead early in the second quarter.

“It was tough because it was the first quarter and we were down 28-0,” said Sioux senior Logan Hermes. “Everything that could have possibly went wrong, went wrong.”

However, unlike the 2011 team, who fell 18-8 to the Lions and went home, the 2012 team is going to go home for a different reason—they came back and won the game.

“Our coach said, ‘well now that we have everything that we could possibly do wrong out of the way, lets go do something right,’’” Hermes said. “That’s what we did, we never stopped believing.”

“Especially with our seven seniors on offense, we weren’t going to let the game end that way,” Hermes added.

The Sioux rallied starting in the second quarter with a long drive capped off with a Hunter Braaten three-yard touchdown run. A quick toss to Kodie Hancock for the two-point conversion, and it was a 28-8 Lions lead.

“After the first quarter and halfway to through the second, we just put the pedal to the floor,” Hermes said. “We didn’t give up, and it was the seniors.”

Braaten found senior Calder Solloway later in the second to cut the lead to 14, and then a 50-yard interception return touchdown by Hancock as time expired right before half made it a one-score game.

“The second quarter was really where the momentum shifted, when Kodie Hancock intercepted a screen pass for a touchdown,” Hermes said. “That shifted everything for the next half, because we knew we could stop their offense.”

A Brock Nagel three-yard scamper for a score early in the third gave the Lions hope that they could squash the Sioux momentum.

However, the Sioux showed their resilience again, buckling down on defense and scoring three more times in the second half to clinch the 42-36 victory.

It was all kicked off by an 80-yard kick return touchdown by Hancock. Braaten took matters into his own hands on the next drive with a 14-yard touchdown run and a conversion run to tie the game with 2:40 left in the third.

The Sioux defense gave the offense a chance and Braaten connected with Hancock for 43 yards to complete the astounding comeback, and win the game by six.

“We have a lot of weapons on offense, as long as we kept our heads together, because all of their points came off of turnovers,” Hermes said. “We knew what we had to do, and we got it done, and it felt good.”

“It was that feeling that you know it’s not going to end bad,” Hermes continued. “It is indescribable actually, it’s a feeling in your chest that just gets you going.”

Another factor that Hermes, who had five tackles, three assists and a tackle for a loss, mentioned was the Sioux crowd.

“Honestly it was like there were 12 men on the field, they were cheering louder than the Linton crowd ever cheered,” Hermes said about the WNG fans. “It was a sight to see.”

Braaten and Hancock were the heroes in the win. Braaten amassed 110 yards rushing, 186 passing (on 12-of-19) and had four scores (two rushing, two passing). While Hancock was stifled on the ground (10 carries 18 yards) he did a lot of damage through the air, making seven grabs and going 111 yards with them, including the 43 it took for the game-winning touchdown.

On defense the Sioux were able to pick off Lions quarterback Brooks Flyberg four times in the contest, which helped lead the comeback. Braaten picked off two of those, while the others came from Solloway and Hancock.

Braaten also led the Sioux with 10 tackles and seven assists. Senior Devin Korynta had three tackles for a loss in the win.

In total Braaten had 347 total yards (186 passing, 110 rushing and 51 return yards).

To sweeten the pot for the Sioux fourth-seeded Milnor-North Sargent (MNS) out of Region 1 upset the top-seeded Larimore Polar Bears, handing them their first loss of the season. What that means is as a higher seed, the third-seeded Sioux will host the game against MNS next at a time yet to be determined on Saturday.

“We were so excited when we found out Milnor beat Larimore, because Larimore is a good team first, and second we get a home playoff game,” Hermes said. “It was unexpected, but it will help us a lot. First we don’t have to travel and stay at a hotel overnight, and we’re at home, it’s our field, our crowd.”

If the Sioux can knock off MNS, they will play the winner of upsetter Park River-Fordville-Lankin, who knocked off top-seeded Maple Valley-Enderlin, or Langdon-Munich, who beat Northern Cass.