VERMILLION – Brenden Begeman has his individual records, but Hitchcock-Tulare has a championship.
Quarterback Charlie Binger threw for four touchdown passes and ran for another Thursday as Hitchcock-Tulare outlasted Herreid/Selby Area 50-28 to win the SDHSAA 9B Football Championship at the DakotaDome.
Binger, named the Joe Robbie Most Valuable Player of the game, passed for 238 yards and ran for 133 as the Patriots (12-0) won their first 9B title since 2009 and third in school history.
Hitchcock-Tulare played about as efficiently as could be hoped, converting nine of 13 third downs and all three fourth down chances. The Patriots scored on six of their seven possessions in the game.
Begeman, dealing with a hamstring injury, rushed for 189 yards, exactly what he needed to become South Dakota’s all-time career rushing leader with 6,807 yards, one yard more than Luke Loudenburg gained for Howard in the 2010’s. Begeman, who has received an offer from South Dakota State, also set the state record for single-season rushing yardage with 2,977. He scored three touchdowns running Thursday and quarterback Tray Hettick scored once on the ground for Herreid/Selby Area (11-1).
After trailing 20-8 at halftime, H/SA was within 20-14 in the last minute of the third quarter after a 55-yard pass from Hettick to Trevor Gill (five receptions, 164 yards). Only two plays later, Hitchcock-Tulare cornerback Brendan Nowell intercepted a Hettick pass and ran it back 98 yards for a touchdown, his second interception return score of the season, to increase the Patriots’ lead to 26-14.
H/SA came within 26-20 in the fourth quarter on a Begeman touchdown run, but no closer, as Binger had two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to Landon Buffer, including one for 64 yards, and a 44-yard touchdown run with one minute left.
Begeman started Herreid/Selby Area’s final drive needing 39 yards to break the career rushing record and he gained precisely that on three carries before hobbling off the field.
Herreid/Selby Area is a runner-up for the third time in four seasons, having lost the 2019 9B title game to Colman-Egan and the 2021 9A championship to Howard.
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