BROOKINGS – The Bobcats are focused on the Bobcats this week heading into their matchup with the Spartans.

“To tell you the truth, this week we’re really just kind of worrying about ourselves,” said Brookings coach Lee Schmidt, whose team takes on Spearfish on Friday at 7 p.m. at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium. “We need to be balanced; we need to be able to get a higher completion rating. We’re completing about 30 percent of our passes right now.

“Part of that is we just need to take what people give us and work a lot on some of our keys – we could go Key 1, Key 2, Key 3 depending on what kind of defense they’re giving us, and be able to make that read, make that short throw and let of our receivers get some YAC (yards after catch) yards. We need to get the ball to them and let them do some stuff in space. Really, we just need to get a little bit more balanced, a little bit more consistent out of our passing game.

“We have some things that should be improving that we need to, but we just need to play a four-quarter game. That’s the biggest thing we’re focused on right now is just our mental preparation coming out of the locker room ready to go and, you know, playing four quarters – don’t wait until the second half, don’t wait until you get down. Let’s get up and let’s go from there.”

Brookings split a pair of games with Eastern South Dakota Conference teams to open the season, winning 24-23 at Yankton on Aug. 24 before falling 28-14 to Mitchell at home on Aug. 31.

Spartans

Spearfish is 0-2 with a pair of lopsided losses.

The Spartans dropped their opener 48-0 at Class 11A member St. Thomas More on Aug. 25 and then lost their home opener 66-6 at the hands of Rapid City Stevens.

“Spearfish has had a tough couple of games,” Schmidt said. “They have a pretty big fullback; they have some big kids up front.

“They struggled a little bit with stopping the passing game – they’ve given up a lot of long plays to the teams they’ve played so far. St. Thomas More throws the ball well, and so does Rapid City Stevens. So for them, defending the pass has been a little bit of a struggle.”

Bobcats

Parker Beers is off to a solid start for Brookings, picking up 238 yards on 33 carries – a 7.2 average – through a pair of games.

Quarterback Jacob Schoon is 12-of-43 for 226 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. He’s run 11 times for 57 yards and a score.

Justin Devine has 76 rushing yards and Carter Eidem 59.

Jay Wilber and Cole Mahlum have been the top two targets through the air.

Wilber has six receptions for 117 yards – 19.5 average – and Mahlum has added two catches covering 61 yards. Both players have found the end zone once.

Devine has made a solid impact on special teams, as well.

He’s 5-for-5 on PAT kicks and 1-for-1 on field goals – a 31-yarder. Devine is averaging 20.1 yards on seven kickoff returns.

Slow starts

As Schmidt mentioned, coming out of the locker room ready to go is a priority.

The Bobcats have been outscored by their opponents a combined 30-3 in the first half this season, including 17-0 in the opening quarter.

“I really don’t have an answer to it,” Schmidt noted. “In the past couple of years it’s been because we struggle on offense, but this year we’ve actually moved the ball and done some good things so we just have to finish it off with scores.

“It’s a matter of finishing. Like I said, it’s kind of a mystery. We’ve had a lot of discussions about this and what we can do to improve it and the bottom line is we need to play four quarters and we need to get out of the locker room.

“We’re going faster in practice trying to pick up the tempo, but when you do that kids have to focus more; change up the snap count a little bit more. All those things in practice, the kids have to be tuned in, they have to be disciplined. And I think that’s maybe something we’re just lacking at the beginning of the game so if we practice it, hopefully it will carry over to when we come out of the locker room to start the game.”

The Bobcats trailed 16-3 at halftime and 23-10 early in the fourth quarter before rallying past the Bucks to start the year.

The Bobcats were down 14-0 at the break and 21-0 through three against the Kernels. They pulled within seven points midway through the fourth and had the ball in Mitchell territory with 3 minutes to go, before a turnover ended the comeback bid.

Up Next

Brookings visits Watertown in ESD action next week.