VERMILLION – Faulkton Area staged a comeback in a bid for its first state football championship, but could not complete it.
Aziah Meyer rushed for 177 yards and a touchdown Thursday for Avon, who held on for a 32-30 win over Faulkton Area in the SDHSAA 9B Football State Championship at the DakotaDome.
Avon won its sixth state football championship. Faulkton Area fell to 0-4 in title games.
A 91-yard touchdown run by Meyer with 2:16 left in the first half gave Avon (9-3) a 16-8 lead, but Faulkton tied the game just 1:05 later on a 27-yard scoring run by Garrett Cramer and the half ended with a 16-16 tie.
Faulkton Area (10-2) turned the ball over just three plays into the third quarter when the Pirates’ Paxton Bierema intercepted Trojan quarterback Layne Cotton.
Three plays later, Avon gained a 24-16 lead with a 13-yard scoring carry by Landon Mudder.
In just under three minutes, Faulkton Area scored again on a 37-yard touchdown pass from Cotton to Charlie Deiter, but a missed two-point conversion left Avon in front 24-22 with 7:06 remaining in the third quarter.
On Avon’s next possession, Faulkton Area’s Lincoln Dikoff forced a fumble, which was recovered by Gus Kopecky at the Pirates’ 32, but the Trojans couldn’t convert a fourth down.
Avon then extended a 73-yard drive into the fourth quarter, culminating in a third-yard rushing score by Bierema and a 32-22 Avon lead with 9:27 remaining.
Faulkton moved back within two points at 32-30 after a Cotton 66-yard touchdown pass at Cramer and a two-point conversion with 5:48 left.
Bierema then lost another fumble, forced by Cotton and recovered by Deiter, with 5:01 left.
Faulkton Area then drove from their 38 to the Avon 17. On fourth-and-13 from the Avon 22 with 1:21 left, Cotton threw what would have been a go-ahead touchdown pass to Cramer, but the play was nullified by a penalty for ineligible receiver downfield. Cotton then threw a pass intended for Drake Mueller in the end zone, but Avon’s Noah Watchorn knocked the ball down and the Pirates then ran out the clock.
Avon rushed for 299 yards overall. Bierema ran for two scores. Mudder ran for 66 yards and a touchdown.
Cotton was 9-for-19 for Faulkton Area with 196 yards and three touchdowns. Deiter had three catches for 80 yards. Cramer had two receptions for 78 yards, while running for 85 yards and a touchdown.
Comments