BROOKINGS — The Brookings Bobcats not only used their defense to shut down the Pierre Governors on Friday night, they used it to provide all the offense they needed in a 13-0 victory at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium. 

A pair of interception returns for touchdowns — one by Jay Harris late in the first half and another by Gabe Stern late in the fourth quarter — helped the Bobcats improve to 4-0 on the season and continue a defensive performance that has yet to allow an offensive touchdown this season.

“Nothing really surprised me,” Brookings head coach Brady Clark said of the Bobcats’ defense. “I guess they just did their job. They flew around to the football [with] 11 guys to the ball and communicated really well. When you do those things, you’re going to pitch shutouts, especially against a really good Pierre team.”

The game was a matchup between two schools in the top five of the Class 11AA rankings as Pierre ranked second and Brookings ranked fifth. The Bobcats had the look of a worthy challenger early in the game as they put together an opening drive that used up nearly six minutes of the first quarter before Will Conrad was stopped on a 4th-and-3.

It was the story of the night for the Bobcats’ offense, who put together several big plays, including a 23-yard pass from Gavin Anderson to Egan Jensen in the second quarter but couldn’t finish drives with points as the game remained scoreless late into the first half.

“We had some mental mistakes here and there and a lack of execution,” Clark said. “If 10 guys are doing the right thing and one guy is doing the wrong thing, it can make a huge difference on offense. We have some things that we need to clean up and we’ll get there.”

But while the offense couldn’t finish drives, the defense picked it up. Harris’s interception came with 16 seconds remaining in the first half and gave the Bobcats a 6-0 lead at halftime after Drew Johnson’s PAT was blocked.

The Bobcats’ defense continued to come up big in the second half as Stern forced a fumble and Will Conrad and Charlie Bisgard came up with interceptions. With Pierre being held in check, Stern’s pick-six with 2:16 left in the game sealed Brookings’ fourth straight victory to open the year.

While Clark admitted his team has some things to work on, a 4-0 record has everyone motivated to fix them as the Bobcats approach the midway point in the season. With a matchup with Sioux Falls Roosevelt next week, Clark has seen his team continue to galvanize and get ready for what could be a second-half surge.

“It’s been a lot of fun. Every week, they seem to get closer and closer,” Clark said. “Honestly, I’ve said it every week. But it’s just been a lot of fun for the coaches and the staff to be around the players and it makes our jobs easier.”