Bobcats batter Bucks, earn No. 1 seed

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BROOKINGS – The Bobcats hammered Yankton in a matchup of undefeated teams to close the regular season on a fall-like Thursday night at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.

Brookings won 41-0 to improve to 9-0 and earn the top seed in Class 11AA.

“It was just an exciting win,” said first-year BHS coach Brady Clark. “I thought our boys played really hard and, you know, we’re a second-half team and that’s what we came out and did again.”

The ‘Cats outgained the Bucks 379-90 in total yards of offense, including 243-(-12) on the ground.

Josh Buri picked up 156 yards on 18 attempts – 8.7 average – and scored three times on the ground.

Keegan Fields had 46 rushing yards and a TD while adding 51 yards on four receptions with another touchdown. John Noordsy logged 79 yards and a touchdown on four catches.

The Bobcats forced six turnovers while giving the ball away once.

Gavin Fixsen picked off a pair of passes.

Noordsy had an interception and recovered a fumble.

Fields and Struck added INTs.

Noordsy and Theobald both logged six tackles, with Fixsen and Jackson Krogman chipping in with five apiece.

Yankton was limited to six first downs and went 3-of-12 on third down.

Buri capped the opening possession of the game with a 38-yard scamper to paydirt.

Parker Theobald forced a fumble and Noordsy scooped it up and returned it into Brookings territory.

Fields then caught a 21-yard TD toss from Jaxon Bowes at the 3:17 mark of the opening quarter to make it 14-0.

That’s where the score stood until the third quarter, when Brookings really got things going.

Bowes hit Noordsy for a 14-yard score after the Bobcat defense forced a three-and-out to open the third quarter.

Fields’ INT set up a short field soon thereafter, as Buri scored from 11 yards out to leave the tally at 27-0. Noordsy followed with a pick and Buri added a 24-yard dash to the end zone as the home squad was up 34-0 heading to the fourth.

Fields’ 1-yard run with 8:42 showing on the clock provided for the final margin. He went 6-of-7 on PAT kicks but did not attempt a field goal.

Bowes ended up 9-of-16 for 136 yards with two TDs.

The Class 11AA Playoffs quarterfinals are Thursday.

“We’ve been taking everything all year day-by-day, week-by-week,” added Clark “We’ll figure out who we have next and we’ll focus on them and keep moving forward.”

Brookings is host to Spearfish at 7 p.m.