Huron Tigers football travels to Sturgis and loses despite an exciting finish
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STURGIS – The Sturgis Scoopers defeated the Huron Tigers in an exciting finish Friday night in Sturgis, 21-19.
After missing as many as eight players during the week in practice due to COVID-19, the Tigers were fully healthy and in uniform for the game at opening kickoff. However, communication along the line played a part in Sturgis tackling Tiger quarterback Cade McNeil for a big loss on the first drive. The offense ended up punting on the first drive.
Sturgis came out passing, picking up a first down on a Tigers penalty, but Huron was able to get to the Scoopers quarterback to force a punt.
As Derick Siemonsma stretched for a first down on the Huron second drive, the ball was popped out of his grasp and Sturgis recovered deep in Tiger territory.
The Scoopers quarterback Owen Cass rushed in for the score to cap off a short, three-play drive. A fake extra-point kick was no good, so Sturgis led 6-0 after the first score of the game.
Timing in the passing game was off as the Tigers were forced into a punt, however a fake punt failed, and the Scoopers had excellent field position for their third possession.
The Huron defense held, forcing a 34-yard field goal attempt, but Scooper kicker Brodie Eisenbraun missed the kick, leaving the score 6-0 Sturgis.
The Tigers got their first first down of the game with 18 seconds left in the first quarter behind a Tyson Lien run.
After Lien pounded the ball for six runs in a row, Jayden Beck took the ball on the next play and broke it for a 25-yard run for the first Huron score.
The Tigers got to Scoopers quarterback Owen Cass, and he threw an interception to Ryan Janes, returning it to the Sturgis 9-yard line before he was tackled.
The Tigers ran the wildcat formation and Jayden Beck threw a 3-yard pass to Derick Siemonsma for the touchdown. Aung Min nailed the point-after to give Huron a 13-6 lead.
The Scoopers leaned on Wren Jacobs in the ensuing drive the way the Tigers had leaned on Tyson Lien previously. On a 4th and 5 play, Owen Cass was able to throw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Sanden Graham.
Huron went to half with a 13-12 lead.
The Scoopers came out in the second half with a big 52-yard pass play on the first play from scrimmage. A late hit penalty at the end of the play put Sturgis on the 14-yard line of the Tigers.
The Tiger defense was able to stiffen and hold the Scoopers, forcing a 30-yard field goal, however, that gave Sturgis back the lead 15-13.
The Tigers were able to get a big defensive play from Derick Siemonsma as he sacked Cass and stripped the ball. Jayden Back picked up the fumble and put the Huron offense in good offensive position on the turnover.
Huron pounded the ball with Tyson Lien to advance down the field, but as Siemonsma reached for the end zone pylon, he fumbled the ball and fell out of bounds. He was the first player to touch the ball in the end zone, which gave the ball over to Sturgis on a touchback.
After the strip-sack, starting quarterback Owen Cass went out due to injury. Senior quarterback Kaden Phillips took over, and the Scoopers took to the ground, wearing down clock and grinding out yards with Phillips and Wren Jacobs doing most of the work. Jacobs capped off the drive with a 10-yard run for a touchdown.
Lien continued to be able to gain positive yardage, but the Tigers could not make connections in the passing game with time a factor in the fourth quarter. McNeil was sacked twice, forcing a punt with four minutes left in the game.
Colby Hott broke a big play on a 44-yard reception to get the ball to the 11-yard line of Sturgis for Huron with just over one minute left in the game. McNeil found Max Kranzler in the end zone for a touchdown. The pass from McNeil to Kranzler for the 2-point conversion was no good, however.
Huron recovered the on-side kick, but the Tigers were unable to hit on two deep passes.
The Tigers travel next Friday to Pierre to battle the Governors.
Score by quarters
Huron 0 13 0 6 —19
Sturgis 6 6 3 6 — 21
