VERMILLION – After 34 straight wins and two straight 11B championships, Winner’s efficiency was finally outdone by a similar outfit.
Lucas Hueser rushed for a 31-yard touchdown with 7:53 remaining, then Elk Point-Jefferson held on Friday for a 21-14 win over Winner in the SDHSAA 11B Championship at the DakotaDome.
The Huskies (12-0) won the school’s first state championship in avenging a 52-14 semifinal loss to the Warriors in 2021.
Winner (11-1) drove 15 plays after EPJ’s go-ahead score and advanced to the Huskies’ 16 before Jakob Scarman intercepted a Riley Orel pass with 50 seconds remaining.
Hueser broke a scoreless tie with a three-yard quarterback keeper with 5:17 left in the first half, but Orel answered less than a minute later for Winner with a 69-yard touchdown run. Elk-Point Jefferson maintained a lead at 7-6 when the two-point conversion missed.
Noah McDermott made the EPJ halftime lead 14-6 after a 13-yard scoring run with 2:33 left in the first half.
Winner evened the game on the first play of the fourth quarter on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Blake Volmer to Ethan Bartels and the same two connecting on a two-point pass.
Hueser, the Joe Robbie Most Valuable Player, rushed for 119 yards on 14 carries for Elk-Point Jefferson.
Orel had 13 carries for 111 yards for Winner, who attempted to become the second school to win at least 10 state championships.
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