BROOKINGS — The Brookings Bobcats had a strong start to the 2024 season, defeating Sturgis 31-0 in their season opener last Friday night. But as they host Mitchell in Week 2, they’ll look to retain their focus and improve to 2-0.

“In all three phases, I was very proud of them,” Brookings coach Brady Clark said of last week’s win. “But after that game, we just talked about confidence and belief a little bit more and the biggest message for us this week is that we just need to focus every day.”

It’s another important lesson that the Bobcats learned one year ago. Brookings earned its lone win of the season in a 37-0 rout over Douglas on Sept. 22 but it didn’t carry over as they lost their final four games of the season.

While the Bobcats played some tough competition with Yankton and Harrisburg, they also got away from the things that made them successful. Part of the process began when the Bobcats reviewed the film and what they needed to work on on Sunday but the start of the school year added another challenge that Brookings must work through.

“There’s a lot going on this week, so the big message was to focus on every little thing,” Clark said. “You are what you focus on and I feel like our boys have responded well to that this week.”

The hard work will have to translate the field as they take on a Mitchell team that looked just as dominant as the Bobcats did with a 51-13 win over Douglas. 

Quarterback T.J. Jellis will be the top issue for Brookings after he broke a school record and became the first quarterback in program history to break the 300 and 400-yard threshold, throwing for 420 yards and four touchdowns against the Patriots. 

“He does a nice job of playing tempo and just doing what he needs to do,” Clark said of Jellis. “He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes, so if we can put him in some bad situations, I think we’ll find out how he truly plays.”

Mitchell is also loaded at the skill positions. Running back Parker Denne notched 364 all-purpose yards including eight catches for a school-record 246 yards and three touchdowns while Wide receiver Hudson Borgan had eight catches, 131 yards and a touchdown for a Kernels offense that is difficult to stop.

“They have a lot of guys returning from last year’s team,” Clark said. “But we’re going to have to shut down Denne and Borgan early and often.”

The Bobcats will also focus on themselves to get another consistent effort out of their offense. Brookings had 212 yards of total offense and got 84 yards and two touchdowns from running back Will Conrad but the key will be for the Bobcats to stack good drives together and keep the Mitchell offense on the sidelines.

“I just want to see our guys methodically move the ball down the field and put together some nice drives, eat up some clock and wear those guys out,” Clark said. “We’ve got some good size on both sides of the ball but I feel like we can move better on the line of scrimmage so we’ll use that to our advantage.”

While most of the objectives revolve around X’s and O’s, the Bobcats also are riding a wave of confidence. Clark said his team can not get too high or too low coming off Friday’s win over the Scoopers but he’s noticed his team has had an extra gear as they prepare for Week 2.

“I know there’s a big boost of confidence for our guys, just putting in all that work in the offseason and seeing that come together,” Clark said. “Not everything is going to go your way all the time. But we know how to respond to that now. We know what it’s going to take to make something work and how to respond to that adversity. So I’m excited to see their mentality come Friday night and continue to move in a positive way.”