VERMILLION – It may have been the wildest South Dakota high school football state championship game ever. It certainly was the highest scoring title game. And it was the happiest for the Warner Monarchs.
Warner outlasted Deubrook Area Thursday 76-54 in the SDHSAA 9A Football State Championship at the DakotaDome for the Monarchs’ first state football championship.
Warner scored 11 of the 15 times they had the ball and had 624 yards of total offense, 454 of which were rushing.
Quarterback Hunter Cramer won the Joe Robbie Most Valuable Player award with 399 yards from scrimmage. He passed for 188 yards and a touchdown on 15-of-21 and rushed for 211 yards and four touchdowns on 19 carries.
Deubrook Area led 36-29 late in the first half before Cramer scored two touchdowns to give Warner (12-0) a 43-36 halftime lead.
Charlie Dulany had two touchdown runs in the third quarter to increase the Monarch lead to 56-36 before Alex Mikkelsen had kickoff and punt return touchdowns in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 56-48.
Warner then scored three fourth quarter touchdowns.
For Deubrook Area (8-4), those scores by Mikkelsen were part of an astounding six returns for touchdowns. J.P. Rogness had 79- and 85-yard kickoff returns and a 64-yard punt return for scores. Jacob Jorenby also ran back an interception 87 yards for a touchdown.
Rogness and Jorenby caught touchdown passes from Jace Vomacka.
Deubrook Area scored 54 points despite having only 250 yards of offense and possessing the ball for only 12 minutes.
The 130 combined points easily eclipsed the previous championship game record of 104, set when Kimball defeated Gettysburg in the 2001 9A championship game 76-28. Warner matched that 2001 Kimball team for the most points by one team in a title game.
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