The Dell Rapids Quarrier football team had their season come to an end on Thursday, October 26th. The St Thomas More Cavaliers upset the Quarriers in the opening round of the 11A football playoffs 21-20.
With the strong winds at their backs, the Cavaliers scored first with 3:33 to go in the first quarter on a 45-yard pass from Ryder Kirsch to Thomas Rafferty. Joe Poeppel kicked the extra point for a 7-0 St Thomas More lead. The Cavaliers then scored early in the second quarter. With 10:34 to play in the half, Kirsch connected with Rafferty again for a 24-yard touchdown. Poeppel made the extra point into the wind to give St Thomas More a 14-0 lead.
Matt Gillogly scored the first touchdown for Dell Rapids with 2:16 to play in the first half. Gillogly scored on a two-yard run. Hunter Gerry made the extra point to cut the lead in half at 14-7. St Thomas More drove the ball deep into Quarrier territory, but Eddie Price intercepted a pass at the goal line with :12.8 on the clock to keep the score 14-7 heading into halftime.
Neither team was able to put a score on the board in the third quarter, but Dell Rapids tied the game with 10:28 left in the fourth quarter after a seven-yard run by Gillogly and the extra point by Gerry. St Thomas More pushed the ball to midfield but was forced into a fourth and short. The Cavaliers went for it, and the Dell Rapids defense tackled Kirsch for a loss to get the ball back on a turnover on downs with 8:07 to play in the game.
Dell Rapids methodically marched the 50 yards in just under five minutes of clock time. Carson Rentz scored the go-ahead touchdown with 3:13 to go in the game on a one-yard quarterback sneak. Unfortunately for Dell Rapids, Gerry’s extra point attempt into the wind hit the right upright of the goalpost and was no good. The Quarriers led 20-14. After getting the ball on their own 35 yard line, the Cavaliers ran three plays, two of which were big pass plays, to get into the end zone. Kirsch hit Rafferty for 25-yards with 2:49 to play. The extra point was good by Poeppel to give St Thomas More a 21-20 lead.
The Quarriers were able to get the ball to the Cavalier 41 yard line with about 2:00 to go in the game. After a running play failed to get out of bounds on first down, Rentz spiked the ball to stop the click and bring up a 3rd down and 8 for Dell Rapids. The Quarriers next play was an incomplete pass to put the Quarriers into fourth down. The fourth down play was an incomplete pass, and the Cavaliers took over on downs with 1:29 to play in the game. St Thomas More was able to run out the clock for the win.
The Quarriers finished the game with 248 yards of total offense, 43 passing yards and 205 rushing yards. Rentz was 4-13 passing for 43 yards and an interception. Alex Kringen had three catches for 32 yards, and Adam Nagelhout had one catch for 11 yards. Gillogly had 19 carries for 98 yards and two touchdowns. Nick Boever had nine carries for 46 yards. Nagelhout had 10 carries for 38 yards. Seth Spielmann finished with five carries for 14 yards. Price had eight tackles and an interception. Gillogly finished with seven tackles. Josh Heinemann had six tackles, and Boever finished with five tackles. Andrew Hegge had a sack in the game, and Jeffrey Schuch had an interception.
The Quarrier season comes to an end with a 7-3 overall record.