HURON – Defending 11AA champion Pierre Governors remained undefeated with a resounding 59-7 victory over the Huron Tigers Friday at Tiger Stadium.
Facing the top-ranked team in the state with arguably the top player in the state, the Tigers certainly wanted to get off to a fast start.
They got exactly the opposite.
On the first play from scrimmage, Mason Davis took a quarterback keeper up the middle, had the ball stripped, and the Governors recovered on the Tiger 16.
Lincoln Kienholz showed his impressive pedigree with a pair of passes to quickly put his Pierre squad into the end zone less than 30 seconds into the game.
After a Tiger three-and-out, Kienholz had an incompletion to open the drive, then hit a pair of sharp passes. He tucked the ball and ran nine yards to pick up the Governors’ second first down of the drive.
On first down on the Tigers’ 20, he found Brecken Krueger in traffic for an 8-yard gain. That completion set the 11AA career passing record.
After a pair of incompletions, on fourth down, Kienholz followed a host of blockers off tackle 12 yards for a touchdown run. The point after kick made it 14-0 Pierre with just short of five minutes gone on the game clock.
The Tigers were not able to get anything going on offense, and despite a big penalty that gave the Governors 2nd and 25,
Pierre was able to convert on a short pass from Kienholz to running back Brock Moser for a first down. Kienholz found Jett Zabel for 18 yards and Pierre seemed ready to go in for another score.
However, Kienholz threw into traffic, and, off the hands of a Pierre receiver, Tiger defender Cashton Caudell made the interception, ending the drive.
The Tigers offense finally picked up a first down on a pass from Davis to CJ Gainey, but the offense stalled there, punting away.
On the first play of the ensuing drive, Kienholz found Cade Kaiser for 53 yards for a touchdown to make it 21-0 still in the first quarter.
The Tigers swapped ends at quarter break and promptly threw an interception that Pierre returned to midfield.
Kienholz looked sharp in the pocket, picking apart the Huron defense for a pair of short gains to get a first down. He launched a ball that was perfectly placed over the shoulder for his receiver, but the Pierre player dropped the catch. After a Huron encroachment penalty, Kienholz found Krueger for a first down.
Kolby Hofer would make a sliding play to intercept Kienholz’s next pass, however, getting the ball back to Huron.
The Tigers embarked on the most productive drive of the first half at that point. Davis hit Gavin Moeding with a short pass, Caudell ran for a short gain, and then Davis put his head down and gained six yards to get a first down.
Davis then had another short pass to Moeding and Quinston Luellman bounced off the first hit and went around the end for 12 yards for a first down.
Davis found Reilyn Zavesky for 25 yards to move into Pierre territory for the first time of the night. After an incomplete pass, Davis found Caudell under duress and Caudell took the ball 20 yards to get another first down.
Davis missed on a pass in the middle of the field and then Luellman took a handoff, which hit in the backfield, and escaped and beat the entire defense to the pylon to score from 15 yards out. The point after made it 21-7 Pierre.
Pierre got a strong return from Colby Carey out to the Huron 47. Kienholz found Moser out of the backfield for 16 yards, but then Pierre went backward from there due to penalty, forcing a punt.
The Tigers hit a big play on a check down to Luellman that Quinston broke along the sideline for 30 yards. Then Davis found Hofer for 34 yards in the middle of the field down to the Pierre 15.
After a Caudell run, Davis found Moeding for a short gain. Moeding was hit hard by a Pierre defender and put the ball on the turf. The Governors recovered the fumble.
On the first play after the fumble, Kienholz saw the Huron defense spread wide to cover his receivers and took off up the field, running 88 yards for a score. The extra point made it 28-7.
The Tigers ran the ball twice to head into halftime.
Huron’s Colton McNeil breaks up a pass attempt to Pierre’s Jett Zabel during their Friday game at Tiger Stadium.
Pierre came out of half looking to show it could run with the ball as well as pass, and Moser was able to break multiple Tiger tackles on the first play from scrimmage to gain 25 yards. After a short pass, Moser gained 25 yards again to bring the Governors to the Huron 15.
Kienholz again found Kaiser for a 15-yard score. The kick made it 35-7.
On the first play by the Tigers, Davis was intercepted by Spencer Easland who took the ball back all the way 31 yards for a Pierre touchdown. The kick made the score 42-7 in favor of Pierre.
The Tigers were able to get a first down on a pair of Luellman runs, but then three incompletions led to a punt.
The Governors followed a short pass with a plunge by Moser to pick up the first down. Moser then took the ball 15 yards to pick up another first down. The offense then stalled as the third quarter ended. The Governors lined up for a 30-yard field goal by Rylan Derry to open the fourth quarter. Derry made the kick to make the score 45-7 Pierre.
On the first play of the ensuing Huron position, Trey Lewis of Pierre pulled the ball right from the Tigers runner and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown. The extra point made the score 52-7 Pierre.
With reserves in on offense, the Huron offense saw backup quarterback Colton McNeil flip the ball to Caudell for a 10 yard scamper and then tuck the ball and run for 10 yards himself, but the Tigers would turn the ball over on downs.
After one 15-yard run, backup quarterback Dawson Getz for Pierre found Zander Bowman for a 20-yard touchdown. The kick made it 59-7.
McNeil ran for a pair of first downs and then found Logan Leyendecker for a first down, but he overthrew the receiver on a deep pass. Time ran out on the Tigers, and the game went final for Pierre.
Kienholz led the Governors to 7-0 with 216 yards and three scores through the air and 115 yards and a pair of scores on the ground.
Moser ran six times for 77 yards for Pierre.
Huron fell to 2-5 despite a strong effort from Luellman, rushing 10 times for 40 yards and gaining 30 yards through the air.
Davis threw for 134 yards in the game for the Tigers.
The early turnovers were just too much to overcome for the Tigers, but Coach Dru Strand was very pleased with what he saw in the second quarter.
“That second quarter is exactly how we want our kids to look and how we want the kids to play the full 48 minutes,” Strand observed. “It was tough for our kids to get going with the early turnovers, but you saw the second quarter once they got going.”
Huron travels to Mitchell on Friday. Strand knows the team needs to focus on the remaining games to have postseason possibilities.
“Our kids have to be focused on Mitchell now,” Strand noted. “If we want to make it in the playoffs, we need that game.”
Pierre 21 7 14 17 — 59
Huron 0 7 0 0 — 7
Scoring summary
1stquarter
11:33 – P – Lincoln Kienholz 8-yard TD pass to Brecken Krueger. (Andrew Campea PAT good.)
7:02 – P – Kienholz 12-yard TD run. (Rylan Derry PAT good.)
1:21 – P – Kienholz 53-yard TD pass to Cade Kaiser. (Campea PAT good.)
2ndquarter
5:31 H – Quinston Luellman 15-yard TD run. (Nick Kleinsasser PAT good.)
1:17 – P – Kienholz 88-yard TD run. (Derry PAT good.)
3rd quarter
10:39 – P – Kienholz 15-yard TD pass to Kaiser. (Campea PAT good.)
10:20 – P – Spencer Easland 31-yard interception return for TD. (Derry PAT good.)
4thquarter
11:44 – P – Derry 30-yard field goal good.
10:34 – P – Trey Lewis 36-yard fumble return for TD. (Derry PAT good.)
4:33 – P – Dawson Getz 20-yard TD pass to Zander Bowman. (Derry PAT good.)
