2 weeks Ago By Nathan Swaffar
WINNER, S.D. — After Winner defeated Woonsocket/Wessington Springs/Sanborn Central in a 30-18 contest earlier in the season, the Warriors were determined not to be in a narrow game like that again in a rematch in the Class 11B quarterfinals.
With the added confidence and motivation, the Warriors dominated the Blackhawks 44-0 on Thursday night at Warrior Field. Winner was led by six forced turnovers with five coming on defense and one coming on special teams. ADVERTISEMENT “The kids were ready,” said Winner head coach Trent Olson.
“We kind of challenged them with playoff intensity. How hard are we going to play? How much do we care? Can they match that? We think we're more physical than them. We think we can out-execute.
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I think we can get to another level that most teams can't, and that was a big part of it.” The player of the game for the Warriors was certainly Karson Keiser. He ran for 112 yards on the ground and was responsible for two touchdowns to go along with three interceptions.
Even with his big performance, he deferred to it being a true team effort and his teammates giving him the confidence to have a big night. “It's a team effort and we had a great week of practice and it carries over,” Keiser said. “When you got the teammates, they bring you up on every play, no matter if it's a bad play, good play.
I mean, it's just the surrounding teammates.” Defense was the name of the game early on. The first three offensive series of the game all resulted in punts before Winner’s offense found a groove.
A methodical drive wore the Blackhawk defense down and eventually, Breven Bolander punched in a touchdown from five yards out to make it 6-0 after a failed two-point attempt. The Warriors immediately got the ball back following a diving interception from Keiser and took full advantage. Following a big run from Keiser that set the Warriors up at the Blackhawk 26-yard line, Eli Vobr ran it the distance on a quarterback keeper to make it 14-0 at the beginning of the second quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Blackhawks could not recover the short kick and the Warriors were right back on offense. The very next offensive play, Vobr threw it 24-yards to Keiser for the second touchdown in only nine seconds to make it 22-0. The two teams traded possessions despite both driving down into the redzone before turning the ball over on downs.
The Blackhawks had one more chance to score before the end of the half, but once again, the drive stalled in the redzone to make it 22-0 at halftime. ADVERTISEMENT The Warriors opened the second half with a bang. They marched right down the field in under two minutes and scored off a 21-yard touchdown run from Keiser to take a commanding 30-0 lead early in the third quarter.
On the ensuing Blackhawk drive, the Warriors forced another turnover on a fumble to get the ball back within two minutes. Once again, Winner drove right down the field and found the endzone again off Bolander’s second touchdown of the day to make it 38-0. On the first offensive play of the next WWSSC drive, Keiser nabbed his second pick of the day.
Following the pick, the Warriors scored yet again on a short run from Ash Kaiser to make it 44-0 near the end of the third quarter. Neither team scored in the final quarter with Winner closing out the dominant victory to move on to the 11B semifinals. For the Warriors outside of Keiser, Vobr finished the night with 105 rushing yards and 24 passing yards.
As a team, the Warriors finished with 371 total rushing yards. For the Blackhawks, Tyson Eddy finished with a team-high 36 rushing yards. Quarterback Holden Havlik finished the day with 87 yards on 8-for-27 passing.
Winner will host St. Thomas More in the semifinals next Friday with a trip to the DakotaDome on the line while WWSSC finished its season 7-3..
