STURGIS, SD – The Sturgis Scoopers dropped their fourth straight football game Friday night, losing 17-14 to the Pierre Governors at Woodle Field.
Both teams came into the matchup with two wins and four losses and with big question marks about making the post season playoffs. The Scoopers were without leading rusher Sully Jost, who aggravated a previous ankle injury.
The Govs scored the only points of the first half on a 28-yard field goal by freshman kicker Carter Templeton, giving Pierre a 3-0 lead at halftime.
The Scooper opened up the third quarter at their own 27-yard line and moved the ball downfield quickly, scoring on a 25-yd touchdown pass from Carter Williams to Dalyn Dschaak with just 1:09 gone in the quarter. The Elliot Smith extra point was good and Sturgis led Pierre, 7-3.
The Govs also struck quickly on their first series of the second half as quarterback Kaleb Lounsbury found 6’5” sophomore tight end Cooper Terwilliger with a 17-yard strike down the middle of the field, giving Pierre a 10-7 lead.
Dschaak got open again in the first play of the fourth quarter, and Williams found him in the front corner of the end zone with a perfect spiral. The score game Sturgis a 14-10 lead with 11:54 left.
Pierre had great field position at the Scooper 34 after a short Sturgis punt with just over eight minutes to go. A short run by Carter Merrill moved the ball to the 30-yard line. Lounsbury then hit Terwilliger with a short pass and the speedy sophomore did the rest, tiptoeing down the right sideline into the end zone for the go ahead score. The Governors led 17-14 with 7:56 to go.
The Scoopers faced a 4th and 15 with just over two minutes left. Williams hit Teigen Wormstadt with a crossing route and Wormstadt lateraled the ball to Cole Litzen, who was brought down just two yards short of the first down, turning the ball over on downs. Pierre got a first down on their next series and just had to take a knee to end the game for the close victory.
Pierre (3-4) had 277 yards of total offense. The Govs had 122 yards rushing and 155 yards passing, one turnover and eight penalties for 60 yards. Terwilliger caught three balls for 74 yards and two touchdowns.
Sturgis (2-5) finished with 243 yards of total offense, 84 yards on the ground and 159 through the air. Dschaak had four catches for 52 yards and two scores. The Scoopers had two turnovers and six penalties for 65 yards. Three of the Scoopers losses in the last four games have been by three points or less, and head coach Chris Koletzky knows his team has an uphill climb to the post season with Watertown next Friday night at home and Spearfish the following Thursday on the road.
”We can’t sulk, we can’t lower our standards,” Koletzky said. “I’m proud of the boys effort tonight, playing with a program like Pierre. We’ve got to win one of these last two games, if not both to have a shot at the playoffs and give our seniors one last game. That’s something to play for. It’s two games that we think we can compete in and we can win.”
