In their first postseason appearance in more than two decades, the Spirit Lake Indians proved they deserved to be there, taking undefeated and third-ranked South Central Calhoun to the brink before ultimately falling 13-9 in the opening round of the Class 2A playoffs Wednesday night. Following a fumble and a quick score by the Titans, Spirit Lake responded with a 73-yard drive capped by a Mitch Peschon touchdown pass to Kevin Martinson from 36 yards out for a 7-6 lead. A second opportunity to cross the goal line was denied on fourth-and-one for the Indians, but the next play resulted in a safety and the Indians led 9-6 at the break. The lone points of the second half came on the first two plays from scrimmage to start the third quarter for the Titans. From that point on South Central Calhoun’s defense forced the Indians into four consecutive punts to grab the victory. Peschon threw for 69 yards and ran for another 39 in his final football game. Luke Kabele and Cody Poock combined for 99 yards rushing. Spirit Lake’s season ends at 6-4 overall. South Central Calhoun will play next Monday against Western Christian, who defeated OA-BCIG 41-24.
Also in Class 2A, Sheldon routed JSPC 42-14 to set up a rematch with district rival Sioux Center, after the Warriors shut out fifth-ranked Kuemper Catholic 12-0 on the road.
Two area teams will duke it out for the second time in ten days next week following opening round wins in the Class 1A football playoffs. Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn scored 28 first half points on their way to a 35-7 victory at IKM-Manning. Matt Finch ran for three touchdowns on 137 yards, while Jake Treybal contributed another 157 yards on the ground with a score. As a whole the Hawks ran up 440 yards of offense. Up next for HMS is a rematch with undefeated and second-ranked Emmetsburg, who dispensed Ridge View 48-7. The EHawks racked up 479 yards on the ground and scored all their points in the first 24 minutes. Marcus Akridge had 165 yards and two touchdowns, an effort that was nearly equaled by Andrew Wellik’s 113 yards and two scores. Emmetsburg will host the second round match up on Monday, a game you will be able to hear on Y100 and live at ExploreOkoboji.com.
The other half of the Class 1A bracket saw Sibley-Ocheyedan fall 35-0 at Hinton, who will square off with West Lyon following their 41-20 defeat of Lawton-Bronson.
Other opening round football scores include Clay Central-Everly losing 12-10 at Northwood-Kensett in Class 1A. Defending 8-Man champion Armstrong-Ringsted rolled to a 56-14 win over Kingsley-Pierson. The Mustangs will next play Newell-Fonda, who defeated West Bend-Mallard 35-6. The Knights of Graettinger-Terril are into the second round following their 46-32 triumph over Remsen St. Mary’s. They advance to play Remsen-Union, which secured a 39-6 win over North Sentral Kossuth.
