BRAVES ROLL TO BIG HOMECOMING WIN

    Britton-Hecla handed Great Plains Lutheran its first loss of the season 35-6 on homecoming last Friday and will be looking to repeat that performance when unbeaten Waubay-Summit comes to town for a key Eastern Coteau Conference matchup this Friday.
    The Braves boosted their season mark to 4-1, while Waubay-Summit stands at 4-0.  The two squads have played one common opponent in Florence-Henry.  B-H rolled to a 63-8 win while W-S posted a 42-12 victory.  The Braves will be the first team that the Mustangs have played with a winning record.
    “The keys this week will be to tackle really well,” said B-H boss Jacob Skogstad.  “They have a number of backs who they like to get involved in space.  “If we don’t tackle well it will be a long night. Offensively, more of the same. I think we can really lean on our ground game and then hit some explosive passes over the top once we get their linebackers sucked up.”
    The Braves dominated the line of scrimmage against GPL, allowing just 12 yards rushing on 29 tries while running for 306 yards themselves.  Add an efficient 6-9 passing for 136 yards and B-H held a 410-116 total yards advantage.
    “We challenged the boys to establish our physicality, and I thought we did a fantastic job of that,” stressed Skogstad.
    Skogstad’s crew wasted little time in getting on the scoreboard.  On just the fourth play of the game quarterback Jace Rein found Mitchell Burger on a 58-yard bomb and Lofton Heer added the first of his five PAT kicks for a 7-0 lead just a minute and a half into the contest.
    GPL went backwards on its possession and this time the Braves used nine plays to drive 69 yards with Ben Suther scoring the first of his three touchdowns of the game with 3:31 left in the opening period.
    Colton Chapin intercepted a pass on GPL’s next series and the Braves drove 50 yards to the two yard line but stalled on a pair of incomplete passes.  But after forcing a Panthers’ punt the local gridders needed just six plays to drive 56 yards.  Suther found paydirt again from the 13 with 4:53 left in the half for a 21-0 advantage at intermission.
    Britton-Hecla rolled up 176 yards rushing and 76 passing in the opening half compared to just two yards rushing and 49 passing for Great Plains Lutheran.
    Neither team scored in the third period with mistakes proving costly.  A B-H drive ended with a fumble on the GPL 46 and a Panthers’ touchdown was called back on a penalty.
    The visitors kept their slim hopes alive with a touchdown at the 8:44 mark of the final quarter to cut the margin to 21-6.  But Rein found Jack Teveldal with a 31-yard scoring strike a minute and a half later for a more comfortable cushion.  Suther put the icing on the cake with a 21-yard TD run with 2:24 remaining for the final margin.
    Suther had a big night for the Braves, scoring three times and running for 181 yards on 25 carries for an 8.3 yards per carry average.  Rein added two touchdown passes in addition for running for 130 yards on just 12 tries, a 10.3-yard average.
    The Braves have shown a one-two punch with their running and passing game all season.  After five games B-H has run for 1,087 yards (7.2 yards per carry average) and 20 TD’s, led by Suther’s 492 and eight touchdowns.  Rein has hit 32-43 pass attempts (74.4%) for 562 yards and eight scores and has thrown just one interception.  He has also run for 343 and scored eight times.  Burger is the leading receiver with 15 catches for 309 yards and four TD’s. 
    Skogstad’s crew was just as stout on the defensive side of the ball.  Graham Fosness was a thorn in the Panthers’ side all night with nine tackles and Chapin had eight stops to go along with his pass interception.  Suther added seven tackles and Chaz Vietor five.  The Braves have forced 13 turnovers this season to date – nine pass interceptions and four fumble recoveries. 
FOR COMPLETE STATS, SEE THIS WEEK'S JOURNAL. CALL TO BECOME AN ONLINE SUBSCRIBER AT 605-448-2281