News

It will be a Two-Zach Attack for the SDSU football team on Saturday.  The Jacks host Cal Poly at 6:00.  Zach Lujan makes the start at QB in place of the injured Austin Sumner.  The Jacks all-time leading passer is in a boot and on crutches for the moment.  Head Coach John Stiegelmeier said this week that they do expect Sumner back at the controls at some point in the season.  WHEN his broken foot will be healed up is up in the air.  The prognosis is 6 weeks on the short side.  That would put Sumner back under center on Hobo Day against Youngstown State on October 25.  

In the meantime, Lujan steps in.  He was 21-for-28 against Missouri and threw that bad INT in the endzone, but also had some nice hookups with Jason Schneider and Jake Wieneke.  Jacks tight end Cam Jones had one catch for 3 yards in that game.  We will see if they can get him a little more involved this week.  AND... get Zach Zenner going.  ZZ had that 75-yard TD run against Missouri but only 28 yards on 16 carries other than that.  If Zenner goes for 115 this Saturday he becomes the all-time leader in Career Rushing Yards in the Missouri Valley Conference.  I'm betting he gets it.

Speaking of running the football... Cal Poly led all FCS teams last season with 309 yards per game on the ground.  They run the option and our Jackrabbit football analyst, Hank McCall, says the Mustangs are most dangerous when they run the option pass.  Which they haven't very often... yet.  Cal Poly only threw the ball 7 times (with 2 completions for 6 yards) in their season opening loss to New Mexico State.  Otherwise, CP ran it 49 times for 259.  The SDSU linebackers and defensive backs are on high alert!  (There is one change in the depth chart on D:  Nick Mears (Milbank, SD) is listed as the starter at Strong Safety, moving ahead of Jake Gentile.)

High School football hits week 2 in the Dakotas... with some good games on Friday and some really good games on Saturday.  South Dakota State recruit, Taryn Christion, leads Sioux Falls Roosevelt against Sioux Falls Washington.  Roosevelt might run away with this one... Washington is still a year away with some good classes coming in the next 3 years.  In class 11-B, our MidcoSN high school genius, Jason Andera, is excited about Parkston at Canton in a re-match of the state championship game... although Canton lost last week to Bon Homme and Parkston spanked Groton 42-0.  

THE BIG ONE of the week is Saturday in Sioux Falls with O'Gorman taking on Lincoln in the Dakota Bowl.  Lincoln was dominant in beating Rapid City Central 63-7 last week.  O'Gorman has two really good juniors to watch in QB Luke Fritsch and RB Dodi Makwinja.

In North Dakota there is a great game on Friday night in Minot where the Magicians host Fargo Davies.  Davies was really good in their first game of the year... a 35-12 win over Bismarck Century.  Davies has a twin (literally) combo of Aidan Hartness at QB and Tristan Hartness at WR.  They are 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds and look like Southern rock stars.  They go up against a Minot team that went to West Fargo last week and won 20-12.  

THE BIG ONE in ND on Saturday is Fargo South at Century.  South spanked Mandan 38-18 in the opener.  The Bruins have two big-time recruits... James Johannesson (verbal to Minnesota) who ran for 134 and 2 TD last week... and Ty Brooks (North Dakota State) who had a 50 and a 49 yard TD run and caught a TD pass from Jake Solem.  Century beat South 37-36 last year, but the Patriots might be looking at a 0-2 start this year.  We'll see.

A quick nod to the Sioux Falls Washington volleyball team.  The Warriors beat Sioux Falls Roosevelt 25-21, 25-20, 25-23 on Thursday night... first time Washington has beaten Roosevelt in FOREVER.  Riders are gonna be fine with Tagyn Larson in the mix.  We will see how good Washington is when they play Sioux Falls O'Gorman on September 23rd... OG is the fave to win the state title again while Aberdeen Central should be considered as well... the Eagles have a great player in Brianna Kusler, a 5-10 junior who can really get up and hammer it.

Finally, a little Summit League hoops... for what it's worth, one national publication is picking Oral Roberts to win the league in men's basketball.  ORU returns to the Summit this year after two seasons in the Southland Conference.  The rankings are put together by a North Carolina-based writer.  He has Obi Emagano (who was at Western Illinois before Oral Roberts) as the Top Player and Deondre Parks (juco transfer at South Dakota State) as the Top Newcomer.   Here is the link.   http://summitpoints.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-sporting-news-previews-summitmbb.html