Governors Hold Off Aberdeen Central

ABERDEEN – What looked like would be a cruise with a 32-0 lead turned out to be a slog, but a seventh straight win, for the Pierre Governors on Friday.

Pierre held off Aberdeen Central at Swisher Field 52-35 to improve to 7-1.

Lincoln Kienholz threw five of his seven touchdown passes in the first half as Pierre built their big lead, two to Jack Merkwan, two to Jett Zabel and one to Matthew Hanson.  After AC drew to within 32-13, Kienholz had a touchdown run, but the Golden Eagles scored again to make the Pierre halftime lead 39-20.

Kienholz hit Cade Kaiser with a touchdown pass early in the third quarter for a 45-20 Pierre advantage.  A touchdown run and touchdown pass by Sam Rolfs put Aberdeen Central within 45-35 by the last minute in the third quarter, but the Governors extended the lead to the final margin with a 51-yard touchdown pass from Kienholz to Hanson early in the fourth quarter.

Kienholz was 18-of-27 for 400 yards.  The seven touchdowns give him 30 for the season and 51 for his career in 28 games.  He threw an interception, just his second this season in 203 attempts.  Kienholz also carried 15 times for 74 yards and a touchdown, giving him 722 yards rushing this season on 101 carries with eight touchdowns.

Merkwan had 198 yards on seven receptions.  He has 30 receptions, 14 for touchdowns, and 933 yards receiving this season.

Jett Zabel led the Governors with 12 tackles, nine solo.  Emmit Andersen had 10 stops, five solo.  Jaden Flor had one of Pierre’s three sacks and four tackles for losses.

Pierre will close the regular season against Brookings Thursday at Hollister Field at Phil Trautner Stadium.  Coverage will begin at 5:30 on The Official Voice of the Pierre Governors, River 92.7.  Live and archived video will be available at the River 92.7 page at the DRG News app and at drgnews.com.

FIRST QUARTER
Pierre – Kienholz 20-yard TD pass to Zabel (XP blocked) 9:45 – 6-0 Pierre – Drive: 6 plays, 64 yds, 2:15
Pierre – Kienholz 80-yard TD pass to Merkwan (XP blocked) 8:44 – 12-0 Pierre – Drive: 2 plays, 80 yds, 0:25
Pierre – Kienholz 25-yard TD pass to Merkwan (run failed) 5:22 – 18-0 Pierre – Drive: 2 plays, 18 yds, 0:23

SECOND QUARTER
Pierre – Kienholz 28-yard TD pass to Zabel (Matyas Pribl XP) 11:10 – 25-0 Pierre – Drive: 8 plays, 59 yds, 2:42
Pierre – Kienholz 37-yard TD pass to Hanson (Pribl XP) 10:55 – 32-0 Pierre – Drive: 1 play, 37 yds, 0:15
Aberdeen Central – Karson Carda 5-yard TD run (Tayden Brownson XP) 5:41 – 32-7 Pierre – Drive: 9 plays, 61 yds, 5:14
Aberdeen Central – Carda 14-yard TD run (XP missed) 1:30 – 32-13 Pierre – Drive: 5 plays, 61 yds, 2:04
Pierre – Kienholz 3-yard TD run (Pribl XP) 0:35 – 39-13 Pierre – Drive: 7 plays, 75 yds, 0:55
Aberdeen Central – Rohlfs 54-yard TD pass to Alex Voegele (Brownson XP) 0:09 – 32-20 Pierre – Drive: 2 plays, 65 yds, 0:26

THIRD QUARTER
Pierre – Kienholz 11-yard TD pass to Kaiser (XP missed) 9:20 – 45-20 Pierre – Drive: 5 plays, 56 yds, 1:01
Aberdeen Central – Rohlfs 17-yard TD run (Brownson XP) 3:31 – 45-27 Pierre – Drive: 13 plays, 65 yds, 5:49
Aberdeen Central – Rohlfs 5-yard TD pass to Voegele (Rohlfs run) 0:55 – 45-35 Pierre – Drive: 8 plays, 40 yds, 2:36

FOURTH QUARTER
Pierre – Kienholz 51-yard TD pass to Hanson (Pribl XP) 8:11 – 52-35 Pierre – Drive: 2 plays, 51 yds, 0:15

Individual Statistics

RUSHING
Pierre – Kienholz 15-74-TD, Trey Lewis 7-31
Aberdeen Central – Carda 28-128-2 TD, Rohlfs 10-20-TD

PASSING
Pierre – Kienholz 18-27-400-7 TD-INT
Aberdeen Central – Rohlfs 16-35-189-2 TD-INT

RECEIVING
Pierre – Merkwan 7-198-2 TD, Hanson 4-115-TD, Zabel 3-42-2 TD, Kaiser 3-46-TD, Lewis 1-(-1)
Aberdeen Central – Voegele 7-112-2 TD, Drew Salfrank 4-37, Jacob Merxbauer 3-37, Mason Huff 1-6, Carda 1-0