By Andrew Holtan
The Brookings Beacon
BROOKINGS – The Brookings football team fell to 0-8 on Friday night with a 42-20 loss to Pierre, but the Bobcats have seen some progress over the past four games, scoring 14 or more points in each of them.
On Friday, top-ranked Pierre led 42-0 at halftime after scoring 28 points in the second quarter. The Governors then pulled their starters in the second half and it was more of an even playing field for the Bobcats, who have been dealing with a lot of injuries in the back half of the season.
“[The second half], it’s tough to gauge,” said Brookings head coach Carter Gordon. “Pierre was a pretty class act tonight. They gave us an opportunity to work on some stuff, and our boys went out and executed. I don’t think in the first half we were far from it.
“We had some drives going, and we were actually executing. We just had a couple hiccups on offense in the run game. … But for the most part, [our players] were doing everything that we had talked to them about throughout the week. We just got bested.”
The second half started off with a bang for the ‘Cats as they scored nearly a minute into it. Cooper Drawdy found Ezra Eidem on about a five-yard curl route on first and 10. Eidem then made a man miss and out ran the Governor defenders down the sideline for a 70-yard score. That made it 42-7 with 11:05 left in the third quarter.
Brookings scored again with just 1:33 left in the game. Drawdy was being pressured and had to throw up a prayer towards the end zone off his back foot. It found the hands of Eidem in a crowd and the Bobcats missed the extra point and that made it 42-13. The score came on the heels of an interception from Brady Hasley.
Then something special happened at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium. Sophomore Beckett Bergstrom came on to kick off for the Bobcats and the Governors allowed him to come down and recover the kick. Brookings then gave Bergstrom a hand off on the next play and he worked his way into the end zone from 13 yards out. He would then make the extra point as well to make the final 42-20.
“I can’t tell you how much of a class act it was for coach [Steve] Steele to do that,” Gordon said. “You know, by no means did he need to do that.”
There will be more about Bergstrom’s story in the Beacon edition on Wednesday.
It’s been a tough season for the Bobcats, not being able to win any games so far. Brookings has just nine seniors on its team and Gordon pointed out the difference in experience between the two teams on Friday night. However, he also said that this season will pay dividends down the road for the Bobcat players.
“We’ve grown leaps and bounds from the beginning of the year until now,” Gordon said. “It comes with experience. The team across the field tonight happened to have 25 seniors, and that experience is invaluable. … We’ve gotten a little more comfortable in what we’re trying to do, but at the end of the day, we still have some young guys, and I hate saying that, but it is what it is.
“The experience part that we’re gaining along the way is going to pay dividends in the future. I know that this group of kids hate losing. They hate losing more than they like winning. There’s no quit in them ever. So, to have a year like this, where you take your lumps week in and week out, and for them to never lose faith in what we’re trying to do, it’s pretty special.”
Brookings will have its best shot at a win this upcoming Thursday as the Bobcats host another winless team in Aberdeen Central in the regular season finale. Gordon said his team will treat it like any other week, with the emphasis that this is the Bobcats’ last chance to win a game this year and they want to send the seniors off right.
“We keep it the same. We do what we do in practice week in and week out. … The boys have really responded to our coaching throughout the season, and they’ve finally come around to realizing what we’re teaching them is in their best interest. But our boys are really for that last game. I don’t want to say it’s something they had circled throughout the whole year. WE wanted to compete and win every game we’ve been in, but now that we’re at the end of the year, we know that there’s one more shot to go out there and win, especially for our seniors,” Gordon said.
Kickoff on Thursday is scheduled for 7 p.m.
