VERMILLION – Pierre’s football dynasty now equals the very best ever in South Dakota playoff football.
Lincoln Kienholz passed for three touchdowns and ran for two, Jack Merkwan set a championship game record for receiving yards and Pierre’s defense had three interceptions and three sacks as the Governors defeated Tea Area Saturday 35-20 in the SDHSAA 11AA Football Championship at the DakotaDome. Pierre’s sixth straight 11AA championship equals West Central (11A, 2000-05) for the most consecutive football titles in South Dakota.
With a missed extra point by Tea Area being the difference, Pierre (12-0) led 21-20 before Kienholz ran in a four-yard touchdown with 2:31 left in the third quarter to give the Governors a 28-20 advantage.
Kienholz then ran in another score with 5:15 left in the fourth quarter for the final touchdown of the game.
Pierre lost a fumble on their first possession, then Tea Area (10-2) punted, setting the Governors back to their own eight yard line.
From there, Kienholz hit Merkwan for a 92-yard touchdown pass, the longest in 11AA championship game history and Pierre led 7-0 with 7:13 left in the first quarter.
Later in the first quarter, Tea Area’s Blake Thompson intercepted a Kienholz pass, leading to a Maddix Slykhuis 59-yard touchdown pass to Wyatt Stuntebeck with 1:34 left in the opening quarter and to a 7-7 tie.
Pierre grabbed the lead again on a 75-yard scoring pass from Kienholz to Merkwan with 6:28 left in the second quarter, followed by the Titans’ Slykhuis finding Chase Van Tol for an 83-yard touchdown pass. Van Tol then missed the extra point and the Governors led 14-13 and that score held at halftime.
Tea had one first down on the first possession of the second half, but then punted. Trey Lewis had a 17-yard return with 15 more yards added on a late hit penalty by Tea’s Parker Mulder to place Pierre at the Tea Area 31. Kienholz threw a two-yard scoring pass to Brock Moser to complete a four-play drive and Pierre led 21-13.
Slykhuis then struck for a 68-yard scoring pass to Van Tol for Tea, who cut the Pierre lead to 21-20.
Kienholz then scored his first rushing touchdown on the next Governor drive.
Tea then faced fourth-and-two at midfield on their next possession when Van Tol was stopped for no gain by Chance Carda and Deegan Houska.
Pierre punted, but then Slykhuis was intercepted by Houska. Again, Pierre punted, but Tea’s Slykhuis then was picked by Kienholz, whose 18-yard return set up his second touchdown run and a 35-20 lead.
Emmit Andersen then had the Governors’ third interception of the half with 3:26 remaining and Pierre then ran out the clock to complete the historic win.
In his final game as Governor quarterback, Kienholz, who has made an oral commitment to play at the University of Washington, was 14-of-28 passing for 274 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. He rushed 32 times for 121 yards and two touchdowns and was named the Joe Robbie Most Valuable Player for the third straight year in the 11AA title game.
Merkwan had eight catches for 234 yards, eclipsing the former championship game record of 216 yards receiving, to earn the Most Outstanding Back honor. The 234-yard receiving game is also a school record.
Gavin Stotts, again filling in on the offensive line for the injured Matthew Coverdale, was named as the game’s Most Outstanding Lineman.
Houska led Pierre with 12 tackles. Chance Carda, Chase Carda and Emmit Andersen registered sacks.
Kienholz, who played four seasons of varsity of the Governors and started for three, ends his career with 9,100 passing yards, the most in South Dakota high school football history, and 104 touchdown passes. He also had 3,502 yards and 46 touchdowns rushing.
Merkwan set the school record for career receiving touchdowns with 28.
The championship is the seventh in Governor football history. Pierre also won the 2013 11AA championship.
A Welcome Home celebration for the Governors will be held on Monday evening at 6:00 PM at the Riggs High Gym. All are welcome.
| Pierre | 7 | 7 | 14 | 7 | – | 35 |
| Tea Area | 7 | 6 | 7 | 0 | – | 20 |
| Pierre | Tea Area | |
| First Downs | 19 | 9 |
| Rushing Yds | 115 | 66 |
| Passing Yds | 274 | 248 |
| Total Yds | 389 | 314 |
| Att/Comp/Int | 14/28/1 | 6/15/3 |
| Punts/avg | 4/38.3 | 5/33.2 |
| Fumbles/lost | 1/1 | 1/0 |
| Penalties/Yds | 9/85 | 10/74 |
FIRST QUARTER
Pierre – Kienholz 92-yard TD pass to Merkwan (Rylan Derry XP) 7:13 – 7-0 Pierre – 1 play, 92 yds, 0:13
Tea Area – Slykhuis 59-yard TD pass to Stuntebeck (Van Tol XP) 1:34 – 7-7 – 3 plays, 53 yds, 1:32
SECOND QUARTER
Pierre – Kienholz 75-yard TD pass to Merkwan (Derry XP) 6:28 – 14-7 Pierre – 3 plays, 75 yds, 0:23
Tea Area – Slykhuis 83-yard TD pass to Van Tol (XP missed) 6:08 – 14-13 Pierre – 1 play, 83 yds, 0:20
THIRD QUARTER
Pierre – Kienholz 2-yard TD pass to Moser (Derry XP) 7:19 – 21-13 Pierre – 4 plays, 31 yds, 1:52
Tea Area – Slykhuis 68-yard TD pass to Van Tol (Van Tol XP) 6:16 – 21-20 Pierre – 3 plays, 69 yds, 1:03
Pierre – Kienholz 4-yard TD run (Derry XP) 2:31 – 28-20 Pierre – 8 plays, 80 yds, 3:45
FOURTH QUARTER
Pierre – Kienholz 11-yard TD run (Derry XP) 5:15 – 35-20 Pierre – 3 plays, 15 yds, 1:31
Individual Statistics
RUSHING
Pierre – Kienholz 32-121-2 TD, Brock Moser 1-4, Team 2-(-10)
Tea Area – Thompson 9-52, Van Tol 10-22, Keegan DeYoung 6-(-1), Slykhuis 7-(-7)
PASSING
Pierre – Kienholz 14-28-274-3 TD-1 INT
Tea Area – Slykhuis 6-14-248-3 TD-2 INT, Thompson 0-1
RECEIVING
Pierre – Merkwan 8-234-2 TD, Moser 3-10-TD, Jett Zabel 1-18, Brecken Krueger 1-8, Jackson Edman 1-4
Tea Area – Van Tol 3-166-2 TD, Stuntebeck 1-59-TD, Thompson 1-23, Ethan McKnelly 1-0
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