Groton Area shut out Sisseton 47-0 on Friday, and thanks to a Clark-Willow Lake loss to Mobridge-Pollock, the Tigers earned a share of the Northeast Conference football title.
Both Clark-Willow Lake and Groton Area ended up with 5-1 league marks. The Tigers boosted their overall season record to 5-2, while Sisseton stands at 0-7. GA will wrap up regular season play this Friday by hosting Baltic at 7 p.m. with postseason play set to begin on Oct. 31.
“Winning the NEC championship was our goal at the beginning of the season,” said GA coach Shaun Wanner, “and it is always very difficult. I’m proud of this group. We had to overcome some adversity after the Clark-Willow Lake game.”
Baltic is winless this season in seven outings but Wanner warns that the squad has played a very difficult schedule, taking on just two teams with losing records.
“We can’t take them lightly.,” Wanner stressed. “They have some good athletes. We just have to keep getting better.”
Groton Area exploded for 34 second quarter points to blow the game open at winless Sisseton. Brevin Fliehs put the Tigers on the board at the 8:37 mark of the opening period on a one-yard run and Joao Nunes added the kick for a 7-0 lead after one quarter.
GA quarterback Korbin Kucker had a hand in all five second quarter touchdowns starting with a three-yard TD toss to Christian Ehresmann at the 11:06 mark. Kucker ran one in from 12 yards out with nine mintues left, connected with Ehresmann again on a 20-yard scoring toss, returned a fumble 18 yards to paydirt, and threw a 44-yard bomb to Teylor Diegel. Nunes booted four of the five extra points for a 41-0 halftime lead.
Neither team scored in the third period and Caden McInerney wrapped up the scoring with 6:50 left in the game on a 27-yard pass from Bradyn Small.
Groton Area had a big yardage advantage with 172 on the ground and 180 via the airways. Sisseton managed just 39 rushing and a minus one passing. Skyler Godel was the Tigers’ leading rushing with 99 yards on 10 carries and Teylor Diegel the top receiver with two catches for 62 yards.
On the defensive side of the ball Ehresmann again led his squad with six tackles and Tucker Hardy had five stops.
“We’re playing well right now,” concluded Wanner. “We executed well on offense and played well defensively.”
A (5-2) 7 34 0 6 – 47
Sisseton (0-7) 0 0 0 0 – 0
GA – Brevin Fliehs 1 run (Joao Nunes kick)
GA – Christian Ehresmann 3 pass from Korbin Kucker (Nunes kick)
GA – Kucker 12 run (Nunes kick)
GA – Ehresmann 20 pass from Kucker (Nunes kick)
GA – Kucker 18 fumble return (Nunes kick)
GA – Teylor Diegel 44 pass from Kucker (kick failed)
GA – Caden McInerney 27 pass from Bradyn Small (kick failed)
RUSHING: GA, 25-172 (Skyler Godel 10-99, Korbin Kucker 7-45, Brevin Fliehs 3-18, Christian Ehresmann 3-14, Rylder Shelle 1-4, Keegen Tracy 1-1); Sisseton, 21-39 (Boe Iverson 9-39, Bremer DeSpiegler 2-7, Taylor Snaza 5-6)
PASSING: GA, 9-16-0-180 (Kucker 7-14-0-140, Bradyn Small 2-2-0-40); Sisseton (Jackson Wegener 1-10-2-(-1))
RECEIVING: GA (Diegel 2-62, Ehremann 3-38, Fliehs 1-31, McInerney 1-27, Tracy 1-9); Sisseton (Gage Hanson 1-(-1)
FIRST DOWNS: GA, 17, Sisseton 2
DEFENSIVE LEADERS: GA (Ehresmann 6 tackles, Tucker Hardy 5 tackles, McInerney 4 tackles, Caleb Mertz 4 tackles); Sisseton (Snaza 7 tackles, Hayden Hellwig 7 tackles)
