BROOKINGS – The Bobcats celebrated homecoming with another lopsided victory.

Brookings overcame an early 14-0 deficit with 43 unanswered points, beating Madison 43-14 on a gorgeous Friday night at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.

“Obviously, we dug ourselves into a hole right away. We didn’t play a very clean football game. Luckily we buckled down on defense, forced some turnovers and offensively we did enough and were able to make some plays and get momentum changed,” said BHS head coach Brady Clark. “Those turnovers are something we can’t have and we definitely need to clean up. And that’s something we can clean up, which is great.

“Mental mistakes, all that – we can make corrections and keep getting better.

“Overall, I’m proud of the boys – they got the win; they stayed mentally tough and had some resiliency. This team is special that way; that’s a tough thing to even coach. These boys have a really tight bond. If one person gets down, the other one’s picking them up and that’s what we need to keep building on.”

The Bobcats (six) and Bulldogs (five) combined for 11 turnovers, with the former racking up 70 penalty yards on nine infractions.

Brookings held a 282-60 advantage on the ground.

Josh Buri picked up 193 yards – and scored three touchdowns – on 16 rushes while adding a pair of receptions for 48 yards.

Madison scored on each of its first two possessions – totaling 114 of its 196 total yards in the game over that stretch – to move ahead 14-0 before the Bobcat defense buckled down.

Buri helped swing momentum in the home team’s favor with a 63-yard scoring scamper at the 4:05 mark of the first – one play after BHS fell behind 14-0. Payton Theodosopoulos added the PAT kick as the ‘Cats cut the deficit in half at 14-7.

Sam Hardin picked off a pass on the Bulldogs’ next series and returned it 28 yards to the MHS 23. Buri’s second TD rush – an 11-yarder – and Theodosopoulos’ kick knotted things up at 14-all.

An errant snap on a punt from its own end zone resulted in a safety as Brookings took the lead for good 3:20 before halftime.

The Bobcats failed on a trio of red zone visits in the second period, throwing a pick, losing a fumble and missing a field goal.

Madison recovered an onside kick to open the third period but was whistled for illegal touching.

Tyson Brandt capped a short drive with a 2-yard plunge to paydirt with 8:35 left in the stanza.

Jaxton Eck returned a fumble 44 yards to the end zone late in the third, leaving the score at 29-14.

In the fourth, Wes Koenig added a 33-yard scoop-and-score and Buri closed things out with a 12-yard scoring rush with 4:17 showing on the clock.

Koenig paced the Bobcat defense with eight tackles, including five for loss (one sack).

“Homecoming is definitely a special day,” said Clark. “Especially this year with everything going on.

“It’s always great to get a Homecoming win – no matter how you get it, it’s still nice to get a ‘W.’ It’s great for these kids – these seniors, especially; it’s their last Homecoming. And we were fortunate and privileged enough to be able to even play one because there are a lot of teams that aren’t able to. That’s very unfortunate, but we’re finding the blessing in everything and we’re taking advantage of the opportunity that we have and this is definitely a nice win for us for Homecoming.”

For the Bulldogs (2-2), Ricke went 6-of-11 for 113 yards with a TD and an INT. He injured his leg in the second quarter, returning later in the period with a noticeable limp. He did not play after intermission.

Brookings (4-0) plays at Spearfish on Friday at 7 p.m.

BROOKINGS 43, MADISON 14

Madison (2-2)                                14  0    0    0  –  14

Brookings (4-0)                                7  9  13  14  –  43

First Quarter

M – Mickale Dohrer 47 pass from Nate Rick (Carter Bergheim kick), 10:57

M – Chris Reece 20 run (Bergheim kick), 4:24

B – Josh Buri 63 run (Payton Theodosopoulos kick), 4:05

Second Quarter

B – Buri 11 run (Theodosopoulos kick), 11:13

B – Safety, 3:20

Third Quarter

B – Tyson Brandt 2 run (Theodosopoulos kick), 8:35

B – Jaxton Eck 44 fumble return (kick failed), :08

Fourth Quarter

B – Wes Koenig 33 fumble return (Theodosopoulos kick), 10:30

B – Buri 12 run (Theodosopoulos kick), 4:17

              M           B

First Downs       12          19

Plays-Yards        57-196  53-370

Rushes-Yards    36-60    42-282

C-A-Int.-Yards   12-21-1-136       5-11-3-88

Fumbles-Lost     4-4         5-3

Penalties-Yards 3-24      9-70

Punts-Avg.         4-36.8   2-27.5

Kickoffs-Avg.-TB              4-35.8-0              7-49.6-2

Punt Returns-Yards-TD  1-0-0     1-4-0

Kickoff Returns-Yards-TD             5-67-0   4-52-0

Interception Returns-Yards-TD   3-31-0   1-28-0

Fumble Returns-Yards-TD           1-21-0   3-86-2

Miscellaneous Yards      0            0

Possession Time              24:53    22:39

Third-down Conversions             1-of-11 3-of-8

Fourth-down Conversions           0-of-3   0-of-3

Red Zone Chances-TD-FG            1-1-0     6-3-0

Sacks By-Yards  1-8         3-12

Field Goals         0-for-0  0-for-1

RUSHING: M – Chris Reece 10-55, Nate Ricke 7-18, Peyton Wolf 1-6, Bruce Galde 2-5. B – Josh Buri 16-193, Tyson Brandt 13-53, Keegan Fields 3-30, Cole McKeown 7-10.

PASSING: M – Nate Ricke 6-11-1-113, Aiden Jensen 6-10-0-23. B – Jaxon Bowes 5-11-3-88.

RECEIVING: M – Carter Bergheim 3-51, Mickale Dohrer 2-55, Chris Reece 2-12, Peyton Wolf 2-9. B – Cole McKeown 3-40, Josh Buri 2-48.

DEFENSE: M – Gabe Olson 11 tackles; Trey Smith 7 tackles; Carter Bergheim 6 tackles; Joe Gors 5 tackles; Peyton Wolf INT; Blaine Tucek INT; Gabe Olson INT; Sutton Bern FR; Logan Allbee FR. B – Wes Koenig 8 tackles, sack, FR; John Noordsy 4 tackles, sack; Brock Longville 4 tackles, .5 sack; Jackson Krogman 4 tackles; Sam Hardin INT; Jaxton Eck FR; Josh Devine FR; Parker Theobald FR.