Tigers close regular season with win against Brookings

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BROOKINGS — Facing a ‘win-and-you’re-in’ playoff scenario, the Huron Tigers closed the regular season Thursday night, with a 12-0 win over the Brookings Bobcats. Huron ends the season with a mark of 3-6 and the probable No. 5 seed in the upcoming 11AA playoffs.
It was another outstanding defensive effort for Huron, while the offense took advantage of a pair of Brookings miscues
Huron took the opening kickoff quickly down the field, as Alex Hill churned out good yardage on three straight runs, and the Tigers benefitted from a facemask penalty, to set up with a first down inside the Brookings 35.
But the same turnover bug that has been an issue this season bit again, as Huron put the ball on the turf and Brookings took over.
As it did last week in Spearfish, the Tiger defense owned the line of scrimmage and Brookings struggled to move the ball.
After trading possessions, Huron began to move the ball down the field, converting a couple of long first-down conversions, but saw the drive stall on a holding penalty.
Tiger punter Jett McGirr lofted the ball deep into Bobcat territory, but the Brookings player muffed the ball, and Huron recovered inside the 10-yard line.
From there, the Tigers made quick work, as McGirr found halfback Walker Schiltz with a short dump pass across the middle for a seven-yard touchdown and a 6-0 lead after a missed PAT, at the 10:44 mark of the second quarter.
Brookings went three-and-out and Huron took over and immediately began to chew up the yardage, with McGirr, Matthew Katz and Hill accounting for the bulk of the carries.
Again, as it did last week in Spearfish, the penalty bugaboo bothered Huron, as a pair of holding penalties made it impossible to convert a first down and the half ended a short time later.

Brookings took the second half kickoff and moved quickly down the field, as Justin Devine rolled up three big carries to put the Bobcats in business at the Huron 15-yard line.
But Chipper Shillingstad intercepted a Jacob Schoon pass in the endzone to end the threat.
Huron could move the ball, but were again hampered by turnovers, tossing a pair of second-half interceptions, but the defense shut down the Bobcats cold, holding Brookings to several three-play drives and keeping the ball out of the endzone.
Brookings took the ball with six minutes in the game and quickly found themselves facing a third-and-long, and Schiltz stepped in front of a Bobcat pass to give the ball back to Huron.
Taking over with just over four minutes left, McGirr found Schiltz on a screen pass that resulted in a 52-yard catch and run, giving the Tigers a first and goal, from the six-yard line.
McGirr sprinted into the endzone from there, putting Huron up 12-0 after a failed conversion that sealed the deal for the Tigers.
Huron rolled up 321 yards in offense in the game, as Hill ran for 86 yards on the ground with 19 carries and Shillingstad had 44 yards on nine carries. McGirr was 8/17 through the air for 157 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
Brookings was led on the ground by Parker Beers, who carried 14 times for 62 yards, while Devine was 3 for 39. Brookings was 6-22 through the air for 36 yards, between Schoon and replacement Nick Hardin.
As the Plainsman went to press, due to numerous upsets in the “AA” ranks on the final night of the season, the destination for Huron in a first-round playoff game was unknown. It is possible that the Tigers will retrace their steps from the first game of the season, back to Douglas. In that game, Huron emerged with a dominant 45-7 win.

Scoring Summary
2nd Quarter
10:44 - Huron: Walker Schiltz, 7-yard pass from Jett McGirr. PAT no good.
4th Quarter
3:33 - Huron: McGirr, 6-yard run. Conversion failed.

Photo:

Senior tight end Will Gross hangs onto a  pass from Jett McGirr for a 7-yard touchdown reception during the first quarter of the Tigers’ 12-0 Eastern South Dakota Conference win over the Bobcats on Thursday night at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium in Brookings.

Photo by Troy Maroney/The Register