BROOKINGS — The Brookings Bobcats fell behind early and couldn’t keep up with the Yankton Bucks’ fast-paced offense as the Bobcats suffered a 24-7 loss at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium on Friday night.

The loss dropped the Bobcats to 5-2 on the season and Brookings head coach Brady Clark attributed it to four turnovers and his team’s inability to sustain drives.

“Yankton is a good football team and it was a battle," Clark said. “Our boys responded well in certain situations and we had some good drives going, but we just didn’t punch it in. Turnovers killed us big time and we didn’t get any on the other side but our boys will respond to this.”

The Bucks struck quickly as they marched 64 yards in 2:32 on their opening drive including a 19-yard touchdown run by Evan Serck that gave Yankton a 7-0 lead.

While Brookings used a methodical approach on its opening drive by taking over eight minutes off the clock, it wound up empty-handed. A stop followed but Jay Harris fumbled on the Bobcats’ second drive of the evening and Yankton took advantage with a four-play drive that ended with a Matthew Sheldon three-yard touchdown that gave Yankton a 14-0 lead with 8:29 left in the second quarter.

The two-touchdown lead would last the rest of the night as turnovers haunted the Bobcats. An interception by Gavin Anderson halted a Brookings drive with 5:19 left in the second quarter and a fumble on the opening kickoff of the second half tilted the field for Yankton to score on a one-yard touchdown run by Easton Nelson that put the Bucks ahead 21-0 with 5:55 left in the third quarter.

“That was just us trying to make plays and them making a better play,” Clark said of the turnovers. "It’s just game flow and sometimes that happens. Some nights, it just doesn’t fall your way.”

Anderson hit Bergen Tetzlaff for a 27-yard touchdown pass to put Brookings on the board with 10:37 to play. But Anderson threw a second interception on the following drive and a fumble set up a 32-yard field goal by Kevin Ortiz that officially put the game away.

Despite the loss, Clark commended the Bobcats for showing resiliency late in the game and putting themselves in a position to make a comeback.

“These guys, if there’s a mistake made, they don’t make it again,” Clark said. “That’s been a common theme this year. I’m not surprised by seeing that and we just ran into a good football team. We’ll look at the film and we’ll learn from it.”

The Bobcats will head to Douglas next Friday with a 7 p.m. CDT kickoff.