GA football
The long-standing rivalry between Groton Area and Aberdeen Roncalli did not disappoint on the gridiron Friday as the Tigers outlasted the Cavaliers 29-23 in double overtime.
The win improved Groton Area’s season mark to 4-2, 3-2 in the Northeast Conference. Roncalli also stands at 4-2 and 3-2 in league play.
This week Coach Shaun Wanner’s squad travels to winless Sisseton. The two clubs have played four common opponents. The Tigers defeated Deuel 14-9 (Sisseton lost 46-6),Webster Area 14-7 (Sisseton lost 36-0) and lost to Clark-Willow Lake 43-7 (Sisseton lost 46-6), and Milbank 32-28 (Sisseton lost 42-0). The Redmen have been outscored 267-18 through the first six games of their schedule.
“We can't have a letdown after last week's game,” stressed Wanner. “Sisseton hasn't won a game but they're young and they play hard. Sometimes those teams can be the scariest this time of the season.”
Friday’s contest was a nip-and-tuck battle from start to finish. Groton Area scored first at the 5:48 mark of the opening period when Keegan Tracy caught the first of his three TD passes from Korbin Kucker from 58 yards out and Joao Nunes added the kick for a 7-0 lead. Roncalli answered right back just over a minute later when Zane Backous, who rushed for 82 yards in the game, scored on a seven-yard run and the game w3as tied 7-7 after one quarter.
Roncalli took a lead with 9:07 left in the half on a Brody Weinmeister one-yard run, but Kucker and Tracy connected again, this time from eight yards out, and Nunes’ kick tied the game at 14-14 at halftime.
After a scoreless third period Nunes put the Tigers back on top when he booted a 20-yard field goal with 3:17 to play. Roncalli faced long odds with theball on their own 10 with 1:12 to play and no time outs remaining. But the Cavaliers drove all the way to the GA three, ran two plays and lost eight yards on a fumble out of bounds, and then attempted a 22-yard field goal with just a second on the clock and it was blocked. But the Cavaliers had another chance when a roughing the kicker penalty was called. This time the kick was good, forcing overtime.
Christian Ehresmann, who led the Tigers in rushing with 25 yards on eight carries and grabbed seven passes for 47 yards, made his biggest catch of the game in the first overtime from 10 yards out, but the conversion run failed. Backous countered with a three-yard score, and Ryder Johnson blocked the kick attempt to force a second overtime period.
Kucker threw his fourth touchdown pass of the game in the second OT, again to Tracy on a 10-yard toss. The run again failed, leaving the door slightly ajar for Roncalli. But Backous was stopped on a fourth and goal from the one to end the contest.
Roncalli won the total yards battle 286-225, running for 146 and passing for 140. Groton Area ran for 59 and threw for 166 with Kucker hitting 15-19 attempts. Ehresmann led the GA defensive effort with 14 tackles.
“The kids played well,” said Wanner. “I was proud of the way our kids responded after last week's loss to CWL, and we made a few adjustments. Offensively we were very efficient and executed well in the run and passing game. Defensively we came up with some big stops. It was a great team effort and win – a good hard-fought football game between two good teams.”
