A West Central field goal in the final seconds gave the Trojans a 16-13 win over the Dell Rapids Quarriers in the quarterfinal round of the 11A playoffs on Thursday, October 31st at Dell Rapids High School.
The Quarriers scored first with 7:57 to go in the first quarter. Austin Henry connected with Logan Ellingson on a 57-yard touchdown pass. The extra point was blocked, and Dell Rapids led 6-0. West Central tied the game with :59 to go in the quarter on a seven yard run by Justin Zirpel. Braden Dierickx kicked the extra point to give the Trojans a 7-6 lead.
West Central extended their lead after a two-yard touchdown run by Zirpel with 2:23 to play in the second quarter. The extra point was no good, and the Trojans lead 13-6. Dell Rapids marched down the field in the final minutes of the half, and Logan Stone scored on a six-yard run with 1:02 to play in the half. Victor Knuppe mad the extra point to tie the game 13-13 heading into halftime.
The second half was a defensive battle. Neither team really threatened to score in the third quarter. The Quarrier offense got deep into West Central territory, but was held on fourth down for a turnover on downs with 7:01 to play in the game. The Trojan offense could not take advantage, and they had to punt the ball back to Dell Rapids. Again, the Quarriers drove the ball to the Trojan 25-yard line only to be stopped on fourth down, this time with 2:05 to play in the game. West Central was able to drive the ball down to the Dell Rapids 14-yard line with :05.5 seconds to play. Derek Eidsness lined up for a 30-yard field goal attempt and put the ball through the uprights with :01.7 to go in the game. Dell Rapids had one last play after the kickoff to try to put a score on the board, but the pass attempt fell incomplete for the Trojan win.
Dell Rapids finished with 260 yards of total offense, 179 passing yards and 81 rushing yards. West Central had 288 yards of total offense, 26 passing yards and 262 rushing yards. Dell Rapids was 4-12 on third down and 0-2 on fourth down and also had two turnovers.
Henry finished the game 11-23 passing for 179 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Avery Boechler had four catches for 70 yards. Ellingson had two catches for 64 yards and a touchdown. Tyler Wood had two catches for 17 yards. Coby Maeschen had one catch for 12 yards. Stone had 13 carries for 51 yards and a touchdown. Maeschen had four carries for 10 yards, and Carter Rentz had three carries for 10 yards.
Maeschen finished with 13 tackles in the game. Brayden Gee had 11 tackles. Cody Schutlz tallied 10 tackles, and Logan Ruesink and Connor Rentz had nine tackles each.
Dell Rapids has their season come to an end with an overall record of 9-1.