VERMILLION – Two defensive stands in the second half Friday helped the Hot Springs Bison defeat the Elk Point-Jefferson Elks 13-7 in the SDHSAA 11B State Football Championship at the DakotaDome.
Hot Springs (11-1) won the school’s first state championship in the second title game in school history.
Most Outstanding Back Braden Peterson caught a go-ahead 79-yard touchdown pass from Colin Iverson with 4:54 left in the first half for the game’s final points and a Hot Springs lead.
The Bison had tied the game at 7-7 with 3:31 left in the first quarter on a 32-yard touchdown by Cameron Maciejewski, who was named as the Joe Robbie Most Valuable Player.
Elk Point-Jefferson (10-2), who was looking to repeat as 11B champion, scored first on a two-yard keeper for a touchdown by quarterback Jacob Gale just less than three minutes earlier.
Hot Springs punted after having the ball for just over the first five minutes of the third quarter. Elk-Point Jefferson then had the ball for nearly seven minutes, driving from their own 15 to the Hot Springs 16. The drive ended on a Gale incompletion on fourth down on the first play of the fourth quarter..
Kyle Fisher then recovered a fumble for EP-J at the Hot Springs 20 with 8:49 left. The Elks drove to the Bison four, but Aidyn Janis and Maciekewski stopped Gale two yards short on a fourth-&-goal keeper.
Elk Point-Jefferson had one more chance, but Peterson had an interception to seal the game for Hot Springs.
Maciejewski had 99 yards rushing, a 57-yard interception return and eight tackles.
Gale passed for 112 yards and ran for 82 for Elk Point-Jefferson.
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