GETTYSBURG – Potter County football is back.
Save for a victory over Sully Buttes, the 2020 football season was basically lost for the Battlers. COVID-19 disrupted the season to the point where PC finished only 1-5 and out of the playoffs. This came after a 1-6 2019 campaign where the Battlers also didn’t make the postseason.
2021 didn’t start with much promise, either, with a loss to Faulkton Area. But the Battlers then won seven of their last eight in the regular season, zoomed by Jones County and Hitchcock-Tulare in the first two rounds of the 9B playoffs and got back at Faulkton with a 22-12 road semifinal win last week. Potter County’s reward is a championship game against Dell Rapids St. Mary on Thursday. The Battlers will try to win their second championship, with the first being in 9A in 2013, a 60-22 win over Leola/Frederick Area where quarterback Chayce Hall passed for eight touchdowns.
Current Battler quarterback Grant Luikens hasn’t quite done anything like that, but he is very good, with 21 touchdown passes and 22 more on the ground this season, with 1,039 rushing yards. In his four-year career, Luikens has passed for 39 touchdowns and run for 30.
Veteran Head Coach Vern Smith said that the Battlers are where they sought to be at the start of the season.
Smith said that Potter County’s offense has improved as this season has continued.
Everyone on the team is playing together better, said Smith.
Smith has noticed something interesting and rewarding about some Battler fans.
Smith looked back to the not-very-high expectations at the start of this season and how they have changed.
Potter County will meet Dell Rapids St. Mary Thursday at the DakotaDome in Vermillion for the 9B championship. Coverage will begin at 9:30 AM on 100.7 KMLO and the KMLO page at the DRG News app & drgnews.com.
-thanks to DRG Media Group Sports’ Andy Shoe-
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