Sports
Sioux survive scare from Skyhawks
Tyler Ohmann
11/12/2013
What appeared as a blowout at halftime turned into a nail-biter last Saturday afternoon as the Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn (WNG) Sioux narrowly held on for a 32-31 win over Shiloh Christian in the nine-man semifinals.
The win pushed the Sioux to a second straight Dakota Bowl appearance. WNG advanced to the Class A final last season, but fell to Hazen.
It looked like it might be an easy road to the Fargo Dome as the Sioux hopped out to an early lead.
The Sioux led 26-6 at halftime after a first half dominated by WNG senior quarterback Hunter Braaten.
“The ball bounced our way quite a bit in the first half,” said Sioux head coach Tom Nesvold. “That’s the football gods shining down on you.”
Braaten ran in three scores and returned a fumble 56 yards on defense to account for all of the Sioux’s first-half points.
The Skyhawks’ Blake Emmel dashed in from four yards out to nab the lone score for Shiloh Christian later in the first quarter.
Both Emmel and Braaten traded scores in the third quarter. Emmel’s came on a 58-yard burst around the outside, while Braaten took his up the middle for a 15-yard score.
In the fourth quarter the momentum shifted to the Skyhawks.
A banged-up Sioux defense first allowed a Zac Martin quarterback sneak, and then a pass from Martin to Andrew Hartman on fourth down for a score to draw the game within seven points. The Sioux blocked the Martin extra point attempt.
After losing yards on the ground in an effort to run the clock out, Braaten attempted a pass and was picked off.
The Skyhawks capitalized as they drove down the field and Emmel scored his third touchdown of the day.
However, Skyhawks holder A.J. Dale mishandled the snap on a what could have been a game-winning fake extra point attempt, which led to the Sioux’s one-point victory.
“We just had to stay up and keep coming,” Nesvold said. “Don’t over-pursue, but just do our responsibilities keep bringing it and good things will happen.”
Defensively it took all the Sioux defense had to try and slow down the Skyhawks.
“We were trying as hard as we could to keep it together,” said sophomore defensive tackle Michael Lemay.
Lemay finished with eight total tackles, including two for a loss.
After the game he was at a loss for words.
“There aren’t words that can explain it,” Lemay said. “It’s the best feeling.”
Lemay credits practice for his rise to a higher level in the playoffs. He belives that each day the Sioux get better.
“We’re working hard in practice every day,” Lemay said. “We’re pushing each other to get better.”
Braaten too was strong on the defensive side. To go with his team-leading 217 yards rushing, Braaten had 10 total tackles and both a forced and recovered fumble.
Fellow senior Hawkin Smette had 10 carries for 49 yards, and 10 tackles, a fumble recovery and a sack.
For the Sioux it was their third upset victory in a row in the playoffs. WNG knocked off fifth-ranked Grant County-Flasher 44-42 in the opening round. The Sioux then took down second-ranked and undefeated Towner-Granville-Upham last weekend 44-12.
They capped it off with the win over the No. 3 Skyhawks. Next week they look to again be the underdog as they will face the top-ranked and undefeated Cavalier.
The Tornadoes are coming off a 62-8 demolishing of Napoleon-Gackle-Streeter in their semifinal win.
They will be tough for the Sioux defense to stop as they have averaged nearly 55 points a game in their three playoff wins.
“We’ll have to prepare and keep doing what we do,” Lemay said about the defense going into the title game. “We just have to do the best we can, and hope for the best.”
His coach is not intimidated by the scores one bit.
“Obviously it is a pretty tall task, and you’re not going to shut them down,” Nesvold said. “But you just hope to limit some of the scores when you get a chance to get off the field, and when you get that chance to get the defense off the field, you have to execute.”
The Sioux will try and slow down the Tornadoes in the very first game of the day at 9:10 a.m. on Friday at the Fargo Dome.