VERMILLION – A sterling season ended with a shutdown by the Madison Bulldogs.
Nate Ricke passed and ran for touchdowns and Trey Smith scored twice on the ground Friday as Madison blanked Milbank 31-0 to win the 11A championship at the DakotaDome.
Madison (12-0), who was given its closest game in the regular season by Milbank, a 9-0 Madison win at home in September, broke a scoreless tie with Smith’s 25-yard field goal with 5:22 left in the first half.
After a Mike Peters interception was returned to Milbank’s 20, Madison needed only two plays to score just 1:46 later on a three-yard run by Smith.
Smith completed a 78-yard drive on Madison’s first possession of the second half with a 13-yard run.
Milbank (8-4) was intercepted again, this time by Sutton Berk, and Madison completed a six-play drive with a one-yard keeper by Ricke.
Ricke completed the scoring with a four-yard fourth quarter TD pass to Joe Gors.
Smith rushed for 51 yards. Ricke passed for 130 and ran for 61. Kaden Krause passed for 88 yards for Milbank.
Madison won the school’s fourth football championship and the first since three consecutive titles from 2015-17.
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