The Canistota Hawks (9-1) defeated the Dell Rapids St. Mary Cardinals 52-6 in the quarterfinals of the 9B South Dakota High School football playoffs on Monday, November 3rd, in Canistota.
The Hawks started the scoring with a 2-yard touchdown run by Shay Jolley on a read option early in the first quarter. After forcing the Cardinals to punt, for the second time in as many possessions, Jolley scored his second touchdown on a 5-yard run making the score 16-0 in favor of Canistota.
St. Mary started to gain a little momentum only to have two turnovers on back-to-back drives; an interception by Casey Hansen and a fumble by Josh Brown. Canistota was able to score twice more in the half on touchdowns by Jerad Nielsen (12-yard run), and Jacob Buseman’s 15-yard reception from Jolley making it 28-0 at half.
The start of the second half was much the same as the first. The Hawks came out and scored quickly in the third quarter on a 50-yard touchdown run by Nielsen and converted two-point conversion to make the score 36-0. With Canistota leading by more than 35 points, the running clock started in the second half.
Canistota got another touchdown by Buseman of 63 yards before the Cardinals were able to prevent the shut out. With 3:35 left in the game, Hansen found Zach Geraets in the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown reception. Canistota finished the scoring on a 69-yard touchdown run by backup quarterback Scott Jolley finishing the scoring at 52-6.
The Cardinals finish the season with an 8-2 record. Josh Brown broke the season rushing yardage record for the Cardinals with 1,465 yards this season. Zach Geraets tied the school record with 11 sacks on the season.
