The Bobcats are on the road again this week to face Class 11A power Madison.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday at Trojan Field on the Dakota State University campus.
“For one thing, they’ve had a really good run of athletes and their program is in great shape. They’re probably one of the better 11A schools in the state,” said Brookings coach Lee Schmidt. “They can do everything as far as throw the ball, run the ball and they’re playing in their Homecoming after kind of a tough week in Madison – so I’m sure they’re going to play really hard and play for things even more than winning a football game.”
The Bulldogs made five consecutive appearances in the 11A title game between 2013-17, winning titles in 2015, 2016 and 2017. They fell 14-13 to eventual runner-up Dell Rapids in the quarterfinals in 2018.
Madison is 2-1 this year.
It beat Dakota Valley 28-26 on Aug. 30 and won 34-21 at Canton on Sept. 6. The Bulldogs fell 14-13 at Dell Rapids last week.
Madison took advantage of a pair of missed PAT kicks in the opening victory.
Sophomore Trey Smith (5-foot-11, 220 pounds) ran 22 times for 129 yards and four touchdowns. He was 4-for-4 on PAT kicks.
Senior Tyler Tappe (6-3, 178) went 20-of-32 for 244 yards with a pair of interceptions through the air while running 14 times for 78 yards.
Tappe had a big game in Week 2, going 21-of-33 for 306 yards and three scores. Junior Carter Bergheim (5-10, 137) hauled in six receptions covering 194 yards with a pair of end zone visits. Smith found the end zone once.
Against the Quarriers, Smith picked up 127 yards on 22 attempts. Tappe ended up 12-of-27 for 152 yards with a TD and a pick. A missed PAT kick was the difference.
Through three games, the Bulldogs are averaging 388.7 yards per game while allowing 284, including 157.3 on the ground. They are plus-2 in turnover margin.
Tappe is 53-of-92 for 702 yards with four scores and a trio of picks.
Smith has run for 296 yards on 59 attempts – 5-yard average – with five TDs. He’s 9-for-11 on PAT kicks.
Brookings beat Sturgis 28-14 last week.
How did the Bobcats respond to their opening road trip?
“We got the win; we did a lot of good things; we had some people play some really outstanding games,” noted Schmidt. “We just didn’t, as a team, execute as well as we wanted to. But I give credit to Sturgis. Sturgis was probably the best team we’ve played so far. They did a lot of good things offensively and defensively and they made us work for everything, so I think they’re maybe better than their record and how their season has started.”
Matt Girard stepped up with a big game, topping the 100-yard mark on the ground and finding the end zone twice.
Quarterback Tanner Shepardson and Parker Rykhus added rushing TDs.
The Bobcats grabbed a 14-0 halftime lead following a scoreless first quarter and pushed the advantage to 21-0 early in the third period.
Carter Eidem did not play.
Offense: Don’t turn it over
“We did have one turnover at Sturgis that probably cost us a score, but we need to continue to take care of the football,” said Schmidt. “We need to keep offensive teams off the field. They have a lot of weapons, they can throw it deep, they can do a lot of things. If we give them too many opportunities, they’re going to be able to score a lot of points.”
Brookings is plus-2 in turnover margin for the season.
Eidem and Rykhus lead the team with three TDs apiece.
The Bobcats have outscored their three opponents a combined 97-20.
Defense: Don’t give up big plays
“If they are going to drive down the field, only give up little chunks,” said Schmidt. “And the other night we gave up some big plays. We went back to doing a lot of fundamental stuff in practice – read steps, drops out of our linebackers. I guess the good thing about Sturgis is they exposed some things that we thought our kids were pretty solid on so we need to go back and reteach some things this week – and that’s probably a good thing to happen then instead of discovering this on Friday night.”
