Sports
Sioux fall short on title run
Tyler Ohmann
11/19/2013
A second straight trip to the Dakota Bowl for the Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn (WNG) Sioux ended similarly in 2013 as it did in 2012, and in more ways than one.
First of all the Sioux fell behind early in both games, which doomed them to lose. Last season they fell behind early and lost to Hazen 55-28 in the Class A title game, and this year against Cavalier they fell 54-6.
Secondly, for the second straight year the Dakota Bowl rushing yards in a game record was set in the game. In 2012, Hazen running back Briar Borneman broke out with 286 yards on the ground against the Sioux. This season it was Cavalier Tornadoes quarterback Ryan Chrest who galloped for a whopping 377 yards and four touchdowns on 16 carries.
Chrest broke Borneman’s Dakota Bowl record by halftime, as he got out to a quick start by scoring on runs of 57, 34 and 52 yards. By the break he had amassed 296 yards on the ground. Throw in a Brock Robbins score and the Sioux were down 38-0 at the half.
“We weren’t aggressive right away, and we sat on our heels a little bit,” said Sioux coach Tom Nesvold. “I’m not saying they weren’t going to score anyway, but the Chrest kid we knew he was fast, but he was even faster in real life.”
“We got a little tentative and sat on our heels and let him come to us, and when he does that he’s gone,” Nesvold added.
WNG drove the ball down the field a couple times in the first half, only to stall out, including a turnover on downs at the nine yard line on their first drive of the game.
“We had a couple of really good drives that we didn’t get punched in, and just from a motivational factor, if we get one in and score on them early, get a shutdown, a fumble, the next thing you know and we put some pressure on them, maybe they happen in the first half,” Nesvold added. “Overall, they are a dominate team, and we needed to come play a bit better is all.”
The second half went a little better for the Sioux as they limited the damage to two long touchdown runs, one from Chase Walton in the third quarter of 76 yards and another from Chrest in the fourth of 74 yards.
Hunter Braaten was impressed with the play of the Tornadoes.
“They were a really physical team, and you could tell they were stronger than us and got off the ball better than us,” Braaten said.
WNG finally got on the board in the fourth quarter after senior quarterback Braaten broke away from a tackler and made his way into the end zone for a 20-yard score.
Braaten finished with 115 yards rushing in the game on 24 carries. Braaten was also 8-of-21 for 71 yards through the air. He threw two picks (both picked off by Chrest) as he tried to force the ball in the second half while trailing. Senior Ethan Miller was his favorite target as he had three grabs for 58 yards.
And though the Sioux lost Braaten was still glad to have the experience of making it as far as the Sioux did.
“It is an honor to get to play in, especially twice, but too bad we didn’t win it,” Braaten said.
In total Cavalier racked up more than 500 yards on the ground, another Dakota Bowl record. Chrest only threw one pass, a 15-yard completion. Nesvold was impressed with the Tornadoes physicality.
“As a team they were physical, they could run and my hat goes off to them,” Nesvold said. “It’s a great young team, and they’re going to do well.”
“They didn’t have to do a lot of things this year, because their line, their running backs, quarterback create things out of nothing a lot of times,” Nesvold continued. “They make players across the state look silly.”
Defensively the Sioux were led by Braaten, who had 14 total tackles and both a fumble recovery and a forced fumble. Also strong on the defense was Chas Tofteland who had four tackles for a loss, a forced fumble and a sack.
The loss pushed the Sioux’s record to 10-3 and ended the Sioux’s run of knocking off the top teams in the state. WNG first upset No. 5 Grant County-Flasher, then previously undefeated and second-ranked Towner-Granville-Upham, and lastly No. 3 Shiloh Christian a week prior, but they still came up short in the upset that mattered most to them.
“Every team’s ultimate goal is not just to be here, but to win it, and we fell short of our ultimate goal, but we set lofty goals,” Nesvold said. “One seed, four seed, three seed, everybody is 0-0 once you get to the playoffs. We’ve believed that, and the past couple of years we’ve been fortunate enough that we’ve peaked at the right time.”
Braaten was thankful for the improvement that the young offensive line he played behind showed in the playoff run. The line that allowed him to run for nearly 1,000 yards in their four playoff games.
“At the beginning of the year we were a little timid because we were young, our line was at least,” Braaten said. “As the season went on, our line got better and better, and that is what made us get here.”
As a four-year starter, Braaten made the playoffs all four years, two years in nine-man (freshman and senior) and two years in Class A (sophomore and junior).
He was also honored as the nine-man Senior Athlete of the Year. Cavalier head coach Sandy Laxdal was named Coach of the Year, as he led the Tornadoes to a perfect 11-0 record.