After finishing runner-up six times as a football program at state, the St. Thomas More football program can finally celebrate a state championship. The Cavaliers defeated Elk Point-Jefferson 48-38 in a fun back and forth battle on Friday afternoon at the Dakota Dome in Vermillion.
St. Thomas More jumped out to a hot start, but the Huskies eventually found their groove and grabbed a second half lead. At the end it was a 90-yard halfback pass that put a stamp on the state title for St. Thomas More.
“It was a long time coming, especially for this senior class. Just really proud of their resiliency throughout the whole season. We knew it was going to be a battle, this game, and just how they dug in and played four quarters of football,” said Cavaliers head coach Austin Hagen. “I know they heard a lot of flack about being 0-6 here and we just kept telling the guys “you guys are 0-0 here in the dome, you guys weren’t 0-6,” we came out here and handled business.”
The Cavaliers got the ball first in the 11B title game and they wasted little time getting on the board. They went 51-yards in five plays, capped off by a 21-yard touchdown pass from Noah Wald to Kain McLeod. This gave St. Thomas More a 7-0 lead 91-seconds into the contest.
Elk Point-Jefferson stalled out on their first possession of the game and was forced to punt it early into their opening drive. On St. Thomas More’s next possession Wald hit Broeden Sales down the middle of the field for a 42-yard catch and score. This gave the Cavaliers a quick 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
The Huskies hit a much-needed big play to start their second drive when Beau Schmitz found a crease to break free for a 56-yard gain. A few plays later Brody Van Roekel ran it in from six-yards out to put Elk Point-Jefferson on the board. The two-point conversion was successful making it a 14-8 game.
End of the 1st Quarter | St. Thomas More 14 Elk Point-Jefferson 8
Just more than a minute into the second quarter, St. Thomas More answered with a one-yard plunge into the end zone by Grayden Juve. This capped off a ten play, 67-yard drive for the Cavs. The point after attempt was no good following the score.
Three players after the St. Thomas More touchdown, Elk Point-Jefferson answered back with a 66-yard touchdown run by Van Roekel. The two-point conversion was good to make it 20-16 in favor of the Cavs with 9:23 to play in the half.
St. Thomas More went back to work on offense and put together a drive that ate up more than five-minutes on the clock. Juve finished the ten-play drive with a 15-yard touchdown run that he bounced outside of the defensive push.
The Huskies would eat up most of the clock in the half on their next possession going 80-yards over eleven plays. Aiden Hammitt ran it in with 19-seconds to go from five-yards out. The two-point conversion pass was successful.
Halftime | St. Thomas More 27 Elk Point-Jefferson 24
Elk Point-Jefferson started the second half with the football. Three-minutes into the drive, Levi Hanson hit Hammitt for a 67-yard touchdown – just the second pass attempted in the game for the Huskies. This gave Elk Point-Jefferson their first lead of the game at 30-27 after a failed two-point conversion.
St. Thomas More would re-take a 34-30 lead with 4:45 to play in the third quarter, courtesy of a one-yard run by Josh Edler. In total, STM went 63-yards in ten plays for the drive.
The Cavaliers would get the ball back three plays later when Brody Lee intercepted a Hanson pass with a 21-yard return to set St. Thomas More up with good field position. Two plays after the turnover, Wald hit Broeden Sales for a 17-yard touchdown. This extended the Cavaliers late in the third quarter to 41-30.
End of the 3rd Quarter | St Thomas More 41 Elk Point-Jefferson 30
Elk Point-Jefferson would cut the deficit to three-points after Hanson finished a 73-yard drive with a one-yard tush push keeper. This occurred with about ten-minutes remaining in the game.
The Huskies defense came up big on the following possession, forcing the Cavaliers into their first three-and-out of the game.
On the first play of their next drive, Elk Point-Jefferson got a huge gain with Cooper Sales breaking free down the sideline for a 61-yard run. From there, St. Thomas More’s defense tightened up and forced the Huskies into a turnover on downs with 3:30 to play.
The Cavaliers then went into their bag of tricks and drew up a halfback pass by McLeod to Sales that went 90-yards to the end zone. This gave St. Thomas More a 48-38 lead.
Needing a quick couple scores, the Huskies went back to work on offense. But, disaster struck a few plays into it as Luke Schmitz fumbled the ball on a carry, which was recovered by Lee to give the Cavs the ball back late with a two-score lead.
After a few plays to get one more first down, it was victory formation and celebration time for St. Thomas More.
Final | St. Thomas More 48 Elk Point-Jefferson 38
St. Thomas More receiver Broeden Sales, who was named the outstanding back in the game, had 167-yards receiving and three-touchdowns. His catch yardage broke the record for receiving yards in an 11B state championship game. The previous record was held by Curtis Hillerud of Sioux Valley (162) back in 1988.
Cavaliers quarterback Noah Wald passed for 203 yards and three touchdowns in the game as well. He was honored with the Joe Robbie MVP award.
“It’s a great group. I wouldn’t rather be playing for any other team in the world right now. We all helped each other get to this point. It was all a team effort. If we didn’t have the team and great coaching staff around us, we wouldn’t have been able to do this,” said Wald. “It feels great. We always said we’d do it for ourselves, do it for our team, but in reality, we’re doing it for Rapid City, doing it for our school, and everyone else who supports us.”
Coach Hagen also commented on calling in the halfback pass that put the game out of reach in the late portion of the fourth quarter.
“It's something we had success on earlier in the year,” said Hagen with a smile. “We knew they were going to bring the house and blitz and it was going to be there. Kain [McLeod] is a former quarterback and Broeden [Sales] did an awesome job of setting it up, and we knew we were going to be able to execute it.”
The saying ‘always the bridesmaid but never the bride’ has now changed for the St. Thomas More as the Cavaliers can finally call themselves state champions in football.
Outstanding Lineman | Brody Lee (St. Thomas More)
Outstanding Back | Broeden Sales (St. Thomas More)
Joe Robbie MVP | Noah Wald (St. Thomas More)
