The Britton-Hecla football team couldn’t have scripted the first quarter of its homecoming game against Waubay-Summit on Friday any better.
With just less than seven minutes gone in that first period the Braves already led 30-0 and ended up blanking the Mustangs 49-0 for their fourth straight win, boosting their season mark to 4-2. Waubay-Summit fell to 2-5.
This week Britton-Hecla travels to Wilmot for a 7 p.m. contest. The Wolves stand at 0-6 and the two clubs have played a pair of common opponents, with Wilmot losing to Waubay-Summit 52-12 and to Florence-Henry 20-8 (B-H won 58-6).
“Friday was a really fun football game for us,” said B-H coach Jacob Skogstad. “We have been preaching as a coaching staff about fast starts and playing all three phases of the game. When a coaching staff preaches that, and then you open with an offensive touchdown drive, a defensive touchdown, and a special teams touchdown right out of the gates, it makes the game really easy.”
Nothing went right for the visitors in the early going. It took the Braves just five plays to go 80 yards on the opening possession of the game with Bryce Hawkinson breaking a 39-yard scoring run and Jaxon Zuehlke catching the conversion from Jace Rein for an 8-0 lead with just under three minutes gone.
Less than a minute later Jordyn McGregor intercepted a pass and ran it back 46 yards to paydirt. Dashel Davidson ran the conversion to make it 16-0 at the 8:10 mark. Waubay-Summit went backwards on its next possession, losing nine yards and forced to punt. Daniel Person fielded the boot and returned it 70 yards for a touchdown and it was 22-0 with 6:21 still left in the first stanza.
Things went from bad to worse for the Mustangs when they fumbled the ensuing kickoff. Will Richter pounced on the ball and the Braves took over on the visitor’s 44. This time it took only three plays before Rein found Person on a 23-yard TD pass and Rein ran the conversion for a 30-0 lead with 5:16 on the first quarter clock.
The Braves next score came courtesy of another stroke of bad luck for the Mustangs. After Person thwarted a W-S drive with a pass interception the visitors forced a Braves’ punt. But the ball, punted into the wind, bounced off the back of the helmet of a Waubay-Summit player and the Braves retained possession on their own 43. This time it took nine plays before Rein hit Person again, this time on a third and goal from the 13.
The Mustangs came up empty on a fourth and 15 from the Braves 45 and Person caught his third TD pass from Rein from 19 yards out with 2:32 left in the half and Lofton Heer booted the conversion for a 43-0 halftime advantage.
The game’s final score came from Homecoming King Kendall Knudson. The senior scampered around left end for a 60-yard touchdown with 11:48 to play for the final margin.
“I thought we were very effective and efficient offensively, and defensively we were able to force turnovers and get our offense great field position,” said Skogstad. “I'm very proud of the total team effort that our guys put on the field on Friday, and we are excited to finish the season strong before playoff time. This week, I expect our kids to come out with the same fire and energy that they came with on Friday, and to continue to build on what we want to be effective with. We want to just keep working towards playing our best football come playoff time.”
Hawkinson went over the century mark with 129 yards on just six carries for the Braves and led the 273-yard rushing attack. Rein, who has now passed for 12 touchdowns in the past three games, threw for 65 yards, hitting four of eight, as B-H won the total yardage battle 338-145.
SEE THIS WEEK'S JOURNAL FOR FULL STATS
