BROOKINGS — Will Conrad ran for two touchdowns and the defense posted its second straight shutout as the Brookings Bobcats defeated Mitchell 34-0 at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium on Friday night.

The win helped the Bobcats improve to 2-0 on the season and improve their confidence ahead of next week’s game at Aberdeen Central.

“The confidence level is high right now,” Brookings head coach Brady Clark said. “Last week against Sturgis, we saw that light and we kept grinding all week. You could tell our confidence level was a little higher and it showed tonight.”

Friday’s game got off to a wild start as Conrad ripped off a 55-yard run to get the Bobcats down to Mitchell's three-yard line on their first possession but Gavin Anderson threw an interception to give the ball back to the Kernels.

Anderson lost a fumble on Brookings’ second drive of the game but the Bobcats got the ball back when Bergen Tetzlaff recovered a fumble. That was enough for Brookings to go off to the races as Conrad ripped off a 34-yard run that set up Anderson for a four-yard touchdown run with 31 seconds left in the first quarter.

Although Mitchell drove into Brookings territory on the next drive, the defense came up with a stop on 4th-and-3 at midfield to give the ball back to the offense. Two plays later, Conrad ripped off his third big run of the night – a 41-yard touchdown – to give the Bobcats a 14-0 lead with 3:20 left in the second quarter.

“Man, isn’t he quick?” Clark chuckled when asked about Conrad. “He’ll be the first one to thank his offensive line. He just has some great vision running between the tackles and he just makes guys miss.”

Conrad’s playmaking ability was on display in the second half as a 12-yard run capped a 12-play, 81-yard drive that took over six minutes off the clock and put the game away with 9:07 left in the fourth quarter.

After a Mason Mathis interception, Conrad finished his night with an 11-yard touchdown run that gave the Bobcats a 27-0 lead with 3:56 left to play. It was another strong performance by Conrad, who ran for 226 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries on Friday night and has five rushing touchdowns in the first two games.

“That kid works hard,” Clark said. “He’s not the biggest kid, not the strongest but he works his tail off and it’s showing in the last two games.”

The Bobcats special teams made one of the final big plays of the night as Cole Hockett recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff. Tetzlaff plowed in from nine yards out for the final score of the night with 3:43 to play but Brookings also held on defensively to earn the shutout for the second straight game.

“They’re just playing team defense,” Clark said of his team. “The communication has been great and that’s one thing we talk about. Great teams communicate and these guys have been doing a really good job of that. Our coaches have been doing a good job of getting them ready on both sides of the ball. It’s just team football, a team win and picking each other up when someone is down.”

Anderson finished with 13 rushing yards and a touchdown on two carries. Tetzlaff finished with 10 rushing yards and a touchdown on  two carries.

Defensively, Tetzlaff had 11 tackles including a tackle for loss. Gabriel Stern had seven tackles and a tackle for loss.

Brookings had 298 total yards including 281 rushing yards and 17 passing yards. The Bobcats held Mitchell to 193 total yards with 130 passing yards and 63 rushing yards.

While the Bobcats had another perfect night on the scoreboard, Clark admitted that there were some penalties and turnovers that they needed to clean up. But the main thing is that his team is having fun and having its confidence grow after picking up two wins to start the year.

“At the end of the day, we want football to be fun,” Clark said. “They put in so much dang work that people don’t see and realize. Whether it’s lifting three days a week in the morning to practice every night, yoga on  Saturday mornings, or stretching and meeting on Sunday. They don’t get a day off. But they’re understanding it takes all of this work and we’re only guaranteed nine games. So we’re putting in the work and it will pay dividends later.”