Three Britton-Hecla football players have been selected as honorable mention picks for the Class 9AA All-State Football Team selected by the South Dakota Football Coaches Association.
Earning spots on the squad were seniors Bryce Hawkinson and Jaxon Zuehlke and junior Graham Fosness. The trio were key cogs in the Braves 6-3 gridiron campaign.
Hawkinson finished as the third leading rusher in program history for his school. He rushed for 1,223 yards and 13 touchdowns this fall and had 3,412 career yards and 31 touchdowns on the ground. He also added 436 career receiving yards and six scores.
B-H coach Jacob Skogstad said that Hawkinson “has been a foundational piece to our offense for four years and is one of the hardest working kids I have ever been around. For a kid his size, he runs angry, and rarely gets tackled by the first defender.”
The Braves strength this season was the running game and Fosness played a key role in helping his team to 2,151 yards rushing.
Skogstand noted that most of those rushing yards were either directly behind Fosness or utilizing him as a puller, “He utilizes his power and leverage very well as a blocker, and does a great job getting down field to spring big gains.”
On the defensive side of the ball Zuehlke was a fixture. He led the team with 77, 13 of them for loses, and wrapped up his career with 174.5 tackles, 22 for loss, nine sacks, two forced fumbles and six fumble recoveries.
“We put a lot of pressure on him to get us in the correct alignment, and he did a great job with that,” said Skogstad. “In our system, he was responsible for anything on the interior, and teams really struggled to run the football against us because of him.”
Class 9AA All-State Team
Offense - Quarterback: Riley Tschetter, Freeman-Marion/Freeman Academy; Fullback-HBack: Stetson Riggs, Hanson; Runningbacks: Eliot Erickson, Elkton-Lake Benton; Luke Peters, Freeman-Marion/Freeman Academy; and Mason Jervik, Parkston; Wide Receivers: Boden Stevenson, Hamlin; and Zane Messick, Hill City; Tight End: Tate Sorensen, Freeman-Marion/Freeman Academy; Linemen: Dalton Deffenbaugh, Kimball-White Lake; Grant Wilkinson, De Smet; Taiton Boersma, Elkton-Lake Benton; and Hunter Nankivel, Freeman-Marion/Freeman Academy.
Defense – Linemen: Quintin Westley, Elkton-Lake Benton; Aiden Abraham, Hamlin; Carter Fischer, Scotland-Menno; and Wyatt Anderson, Parkston; Linebackers: Gage Jodozi, Parkston; Brady Schroedermeier, Viborg-Hurley; Myles Poindexter, Elkton-Lake Benton; and Chevy Fees, Kimball-White Lake; Defensive Backs: Colt Keiser, Gregory; Easton Tschetter, Freeman-Marion/Freeman Academy; and Dayn Goodman, Kimball-White Lake.
Others – Athletes: Colt Beck, Elkton-Lake Benton and Jackson Wadsworth, Hamlin; Special Teams: Logan Street, Hill City and Isaiah Crownover, Bon Homme; Honorable Mention: Brenner Gerdes, Viborg-Hurley; Bryce Hawkinson, Graham Fosness and Jaxon Zuehlke, Britton-Hecla; Jason Porth, Hanson; Major Aarstad, Bon Homme; Alaric Knittel, Freeman-Marion/Freeman Academy; Landon Keiser, Gregory; Slayten Wilkinson, De Smet; and Wanner Enriquez, Elkton-Lake Benton; All-American: Colt Beck, Elkton-Lake Benton
