For the fifth consecutive year, the Pierre Governors will be in the Class 11AA state championship and will face its fourth different opponent. This year the Governors will face the Class 11A defending state champions, Tea Area Titans.
The Titans have not lost since the 2019 season pitching a perfect record in 2020, and leading up to Friday, a perfect 2021 record. Tea jumped to 11AA after the 2020 season but has not dropped a contest since the move. The Titans defeated Yankton 35-28 last week Friday holding on after a furious comeback from the Bucks. The Governors, on the other hand, came back from a 21-7 deficit to advance to the state title.
The Titans offense has ran for nearly 3000 yards while Cael Lundin, senior quarterback, has thrown for nearly 1500 yards. Even with the all the yards, the Titans do not have a 1000 yard rusher. Instead, Tea balances their attack with having seven players having over 100 yards, including Chase Van Tol, the leading rusher with 830.
Lincoln Kienholz has thrown for over 3000 yards and five touchdowns away from 40 on the year. Jack Merkwan is just shy of the 1200 yard mark receiving on the season having caught 15 passes. Both teams do not turn the ball over much, but both defenses force plenty of turnovers. Tea is forcing 3 turnovers per game while the Governors are averaging over 2.5 takeaways per game.
Head Coach of the Pierre Governors, Steve Steele says this has been a real rewarding season…
Steele says Tea is very explosive running the football…
Steele says they have to find a way to stop the run on Friday…
Kickoff between Pierre and Tea is scheduled for 7:30 on Friday with coverage beginning on KCCR and kccrradio.com at 7:00 with Jon Winkler and Greg Dean on the call.
