Twenty days ago, Wolsey-Wessington head coach Gordon Hooks and his Warbirds traveled to Gregory, in what was their final regular season game.
The trip will be the same for the Warbirds, but they are hoping that the outcome is different this time around.
“The game on Thursday will be a tough one,” Hooks said, “but I believe our boys have the heart to do it.”
Wolsey-Wessington dropped that Oct. 6 game to the Gorillas, 34-6, but still qualified for the Class 9AA playoffs. The Warbirds took advantage of that fact, pounding the North Border Titans, the top seed in Region 1, 52-14, in a game that was not as close as the score may lead one to believe.
“We went to North Border being told we were going to lose,” Hooks noted. “We came out and proved to everyone just what a strong team we can be, if we play as a family.”
Gregory comes in as the No. 1 seed overall in Class 9AA, with a sparkling 9-0 record, which includes wins over 4th seeded Miller/Highmore-Harrold, No. 2 seeded Bon Homme and No. 7 seeded Kimball-White Lake, all of which own regular season wins over Wolsey-Wessington.

“They are talented on both sides of the ball,” Hooks said, “and they have a large group of seniors on which they can draw experience. We will need to make opportunities for ourselves and then capitalized on those opportunities.”
Against North Border, the Warbirds offense was clicking, as they rolled up 411 yards in offense, 390 of them on the ground. Controlling the line of scrimmage and the clock by running the ball will need to be a priority for the Warbirds, as in the Oct. 26 meeting with the Gorillas, the team was held to only 218 yards in total offense.
Junior running backs Lynden Williams and Devante Luelleman both average more than 90 yards per game for Hooks and, along with quarterback Skylar Zomer will be the main focus of the Warbird ground game, which has rolled up more than 2,600 yards on the season.
“We go out and practice our offensive and defensive scheme every day to be prepared to play in the biggest game of the year for us,” Hooks said.
Another key will be getting off to a quick start. Against Gregory earlier this month, the Gorillas scored in the each of the first two quarters to establish an early lead.
Just as the offensive line needs to own the line of scrimmage for the Warbirds, the defensive front will need to make sure that the Gorillas aren’t able to get their potent offense rolling. The 34 points that Gregory scored against Wolsey-Wessington was their season low, and while they only had three games end early via the mercy rule, most games were safely in hand early in the second half.
The Warbirds pulled off the upset last week and will look to build on that momentum tonight in Gregory.
In the other quarterfinal games tonight, second-seeded Bon Homme will host No. 7 Kimball/White Lake and third-seeded Irene-Wakonda will host No. 6 Garretson.

Photo:

Wolsey-Wessington running back Lynden Williams rounds the left end against the Miller/Highmore-Harrole defense.

Photo by Mike Carroll/Plainsman