South Dakota Semifinals

Class 11AAA

#4 Brandon Valley (7-3) at #1 Sioux Falls Washington (9-1)

Friday, November 6 at 4:00 pm  -  Howard Wood Field – Sioux Falls, SD

Previous Meeting

August 28, 2015  Washington beat Brandon Valley 31-7

What You need to know

Brandon Valley

The Lynx have been getting better and better throughout the season. Last week’s win over Sioux Falls Lincoln showed some of the improvement. They avenged an earlier loss to Lincoln with a 28-14 win. Although they complete just five passes two of those went for 60+ yard scores. But the game was won by the way they ran the ball. Tyler Hintz, Alex Wickersham and Andrew Sorensen have been terrific running the ball behind an improved blocking front. Even quarterback Alex Waltner is running the ball a little frequency the last couple of weeks. Brandon Valley is officially a running team. 

“At the end of the game you hope you can drive it down and use clock and score like we did. We’ve been a lot better in the red zone. ”

Chad Garrow, Brandon Valley Head Coach

This Lynx team features a junior quarterback with his two top targets Chase Grode and Spencer Grage both juniors as well. This is not the same team that opened the season getting handled 31-7 to Washington. They’ve matured and improved all season long.

SF Washington

This may be the most physically dominating team in the class. Washington has used their big guys up front to give quarterback Jack Schelhaas time to throw and create some big lanes for running backs Chayden Fitzsimmons and Josh Thomas. Washington hopes to get a spark from the return of Michael Ennals who has missed most of the season. But he’s running full speed in practice and ready to give it a go. Right now Washington starts four sophomores on offense, they will welcome back Ennals senior presence to the lineup.

“The kids have a goal to get to the dome. We’ve set the table and now we just got to finish it off. “

-Coach Chad Stadem

#3 SF O’Gorman (8-2) at #2 SF Roosevelt (8-2)

Friday, November 6 – 7:00 pm   – Howard Wood Field – Sioux Falls, SD

Previous Meeting

September 4, 2015  Roosevelt beat SF O’Gorman 24-14

What you need to know:

SF O’Gorman

The Knights have been on a five-game winning streak scoring at least 33 points in each of those games. Their offense is running at full speed right now and may be the healthiest and best backfield in the state. Senior quarterback Luke Fritsch has rushed for 696 yards and 14 TDs and is 51/86 passing for 11 TDs. His presence in the backfield is even scarier now that they have the double threat of Dodi Makwinja (127 rush, 835 yds 8 TD) and Boston Bauer (38 rush, 255 yds, 7 TD) running the ball. Antonio Casiello has found the endzone eight times and Jack Peery has caught 7 TDs making it virtually impossible to key on any one part of the Knights attack.

SF Roosevelt

The big news for the Riders is how the depth of the team will shake out replacing six starters throughout the season. The biggest name to be replaced is Jett Thune. The junior quarterback Torren Devericks has a chance to make the most of his situation, his coach Kim Nelson is impressed by what he’s seen so far.

[About QB Torren Devericks] "He’s the most confident upbeat player we have. He told me 'I’ve been waiting for this opportunity my whole life.' He does a really nice job of taking care of the ball and making good decisions. I look forward to the game against O’Gorman."

Kim Nelson, Roosevelt Head Coach

Defensively the Riders will try to do what they did against O’Gorman the first time, create turnovers. They picked off two Luke Fritsch passes and turned those into momentum changing parts of the game. The Riders D has been outstanding at Howard Wood Field. When the starters have been on the field they’ve never given up more than a touchdown in regulation since O’Gorman put up 14 points on them at the Wood. This week will be the toughest test for this defense. Junior defensive end Carter Carstens has been playing at an extremely high level, look for him to disturb the Knights backfield.