A Night of Statements

I was at three different games Friday night; Lincoln vs. RC Central, Chester vs. Freeman and Colman-Egan vs. DR St. Mary.

Here are my thoughts on the night that was:

Lincoln did not play a very pretty first half. Without penalties, they probably would’ve led the Cobblers 35-7 or better at halftime. Instead, it was a two score lead. I wasn’t at the game, but listening to the radio broadcast, it sounded like some interesting choices were made offensively by Lincoln, that may have prevented them from sealing the game earlier. Either way, Lincoln needed the win so kudos to them.

I no longer believe the four best schools in the state are in Sioux Falls. RC Stevens took care of O’Gorman rather easily, that is if you look at the final score. I’m not sure of the penalty situation and how that played into the game, but Stevens took care of business. I still wouldn’t bet against O’Gorman in many games. I really like the way the play, which says A LOT about Stevens.

In 11B, the top two teams won, but the three and four teams lost. There will be a shakeup and I expect Garretson will get into the poll, despite beating a banged up Bon Homme team who is probably a better team when healthy. Flandreau only lost by four, but to an inconsistent Tri-Valley team. Will Mobridge-Pollock get into the rankings or will Roncalli sneak back in?

The big story in nine-man was Canistota beating Hanson. Hanson had annihilated the competition all season and I didn’t expect them to lose. I didn’t think they’d rout Canistota, but I certainly thought they would win. The rankings in 9A will be interesting, because I don’t know that second ranked Sully Buttes is the best team. Who will be number one?

Back to the games I was at…

Chester rolled Freeman and it doesn’t sound like it was close. I left really early (gotta scoot in the TV world!) but the Kreutzfeldt twins were their dominating selves early. (I apologize to Dylan and Drew for mixing their names up on air.)

I thought the Colman-Egan vs. Dell Rapids St. Mary game was great. When I got there, C-E led 6-0. DRSM scored right away, tying the game. C-E couldn’t respond right away but got a key interception to ultimately set up a go-ahead score just before the half. They had all the momentum in the world, but you knew DRSM would come out firing. It was a halfback pass that really got the Cardinal sidelines into it in the third quarter before St. Mary finally punched it in and took a 14-12 lead. St. Mary wound up winning 22-20 (those two point conversions sure are big!). Everyone knows DRSM is a good squad. People heard C-E was good. I was very impressed by the way they played. I don’t care that St. Mary is a class below C-E. Come time to rank, I will be voting generously in favor of Colman-Egan based on a very solid performance against a very good Dell Rapids St. Mary team.

Jim Nelson
KSFY Sports