PIERRE – In their run of four consecutive 11AA state championships, Pierre Governor Football has had its defense come through when it has mattered most, in the postseason. On Thursday, that happened again.
Pierre’s defense shut down Watertown after the Arrows had a big play on their first play and the Governors defeated Watertown Thursday 38-9 in an 11AA quarterfinal game at Hollister Field at Phil Trautner Stadium.
The Pierre defense registered eight sacks, forced four turnovers, including two interceptions, and held Watertown to under 50 yards of offense in the second half.
Lincoln Kienholz threw for 282 yards on 17 of 28 with three touchdown passes, becoming the Governors’ all-time passing yardage leader and the program’s single-season passing yardage record-holder, eclipsing two records set by Peyton Zabel. Kienholz’s touchdown tosses were to Jackson Edman, Jack Merkwan, and Brecken Krueger. Kienholz also ran for two touchdowns. Cole Peterson kicked a 27-yard field goal.
After Jayden Wiebe returned the opening kickoff 67 yards to the Watertown 29, Kienholz’s two-yard touchdown run gave Pierre the early 7-0 lead. Then, Drew Norberg found Cole Harden for a 74-yard tying touchdown on Watertown’s first play from scrimmage. Kienholz’s second touchdown run gave Pierre the lead for good with 5:25 left in the first quarter at 14-7.
Kienholz was sacked in the end zone by the Arrows’ Hunter Wientjes just under two minutes later to cut the Governor lead to 14-9.
Early in the second quarter, Watertown drove to the Pierre six before a delay of game penalty. Then, Chase Carda stripped the ball away from Norberg and recovered the fumble, leading to a 65-yard pass from Kienholz to Jett Zabel and a five-yard touchdown pass from Kienholz to Edman.
Kienholz threw a touchdown pass to Merkwan in the third quarter. Peterson’s field goal and the Kienholz touchdown toss to Krueger happened in the fourth quarter.
Pierre (8-2) will play Aberdeen Central in the semifinal round on Friday, November 5 in Pierre. Coverage will begin at 6:25 PM 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. Aberdeen Central upset Brookings on Thursday, 42-34.
| Watertown | Pierre | |
| First Downs | 12 | 13 |
| Rushing Yds | 50 | 75 |
| Passing Yds | 182 | 282 |
| Total Yds | 232 | 357 |
| Att/Comp/Int | 11/24/2 | 17/28/1 |
| Punts/avg | 5/37.4 | 4/38.3 |
| Fumbles/lost | 3/2 | 0/0 |
| Penalties/Yds | 6/34 | 8/84 |
| Watertown | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 9 |
| Pierre | 14 | 7 | 7 | 10 | – | 38 |
FIRST QUARTER
Pierre – Kienholz 2-yard run (Peterson XP) 8:33 – 7-0 Pierre – Drive: 9 plays, 29 yds, 3:27
Watertown – Norberg 74-yard TD pass to Holden (Andrew Czech XP) – 7-7 – 1 play, 74 yds, 0:15
Pierre – Kienholz 1-yard run (Peterson XP) 5:25 – 14-7 Pierre – Drive: 6 plays, 70 yds, 2:53
Watertown – safety; Wienjtes tackled Kienholz in end zone 3:37 – 14-9 Pierre
SECOND QUARTER
Pierre – Kienholz 5-yard TD pass to Edman (Peterson XP) 9:50 – 21-9 Pierre – 2 plays, 70 yds, 0:17
THIRD QUARTER
Pierre – Kienholz 40-yard TD pass to Merkwan (Peterson XP) 6:00 – 28-9 Pierre – 7 plays, 81 yds, 3:02
FOURTH QUARTER
Pierre – Peterson 27-yard FG 7:13 – 31-9 Pierre – 7 plays, 9 yds, 2:11
Pierre – Kienholz 23-yard TD pass to Krueger (Peterson XP) 3:45 – 38-9 Pierre – 3 plays, 29 yds, 0:20
Individual Statistics
RUSHING
Watertown – Juven Hudson 21-91, Reese Stark 2-3, Owen Spartz 2-1, Norberg 10-(-43)
Pierre – Kienholz 12-62, Trey Lewis 9-10, Brock Moser 2-6, Cade Kaiser 1-2, Peterson 1-(-5)
PASSING
Watertown – Norberg 11-24-182-TD-2 INT
Pierre – Kienholz 17-28-282-3 TD-INT
RECEIVING
Watertown – Holden 4-93-TD, Colin Dingsor 3-57, Daulton Baumberger 2-11, Stark 1-11, Trevon Rawdon 1-10
Pierre – Merkwan 6-83-TD, Krueger 3-48-TD, Kaiser 3-43, Zabel 2-89, Lewis 2-14, Edman 1-5-TD
Comments