PIERRE, S.D. – Jerren Deal completed 9 of 12 passes for 293 yards and four touchdowns in leading top-ranked Pierre to a 47-7 win over Mitchell in the quarterfinal round of the Class 11AA football playoffs Thursday night. He also ran in the first score of the game from 10 yards out on the game’s fourth offensive play after finding Cooper Terwilliger for 38 yards two plays earlier. After forcing a Mitchell punt, Deal connected with Porter Hunsley on a 72-yard scoring pass for a 14-0 lead.
Hunsley then stripped Kernel running back Lawson LeBrun of the football on the first play of the ensuing possession, and Deal hit Terwilliger for another quick score and a 20-0 lead halfway through the first quarter. Two more scores followed in the second quarter, including a brilliant one-handed grab by Will Danburg and a 60-yard punt return from Hudson Stoeser, as the Governors led 34-0 at intermission. Hunsley added to the lead early in the third quarter with a 44-yard romp before Mitchell found the end zone on a Kyson Herrmann 3-yard run. Sophomore Brecken Fuhrman then ran 32 yards for the final points of the night as the Govs advance to the semifinals next Friday night.
Pierre (10-0) will face Sturgis, who upset the banged-up Tea Area Titans, 21-14. The Govs beat the Scoopers, 42-6, back in the first game of the season, one of just three losses in ten games for Sturgis. For Mitchell, a season of improvement in which they made the playoffs for the first time in a while comes to an end with a 4-6 record. In the other half of the 11AA bracket, Yankton bested Huron, 42-20, and Watertown knocked off Spearfish with a 35-14 win, so it’ll be Watertown at Yankton in the other semifinal. The Arrows stunned the Bucks in Yankton, 42-14, five weeks ago.
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