VOLGA – The Sioux Valley Cossacks came into Friday night looking for a win that could turn around their season, but a couple of big plays didn’t go their way and Sioux Valley fell to McCook Central/Montrose, 18-14 in a Big East Conference matchup.

The game started after a one-hour lightning delay, but it didn’t prevent the Cossacks from getting off to a fast start. Donovan Rose came out of the gates on fire, scoring on a 21-yard touchdown and scored again on a four-yard run later in the first quarter to put Sioux Valley up 12-0.

“Donovan’s been doing a great job and we have a lot of players that are stepping up,” Sioux Valley head coach Dan Hughes said. “I’m proud of all of them.”

Rose finished with 90 yards on 14 carries and added three catches for 27 yards to fuel the Cossacks offense. The Fighting Cougars made a comeback in the second quarter, scoring on a Jackson Remmers four-yard touchdown run. Boston Katzer then connected on a 72-yard touchdown to Ty Morrison with 32 seconds remaining in the first half cut the lead to 14-12 heading into halftime.

The Cossacks had an opportunity to add to the lead after Lane Liebsch’s intercepted a pass early in the third quarter and returned it inside the MCM 10 yard line. Sioux Valley got down to the one yard line, but Rose was stopped short on fourth down and the Cossacks gave the ball back to the Fighting Cougars.

“That [play] didn’t tell the story of the game,” Hughes said of MCM’s goal-line stand. “That score would have helped us for sure, but at the end of the day, there’s no excuses. We’ve got to score more points and do a better job.”

Once again, the Cougars responded, driving down the field and taking the lead with 10 seconds left in the third quarter on a touchdown pass from Katzer to Morrison. The game turned into a physical battle from there with the Cossacks using a long drive to get deep into MCM territory.

With the ball on the 11-yard line, the Cossacks went for it on a fourth and one and the Fighting Cougars made the stop and took over on downs.

“From my vantage point, I thought we had it, but that isn’t the way it went,” Hughes said. “We’re just going to have to keep working on responding and I’m going to have to do a better job getting the team prepared.”

The Fighting Cougars milked the clock after getting the ball back and converted a third and 11 with 1:30 remaining to seal the game. A couple of knees later, the Cossacks had watched a 12-point lead disappear and the opportunity to gain some late-season momentum had gone away.

“We were playing a very good team and they responded,” Hughes said of the Fighting Cougars. “They came out slow, but they woke up and you’ve got to give them some credit.”

Sioux Valley had 304 yards of offense and 218 of those yards came on the ground. Rose led the rushing attack and Lane Liebsch had 64 yards on 14 carries.

Jace Christensen was 9-for-13 with 86 yards. Boden Schiller had four catches for 47 yards.

Schiller led the Cossack defense with 15 tackles and Brock Chrstopherson had 11 tackles.

The Cossacks fell to 3-3 with the loss but could have a chance to get on track down the stretch. Sioux Valley will travel to 0-6 Baltic next week before wrapping up the regular season with an Oct. 14 trip to Flandreau.

With the playoffs nearing, Hughes is eager to see his team respond.

“We’re going to keep improving,” Hughes said. “We’re going to learn from this game and we’re going to get better and work on a few important things to make our team better.