Bobcats look to bounce back versus winless Spartans

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Brookings goes from one end of the Class 11AA spectrum to the other this week.

Coming off a 54-6 loss at undefeated Pierre, the Bobcats are host to winless Spearfish on Friday in their final regular-season home game of the year..

Kickoff is an hour earlier than usual – 6 p.m. – at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.

Spartans

They have an 0-7 record.

They’ve scored 23 points while allowing 290.

“They’re kind of struggling a little bit this year,” said BHS coach Lee Schmidt. “They run pretty much a pro set offense – I, power, bootleg.

“And they’ve given up quite a few points, so they’re struggling a little bit on defense.”

Spearfish’s two closest games came versus Mitchell 17-3 on Sept. 13 and at Douglas 14-0 on Oct. 4.

The Spartans have been shut out four times.

Most of their points came in a 44-13 home defeat at the hands of Custer on Sept. 6.

Bobcat message this week

“Gotta get better; gotta get better in a lot of ways. Gotta be disciplined,” Schmidt noted. “Gotta make sure that we do the things that we’ve been doing because we did a lot of good things in Pierre. The score didn’t indicate it. But we had breakdowns in special teams; we didn’t execute on offense.

“Defensively, we did a lot of good things, but about five percent of the time we didn’t and to beat a good team – especially a team like Pierre – you’re going to have to be perfect.

“So we’re going to work on being more perfect, and that’s in every aspect. It’s watching film, in the weight room. This week we’re working on protecting what we do – that’s use technique and communicate, make good calls; and, you know, spend a little bit more time on the fundamental part of it in regards to watching film and being better prepared.”

Couple of keys

Offense and defense: Execute

“We need to do our thing on both sides,” Schmidt added. “They’re likely going to run a lot of power and traps, which means we’re going to have to squeeze up front and bounce things and we’re really going to have to do our job. And that’s some of the things we didn’t do the other night very well, at least in a small window of time that really hurt us.

“So Friday night is cleaning up and executing and playing with confidence.”

Brookings stats

The Bobcats have a 30.7-12.9 average scoring margin. They’re plus-five in turnover margin with 12 takeaways.

Twenty-six of their 30 touchdowns have come on the ground.

Carter Eidem has nine rushing TDs in six games. Against the Governors, he had the team’s lone score, which was set up by a long Parker Rykhus reception.

QB Tanner Shepardson has run for six scores and thrown for three.

Rykhus has five TDs – four rushing and one catch.