B-H Gridders Fall In 9AA

Britton-Hecla battled unbeaten Howard in the opening half of the Class 9AA football playoffs on Thursday but the third-seeded hosts exploded for 21 third quarter points to put the game away on the way to a 48-8 victory.

Howard, now 9-0, will host an 8-1 Parkston squad, a 46-6 winner over Leola-Frederick, in quarterfinal action on Thursday. Britton-Hecla ended its season with a 4-5 mark.

“I thought that we were right there with one of the best teams in the state on Thursday,” said B-H coach Jacob Skogstad. “It was a little bit of the same stuff from a lot of our losses this year, our defense kept us in the game and our offense wasn’t able to capitalize on opportunities. That game would have looked a lot different had our touchdown not gotten called back, and we scored on our drive that got to the 10-yard line in the first half.

“Overall, I thought that we got a lot better this year. We saw a lot of improvement from our younger players, and we are excited to see what they can do next year after a full offseason. Our seniors will for sure be missed. They did a great job setting the tone and furthering our program these last four years.”

The Braves will lose seven seniors via graduation. They include BoDell Davidson, Tucker Mertens, Wyatt Tosse, Luke Storley, Gage Storley, Will Schuller, and Elijah Jensen.

Howard, who won the total yardage battle 429-147, found the end zone midway through the first period and led 7-0 at the break. The Tigers led 140 midway through the second stanza and then grabbed a 200 halftime lead by connecting on a 20-yard pass play with just 12 ticks remaining on the opening half clock.

Three touchdowns in a fiveminute span in the third quarter put the Tigers on top 41-0 and put the game away for the Tigers. Howard added another score early in the fourth quarter and BoDell Davidson broke a 56-yard scoring run with 5:13 to play for the Braves only score.

Davidson led Britton-Hecla with 104 yards rushing and hit 10-20 passes for 36 yards. Dawson Treeby had a pair of catches for 14 yards and Gage Storley had four grabs for 10.

On the defensive side of the ball BoDell Davidson had a big game with nine solo tackles and seven assists, while Tucker Mertens, Luke Storley, Collin Beaner, and Dashel Davidson each had five solo stops.

B-H (4-5) 0 0 0 8 – 8 Howard (9-0) 7 13 21 7 – 48

H – Luke Koepsell 17 pass from Taiden Hoyer (Karsyn Feldhaus kick) H – Tate Miller 4 run (Feldhaus kick) H – Griffin Clubb 20 pass from Hoyer (kick failed) H – Luke Koepsell 14 pass from Hoyer (kick failed) H – Miller 1 run (Clubb run) H – Miller 1 run (Feldhaus kick) H – Feldhaus 4 run (Feldhaus kick) BH- BoDell Davidson 56 run (Luke Storley pass from Davidson)

RUSHING: BH, 27-111 (BoDell Davidson 17-104, Tucker Mertens 107); Howard, 38-239 (Griffin Clubb 964, Taiden Hoyer 3-46, Tate Miller 9-44, Karsyn Feldhaus 8-43)

PASSING: BH, 10-20-3-36 (Davidson 10-19-3-36, Jaxon Zuehlke 01-0-0); Howard, 10-17-0-190 (Hoyer 913-0-170, Clubb 1-4-0-20)

RECEIVING: BH (Dawson Treeby 2-14, Gage Storley 4-10, Luke Storley 28, Tucker Mertens 2-4); Howard (Atticus Darnell 5-99, Luke Koepsell 3-61, Clubb 1-20, Karsten Hamilton 1-10)

FIRST DOWNS: BH, 6, Howard 24

DEFENSIVE LEADERS: BH (B. Davidson 12.5 tackles, Mertens 5.5 tackles, Luke Storley 5.5 tackles, Collin Beaner 5 tackles, Dashel Davidson 5 tackles); Howard (Kaden Hofer 12.5 tackles, Atticus Darnell 4 tackles, Jack Neises 3 tackles)