BROOKINGS – After coming up empty in their first four games of the season, Brady Clark believed his team was on the verge of a breakthrough. On Friday night, the Bobcats finally kicked the floodgates open.

The Bobcats jumped ahead on a defensive touchdown in the first quarter and Will Conrad scored four times and added an interception as Brookings dismantled Douglas 37-0 on Homecoming night to win its first game of the season.

“It was a great night,” Clark said after the game. “We had a great turnout. The crowd was great and a fitting way to close out the whole week. It’s just Bobcat pride all around and I’m glad we could finish the week with a win tonight.”

The Bobcats night started with a three-and-out but they were able to pin Douglas deep in their territory on Drew Johnson’s punt. A bad pitch put the ball on the turf and the Bobcats were able to recover, giving Brookings its first defensive touchdown and its first lead of the season.

“There was a lot of confidence,” Clark said of the fumble. “It was a great way to start the game and we just continued to build off of that.”

Johnson added to the lead with a 34-yard field goal that put Brookings ahead 10-0 and with special teams and defense on the board it was time for the offense to take its turn.

A pair of long passes by Jones Huntimer put Brookings into scoring position and Conrad raced to pylon on an 11-yard run to give the Bobcats their first offensive touchdown of the season.

“It was great to see because he’s been so close,” Clark said. “He’s had a couple of drops previously where he had big plays and we knew he was going to work his tail off at practice to shore that up. I was just so excited for him to finally get in the end zone and his level of confidence jumped from there.”

Conrad’s touchdown gave the Bobcats a 17-0 lead at halftime but he was only getting started. Conrad intercepted Douglas quarterback Matthew Denekamp on the first offensive play of the second half and scored on a 17-yard touchdown run a few plays later to put Brookings ahead 24-0.

An interception from Gavin Hammrich set up a 27-yard rushing touchdown by Conrad on the following and after the Patriots fumbled for their fifth turnover of the night, Conrad finished the game off with a one-yard touchdown run.

Conrad led the way with eight carries for 78 yards and four rushing touchdowns to go with two catches for 23 yards but Friday’s victory was a team effort. Huntimer completed 7-of-10 passes for 91 yards with an interception while Gavin Anderson completed 2-of-3 passes for 43 yards.

Mason Mathis had 10 carries for 39 yards while Gus Armenta had three carries for 12 yards, Hammrich had four carries for nine yards, Jay Harris had six carries for nine yards, Josiah Thomas had one carry for three yards and Phoenix Sather had one carry for one yard.

“The team was awesome today,” Conrad said. “The offensive line moved a lot of people and it was great.”

Alex Wainman had three catches for 66 yards while Tetzlaff had three catches for 33 yards and Dagi Thomas had one catch for 12 yards.

While it was good to get the win, Clark believes that there’s area for the Bobcats to improve beginning with next week’s game in Yankton. But getting the win in front of a homecoming crowd was a high point for the Bobcats this season and it could lead to plenty of confidence moving forward.

“We will all build off of it,” Clark said. “We have a lot to work on still and there are little things that we have to get better at, but those are things we can control. We’ll have to do a better job but it’s something we’re focused on moving forward.”