Puetz's big night leads Sioux Valley to homecoming victory

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VOLGA – Parker Puetz’s 370 total yards of offense and six total touchdowns led Sioux Valley to a 42-32 win over McCook Central/Montrose on homecoming night Friday night.

“It was [a huge win] and a great win. Kids did great, I’m so proud of them,” said Sioux Valley head coach Dan Hughes.

Puetz was 17-for-25 with 231 yards and three touchdowns. He added 139 yards and three touchdowns on the ground on 27 carries.

“Parker is a special player and we’re blessed he’s on our team,” Hughes said.

Puetz got the scoring going five and a half minutes into the game when he found Maverick Nelson from 10 yards out to make it 6-0. MCM would respond with a four-minute drive that ended in a four-yard Trevor Hanson touchdown to make it 6-6.

Puetz would then run it in from a yard out on the first play of the second quarter to make it 12-6. MCM would respond again and Gavin Gordon found Will Cleveland for a 48-yard touchdown to tie the game.

The Fighting Cougars would take their first lead of the game with 2:31 left in the first half. Gordon found Cleveland again, this time from 43 yards out and MCM led 18-12. Sioux Vallley would regain the lead with eight seconds left in the half when Puetz found McKade Rentsch from 10 yards out and Sioux Valley took a 20-18 lead into the locker room.

It didn’t take long for the Fighting Cougars to get the lead back though. Cleveland took back the opening kick of the second half 82 yards to the house and MCM led 26-20.

The Cossacks would respond with a big play of their own. Puetz heaved a 44-yard touchdown pass to Damian Danzeisen on third and 11 and Puetz would run in the two-point conversion to make it 28-26 with 8:48 left in the third.

Carson Christopherson picked off Gordon on the second play of the next drive for MCM and the Cossacks had the ball on the three yard line. After a false start penalty, Puetz would run it in from three yards out and the Cossacks led 34-26 with 7:34 left in the third.

“The pick by Carson Christopherson was huge, but all the credit McCook Central. They have a great team and did some great things. Have to give credit. Great teams make great plays and they battled. I have to give them some credit,” Hughes said.

MCM would not give up as Gordon found Cleveland once again from 33 yards out. The Fighting Cougars two-point conversion failed and the Cossacks still led 34-32.

Puetz would extend the lead to 42-32 with 10:37 left in the game when he had a 10-yard touchdown run and a two-point conversion run. The Cossack defense stepped up the rest of the way and Sioux Valley improved to 3-1.

The Cossacks racked up 417 total yards of offense. Danzeisen caught six passes for 104 yards. He also had 10 carries for 21 yards on the ground.

“We just put the ball where the space was. We took advantage of our mismatches and just tried to score as many points as we could,” Hughes said.

MCM had 363 yards of total offense. Gordon was 20-for-30 for 282 yards. Cleveland had four catches for 145 yards and Trevor Hansen had 92 yards on 18 carries.

“They were doing a great job of running after the catch. They did a great job of that,” Hughes said.

Christopherson led the Cossaacks with 16 tackle and Joe Hornick had 12 tackles. The Fighting Cougars were led on defense by Braeden Kerkhove who had 17 tackles and Connor McGuire had 12.

Sioux Vallley will head to Parker next week, but Hughes said he’s not worried about the Pheasants yet.

“I’m going to enjoy [this win] for 24 hours and I’m not going to think about next week,” Hughes said.