Hamlin jumped out to a 20-0 lead in the first half and Britton-Hecla was never able to dig out of that hole in a 34-22 loss to the Chargers on Friday.
Hamlin came into the game ranked fifth in Class 9AA after a season-opening loss to Castlewood, while the Braves were ranked sixth after a 44-0 opening win over Waverly-South Shore. This Friday the local gridders play at Webster Area on Friday at 7 p.m. The Bearcats are 0-2 after losses to Sisseton 39-12 and Great Plains Lutheran 34-0.
“I thought we came out and competed with Hamlin,” said B-H boss Jacob Skogstad. “We need to clean up the penalties and little things like snaps and pass protection. But, I’m proud of the way we stuck with the game plan and crawled back into the game. We just can’t start slow like that against good teams. “Defensively, I thought we tackled really well,” added Skogstad. “We didn’t want Boden Stevenson to beat us with his legs and we held him in check really well (26 rushing yards). We just need to fix the big play problem and we will be good.”
Three of Hamlin’s five touchdowns came from long range – 44, 73, and 44 yards – and the Chargers also made big plays on fourth down, converting four of five tries.
Britton-Hecla seemed to have things going its way in the early going. Mitchell Burger pounded on a Hamlin fumble on just the second play of the game and the Braves proceeded to pick up a trio of first downs and drove to the Hamlin 23. A penalty and high snap ended the threat but after a three-and-out B-H was back in business on their own 40.
Two more first downs gave the Braves the ball on the Chargers 38, but this time a high snap was recovered by Hamlin on the Braves 49. The Chargers took advantage of the miscue by driving 49 yards in 11 plays, scoring on fourth down from the three for a 6-0 lead with 9:30 remaining in the second period.
The Braves went nowhere on its next possession and Hamlin marched 60 yards in six plays, capped by a 44-yard run, to go up 14-0 with 5:28 left in the half. After another Braves three-and-out Hamlin struck again, this time on a 73-yard bomb that put the visitors up 20-0 at the 2:36 mark.
Needing some momentum heading into halftime, the Braves responded with a score, going 63 yards in just under two minutes. Ben Suther rumbled for 28 yards on first down, Burger grabbed a 16-yard pass from Jace Rein, and Suther tacked on another 11-yard run before doing the honors from the two to cut the margin to 20-6 at halftime.
Skogstad’s crew didn’t waste any time getting back on the board in the second half. Rein broke loose on a 77-yard scoring run and added the conversion to cut the lead to six, 20-14, just a minute into the third stanza.
But Hamlin responded with its best scoring drive of the night, going 74 yards in 13 plays to take a 26-14 lead with 6:38 left in the third period, converting a fourth and nine and fourth and six to keep the drive alive.
The Braves stalled on their next drive after picking up a pair of first downs but stopped Hamlin on a three-and-out. The backbreaker for B-H came on their next possession when a tipped pass attempt resulted in an interception, and two plays later the Chargers scored on another 44-yard pass. The conversion made it 34-14.
Britton-Hecla did keep its slim hopes alive when Rein found the end zone from a yard out and passed to Chaz Vietor for the two-point conversion to cut the margin to 34-22 with 8:23 to play in the contest, but was not able to mount another serious threat.
The Braves had 16 first downs compared to 15 for Hamlin and ran for 164 yards to 135 for the Chargers. But the visitors won the battle via the airways 212-80 which proved to be the difference, outgaining B-H in total yards 347-244.
Rein ran the ball 25 times for 95 yards and Suther tacked on 69 yards on 15 tries. Burger was the Braves top receiver, catching three balls for 28 yards. Hamlin had two receivers that went over the 100-yard mark.
Graham Fosness led the Braves’ defensive effort with 6.5 tackles, Suther had six stops, Colton Chapin 5.5, and Rein five. Lofton Heer grabbed a pass interception.
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