BOX ELDER – Recovering from a shaky offense performance the previous week, Pierre’s offense was strong in the one half it needed of full work Friday.
Lincoln Kienholz threw four touchdown passes, two to Jack Merkwan, Jayden Wiebe returned a punt for a touchdown and Brock Moser rushed for a score as the Governors hammered Douglas 43-0 at Dave Broadie Field.
Douglas (0-4) had a 42-yard run from Peyton DeWitt on the first play of the game, but totaled only 16 yards of offense after that.
The Governors scored on seven of their eight first-half possessions. Kienholz completed a 61-yard drive for the first score for Pierre (3-1) with 6:58 left in the first quarter, a six-yard touchdown pass to Cade Kaiser. Wiebe returned a punt at the end of the Patriots’ next possession 55 yards for a touchdown to make the Governor lead 14-0.
A 14-yard scoring strike from Kienholz to Merkwan on the next Pierre possession extended the visitors’ lead to 21-0. In the second quarter, Kienholz found his cousin, Brecken Krueger, for a 49-yard touchdown for a 28-0 Pierre advantage. Kienholz found Merkwan again with 4:17 left in the first half from 25 yards and Pierre led 34-0. Moser scored from a yard out with 1:04 left in the half and the Governors led 41-0 at halftime.
The timing rule sped up the second half. The only points in that half came on a Pierre safety on the first play of the fourth quarter when a bad snap on an attempted punt by Douglas went through the end zone.
Kienholz, who played quarterback in the first half only, was 11-of-18 for 193 yards and four touchdowns to extend his season total to 11. Kienholz has now thrown 101 passes this season without an interception. He also rushed for 73 yards on seven carries. Moser rushed 10 times for 52 yards. Merkwan had three receptions. Krueger, Kaiser, Moser and Jett Zabel had two each.
Josh Strand had seven tackles, including a sack, to lead the Pierre defense. Chase Carda also had a sack. Elijah Boutchee forced a fumble, which Lucas Colman recovered.
Pierre will play Yankton on the road Friday at Crane-Youngworth Field. Coverage will begin at 6:30 on The Official Voice of the Pierre Governors, River 92.7, with Brian Oakland calling the action. Live and archived video will also be available at the River 92.7 page at the DRG News app and at drgnews.com.
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