WATERTOWN — A big, physical Watertown front presented problems on both sides of the football for the Mitchell High School football team on Friday night.
The Arrows controlled the action for much of the night, striking early and steadily adding to their lead en route to a 42-7 Eastern South Dakota Conference victory over the Kernels at Watertown Stadium.
On offense, the Arrows found time and space to run and pass effectively while also cutting down on Mitchell’s offensive opportunities from the defensive side. It started on the line of scrimmage, where the Arrows had a distinct size advantage with a crew that averaged nearly 6-foot-3 and 260 pounds in the trenches.
“They came out and punched us in the mount right away,” said MHS coach Pat Larson in his postgame radio interview. “It took us two or three series for our defense to get their feet underneath of them.”
Behind the big guys up front, the Arrows struck twice within the first five minutes of play, with all-state running back Juven Hudson scoring from 5 and 3 yards out. Early in the second quarter, Watertown added to its lead with a 14-yard scoring strike from Treyton Himmerich to Mitch Olson for a 20-0 lead that carried into halftime.
“Once we settled in, I thought we played pretty well,” Larson said. “Offensively, that wasn’t the performance we wanted coming off of what we did last week, but we did some good things.”
Late in the third quarter, Spencer Wientjes tacked on an 11-yard rushing touchdown for Watertown. Moments later, defensive end Jayden Lambert stepped in front of a screen pass and returned an interception 13 yards for a 35-0 lead and running clock the rest of the way. Early in the fourth quarter, Himmerich connected with Olson again, this time from 11 yards out to put Watertown up 42-0.
Roger Merriam / Watertown Public Opinion
Mitchell replied with a 12-play, 76-yard scoring drive for its lone points of the night. The march was capped by a 6-yard touchdown pass from TJ Jellis to Tyson Sabers, who finished with five receptions for 93 yards on the night. Jellis went 11-of-15 passing for 118 yards. On the ground, Parker Denne carried 16 times for 50 yards to lead the Kernels. Defensively, Seth Foote recovered a fumble, and Sean Foote and Luke LeBrun each had one sack.
For Watertown (5-2, 4-2 ESD), Himmerich was 12-for-18 for 170 yards and the two scores to Olson, who had three catches for 35 yards. Kohen Kranz had three receptions for 55 yards, while Wientjes finished with four touches for 65 total yards and one touchdown to go with a sack and interception on defense.
In need of a win to keep postseason hopes afloat, Mitchell (1-6, 0-4 ESD) visits rival Huron next week on Oct. 13.
“It’s Huron, it’s Mitchell, it’s a rivalry,” Larson said. “Throw the records out the window. It’ll be a dogfight from start to finish. I’d like to think everything we’ve been through these first seven weeks has prepared us for that competition and we’ll give those guys everything we’ve got next Friday night.”
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