Sports

Sioux win clash with Titans

By Tyler Ohmann

11/05/2013

Win 100 for Sioux head coach Tom Nesvold did not come in dramatic fashion like win 99. It did not come as a surprise to the team or the Sioux fans either. It did, however, come in and unexpected way—a blowout.

Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn (WNG) exacted their revenge on Towner-Granville-Upham (TGU) in a 44-12 pounding for the ages last Saturday in Towner, and earned their coach his 100th victory in the process.

“It was pretty special, since it was number 100,” Nesvold said of the win. “It is a big mile mark.”

The game was remarkably similar to the loss the Sioux suffered at the hands of the Titans on Sept. 27. A regular season contest between the Region 3 rivals, that the Titans won 40-18. In that contest the Sioux turned the ball over six times, and were the ones on their heels from the get go, which led to the 22-point beating.

The roles were reversed on Saturday.

“You never expect it to be this lopsided in the playoffs,” Nesvold said. “We just made some plays when we needed to make some plays, and things snowballed on them, because you know things can swing real fast.”

The momentum did swing hard the Sioux’s way in the first half. After WNG fell behind 6-0, senior quarterback Hunter Braaten broke through the Titans defense for a 50-yard run, which led to a nine-yard touchdown run in by Braaten, and an 8-6 lead.

The Sioux never trailed from then on, as they pounded two more scores in in the second quarter. Those came from a one-yard Hawkin Smette plunge, and a 65-yard gallop from Braaten.
WNG led 22-6 at halftime.

The Sioux really broke the game open in the third quarter, when Braaten found senior receiver, the 6-foot, 5-inch Ethan Miller for a 19-yard score.

Miller, who finished with five grabs for 94 yards and the touchdown, said he knew he needed to step up for the Sioux to get the win.

“I haven’t been doing that great on catching, so I just really worked hard on it in practice,” Miller said. “I knew that I needed to step up if we really wanted to win, and I had that in the back of my mind.”

Braaten ran in his third touchdown of the day later in the quarter from 17 yards out, as he made several Titans miss en route to the end zone.

Smette blasted in one more time from a yard out in the fourth quarter, as running time made the game go quickly.

Kolter Schell did score from 10-yards out as time expired, with the Sioux’s second-team defense on the field, but it was over—Sioux 44, Titans 12.

“We wanted revenge on Towner and Divide County, and it’s very rare that you get a chance to do that,” Miller said. “So, this was huge.”

“We knew that we could, but we just had to bring it,” Miller added.

His coach thought the game was far from the loss they were handed in Towner the first time the two teams played.

“We turned the ball over the first time and shot ourselves in the foot, and this time I thought we played pretty damn well,” Nesvold said. “We played mistake free, and physical and I thought we matched their intensity, and just kept coming.”

Spirited play from the offensive and defensive lines really helped the Sioux open holes and plug up gaps.

“It is night and day from the last time we played them,” Nesvold said. “We are just kind of getting this offense rolling.”
“We picked it up and got real physical on the lines,” Nesvold added.

Miller, who is also a defensive end, was impressed with his fellow lineman’ performance.

“They did everything right, and I was very surprised at how hard they brought it,” Miller said of his fellow defensive linemen.

Michael Lemay, one of those line mates, had seven total tackles, including three for a loss, one of those being a sack.

Also strong defensively was Chase Conway, who had nine tackles, two for a loss, a sack and a pass deflection. In total the Sioux had nine tackles for a loss.

Chance Kitzman had 10 total tackles and an interception.
Braaten led the charge offensively for the Sioux as he rushed 28 times for 310 yards and the three scores out of their shotgun, spread offense.

It was Braaten’s second straight game with over 300 yards on the ground.

The senior did it through the air as well as he went 10-for-17  for 123 yards and a score. Smette added 15 carries for 43 yards and the two touchdowns.

The Sioux defense held Titans star quarterback Eli Luna to 99 yards on 18 carries.

WNG will play next weekend in Bismarck against Shiloh Christian in the nine-man semifinals next Saturday.

“We’ll have to study, watch film and practice really hard, and not let up,” Miller said of next weeks meeting against Shiloh Christian.

The Sioux will be looking to return to the Dakota Bowl if they win. Last season they finished runners-up in Class A.

And Nesvold, will be looking for win 101 too.