HURON The Huron Tigers struggled to punch the ball into the end zone all evening, but when the Brookings Bobcats were looking to get the ball across the goal line in the closing seconds, the Tigers defense came up big, forcing a fumble to seal a 7-2 victory in Class 11AA quarterfinal playoff action Thursday at Tiger Stadium.
After a kick out of bounds to open the game put the Tigers on the 35, Landon Hulst opened the game with a huge run, scampering 42 yards for a first down at the Brookings 23.
Unfortunately, four runs by Anderson Porisch netted just nine yards, turning the ball over on downs at the Brookings 14.
Brookings started strong, as Bergan Tetzlaff ran nine yards before he fumbled the ball. The officials gave the ball back to Brookings, and Tetzlaff ran for three yards and a first down on the next play. After another four-yard Tetzlaff run, the Bobcats had a snap over the head, leading to the ball back to the 12. Mason Mathis ran for three yards to the 15, and the Bobcats had to punt.
Huron got a favorable bounce on the punt, starting with the ball on the Brookings 42. Hulst ripped off 26 yards over two runs, and after a negative run, Porisch found Hulst for an 8-yard pass gain. A motion penalty moved the Tigers back five yards and Porisch completed to Mason Jurgens, but he could only get two yards before he was tackled and the ball was again turned over on downs, this time at the Brookings 15.
Gavin Anderson had a short run for Brookings and Mathis chugged a seven-yard run for a first down. Ben Schulte then ran three straight times for six total yards, leading to a punt as the first quarter came to an end.
Getting the ball at their own 32, Huron opened with a connection between Porisch and Jurgens for 17 yards and a first down. Hulst then ripped off 19 yards on two runs to get to the Brookings 32.
Porisch completed two short passes, one to Jurgens and one to Hulst for another first down, down to the Brookings 19.
Porisch ran up the middle for five yards and then Hulst drug two tacklers behind him for five yards and a first down at the nine.
Hulst would run down to the two-yard line, and Porisch punched it in from there with 7:20 left in the second quarter. Porisch then kicked the point-after kick for a 7-0 Huron lead.
Brookings got a short run from Schulte and then two runs from Anderson to get a first down to the Brookings 39.
Schulte ran up the middle for 10 yards. He fumbled at the end of the run, but for the third time in the first half for Brookings, he fell on his own fumble.
After the fumble recovery, Schulte ran five yards, Anderson was stopped for no gain, and the Tigers pass rush forced an incompletion to force another punt.
With limited time on the clock, the Tigers took over at their own 18. Porisch found Jurgens for 10 yards and a first down. After a short run by Hulst, Porisch broke through the middle for 10 yards for another first down.
Jurgens ran for four yards, and Hulst followed with a seven-yard power run to get into Brookings territory and get another first down. Porisch ran 10 yards for another Tiger first down at the 39. Unfortunately, at that point, the Tigers got a bit greedy, and Porisch forced a pass into coverage at the goal line, and the ball was intercepted by the Bobcats at their own two.
After a short run by Tetzlaff, the clock ran out on the first half.
Brookings got the ball to open the second half and got into their wildcat formation, allowing Tetzlaff to dominate the ball.
The Bobcats gained two first downs on a drive that featured nine runs to just get across midfield, but then Tetzlaff attempted to pass out of the formation, and Riley Winegar made the interception, returning the ball all the way to the Brookings 32.
Hulst picked up seven yards on his first run of the second half, and after a short Porisch run, Hulst weaved through the defense for 10 yards and a first down at the Brookings 13.
Unfortunately, the drive stalled there, and Huron turned over the ball on downs on the Brookings 10.
Brookings ran their more traditional offense and chewed up time, but despite a pair of first down runs by Schulte, they could only get out to their own 36 before punting.
Huron took over on the 30 and after a Porisch six-yard run, he found brother Carter Porisch and the freshman tight end had a lot of real estate and a full head of steam, finally getting taken down at the Brookings 36 after a 28-yard gain.
Hulst then ran the next four plays, gaining a first down to the Brookings 21 on the fourth down play. Porisch ran for eight, and Hulst picked up the first down just outside the 10.
Unfortunately, thats when Huron got stuffed on offense as a pair of Porisch runs and a Hulst run went for minimal yards, and Jurgens got caught and flung down in the backfield for a big loss back to the 11, where the Bobcats took over on downs.
With the clock ticking down, Brookings started the drive with a movement penalty, but Anderson got to the 22 on a pair of runs for a first down. He would scramble for eight yards on first down and then connected with Eidem for 21 yards into Huron territory.
A pair of penalties backed Brookings all the way up to their own 36, but Anderson was able to gain 30 yards on two runs to get a first down at the Huron 34. A holding call moved Brookings back, but Anderson found Tetzlaff on back-to-back passes, getting all the way down to the 12, but with no more timeouts left.
Brookings spiked the ball to stop the clock and then Anderson took off up the middle and as he reached for the goal line, Jeremy Hofer knocked the ball out of his hands and Jurgens recovered for the Tigers on the Huron 3.
Porisch took the snap and ran off the remaining seconds on the clock before running out the back of the end zone for a safety and a 7-2 Huron victory.
Huron moves to 8-2 behind 136 yards on 19 carries by Hulst. He went over 1,000 yards for the season during the game.
Porisch ran 13 times for 58 yards and a score while also completing 8 of 10 passes for 82 yards and one interception.
Brookings finishes the season at 5-5. Anderson passed for just 57 yards on 4-of-9 throwing, but he ran for 72 yards on 11 carries and led the final drive that nearly led to a Brookings touchdown.
The Tigers will host Pierre next Friday for an opportunity to go to the DakotaDome and participate in the 11AA championship.
Coach Dru Strand hopes that the energy can be just as electric next week as it was this week to help encourage the team.
Having the crowd out here and all the community behind us, I know the kids feed off that energy, Strand said. The band is rocking and the fans are loud, and we hope we get the same next week against Pierre.
Brookings 0 0 0 2 – 2
Huron 0 7 0 0 – 7
Scoring summary
Second quarter
7:20 – H – Anderson Porisch 2-yard TD run. Porisch PAT kick good.
Fourth quarter
0:00 – B – Porisch runs out back of the end zone. Safety.
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