HARRISBURG – Friday night’s Eastern South Dakota matchup between two of the top teams in the Class AA seeding points didn’t disappoint.

Brookings, 3-3, and tied for second with 41.500 seed points, saw 3-3 Harrisburg – fourth in seed points with 41.000 – rally with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to pull out a 14-7 win.

After an evenly matched and scoreless first half, the Bobcats used a short field after a fumble recovery to get on the scoreboard first.

Walker Resmen recovered a Tiger fumble at the Harrisburg 40-yard line and Brookings needed just seven plays to punch the ball into the end zone.

The recovery was Resmen’s second of the game – in the second quarter he had stripped a Tiger back of the ball and returned it to the Harrisburg 6-yard line, but the play was called back after he was ruled down by forward progress at the site of the fumble.

Back to the third-quarter fumble and ensuing drive, where the Bobcats faced fourth-and-one at the home team’s 16-yard line, Jacob Schoon followed Parker Beers through the line and picked up not only the yard needed, but 14 more to get to the 1-yard line.

On the next play, Schoon burrowed in behind center Cayden Jacobsma for the touchdown with 8:07 remaining in the third quarter. Justin Devine’s PAT kick made it 7-0.

The Bobcats had a golden opportunity slip away when a short Harrisburg punt touched a player on the return team and the Tigers recovered at their own 25 for a first down.

But the ‘Cats’ defense held again and forced another three-and-out to get the ball back just before the end of the third quarter.

Brookings couldn’t maintain that momentum and had to punt on its next possession and the Tigers took over on their own 21.

Harrisburg put together a solid drive – helped by a defensive hold on an attempted flea flicker – before Jack Teigen connected with Anders Clayton out of the backfield for a 35-yard scoring pass and run. Will Simmons’ extra-point kick tied the game at 7-7 with 8:16 left in the game.

Devine returned the ensuing kickoff to the Brookings 38-yard line, but the Bobcat offense stalled out and had to punt, with Harrisburg taking over at its own 38.

Jacob Just’s 5-yard run had 15 more yards tacked on via a face mask call, which put the ball in Bobcat territory. A pair of Just runs, followed by two quarterback keepers by Teigen gave the Tigers a first down at the Brookings 13.

Another Just run to the 11 set up Teigen’s rollout right, where he found Max Anderson for an 11-yard catch for the go-ahead touchdown. Simmons’ PAT kick made it 14-7 with 3:21 to play.

The Bobcats picked up a first down on their next drive before being stopped on a fourth-and-one QB keeper to turn the ball over on downs with 1:22 remaining.

Harrisburg needed just three plays to pick up a first down and then knelt on the final two plays to run out the clock and improve to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the AA ESD standings.

Just led the Tigers with 53 yards rushing on 10 carries as Clayton added 34 on 10 touches. Teigen rushed 15 times for 40 yards and completed 9-of-16 passes with one interception and two TDs.

Schoon ran for 70 yards on 16 carries and completed 5-of-11 passes with one interception.

Beers chipped in with 41 rushing yards on 13 carries while Cole Eidem contributed 30 yards on six rushes. Devine tacked on 10 yards on four carries.

Jay Wilber caught two passes for 15 yards; Cole Mahlum grabbed one for nine; Tanner Shepardson had one for four; and Preston Helmbolt caught one for six yards.

Brookings, now 3-4 and 1-3 in the AA ESD, plays host to Sioux Falls Lincoln, which is 2-5 after a 31-20 win over Rapid City Stevens last night.

HARRISBURG 14, BROOKINGS 7

Brookings 0  0  7    0  –    7

Harrisburg 0  0  0 14  –  14

Scoring Summary

Third Quarter

B – Jacob Schoon 1 run (Justin Devine kick), 8:07.

Fourth Quarter

H – Anders Clayton 35 pass from Jack Teigen (Will Simmons kick), 8:16.

H – Max Anderson 11 pass from Teigen (Simmons kick), 3:21.