BROOKINGS — The Brookings Bobcats used a sharp passing attack to jump out to an early lead and held on through a rally in the fourth quarter as they defeated the Tea Area Titans 29-22 at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium on Friday night.

The Bobcats improved to 5-1 with the win, which was accentuated by an energetic homecoming crowd.

“The energy was great. The crowd was lively,” Brookings head coach Brady Clark said. “That was a lot of fun the whole night. We knew it was going to be a battle all night and that’s what it was.”

If Friday’s game was a boxing match, the Bobcats landed the first punch. After holding Tea to a three-and-out on its first drive of the game, Brookings drove through the air as Gavin Anderson connected on a pair of big passes to Bergen Tetzlaff and Alex Wainmann. The explosive plays set up a four-yard touchdown run to put the Bobcats on the board with 6:34 left in the first quarter.

While Drew Johnson missed the PAT, Anderson connected on another long pass to Wainman on the following drive and set up Johnson a 35-yard field goal to give Brookings a 9-0 lead with 9:37 left in the second quarter.

The long plays were another step forward in the passing game, which racked up a season-high 215 passing yards in last week’s loss to Sioux Falls Roosevelt.

“We felt like we could take advantage of their coverage defensively,” Clark said. “Gavin did a nice job at extending plays at certain points and our receivers did a great job running what routes and did what they needed to do to catch the ball.”

Tea got back into the game when a backward pass by Anderson turned into a 70-yard scoop-and-score by Sam Werdel to send the Titans into halftime down 9-6. But the Bobcats took the opening drive of the second half 66 yards in eight plays including an 11-yard touchdown pass from Anderson to Tetzlaff for a 16-6 lead with 9:03 left in the third quarter.

The Bobcats seemingly broke the game open from there, stopping Tea on a 4th-and-1 at midfield and cashing in on a 14-yard touchdown run by Anderson to go ahead 23-6 with 5:30 left in the third quarter. 

Gabe Stern put an exclamation point on the third quarter with a 69-yard interception return for a touchdown with 1:52 remaining but Tea was ready with its response in the fourth quarter.

A quick drive led to a 29-yard touchdown pass from Daschle Lowery to Riley Svanda and the two-point conversion on a keeper by Lowry cut the Bobcats lead to 29-14 with just over 10 minutes to play. 

A botched punt set Tea up with excellent field position on the following drive and Lowery cashed in with another touchdown pass to Sam Werdel before a two-point conversion run by Cole McKinney made it a 29-22 game with 5:40 remaining.

Brookings recovered the ensuing onside kick and drove into Tea territory with the help of a pair of penalties but a fumble gave the ball back to the Titans for a chance to tie the game with 2:50 left. After driving into Bobcat territory, Jay Harris killed the rally with a game-sealing interception with 1:12 to go and helped the Brookings score the win on homecoming night.

“I think it’s just what we preach during the week,” Clark said of his team’s ability to respond. “We talk a lot about how it’s okay to fail, as long as you learn from it and come back. Failure equals growth and our boys respond well to that. Usually, if there’s a mistake, they don’t make it again and they’re a coachable group, so it doesn’t surprise me.”

With another big win, the Bobcats are set for another Class 11AA showdown against Yankton at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium next Friday. But the Bobcats’ belief in themselves continues to grow and has them adding another chapter to an excellent season.

“We believe in ourselves a lot and it’s important to believe in yourself,” Clark said. “If you don’t believe in yourself, who else will? This group believes and they fight for each other until the very end. They’re not a selfish group and that’s where we are at right now in the season.”