The De Smet Bulldogs made the long trip to Kadoka to play the Kougars in the quarterfinal round of the 9B playoffs on Thursday, October 27th. The Bulldogs returned home with a 20-8 victory getting them one step closer to the dome.
Britt Carlson scored on a five-yard bootleg run with 3:15 to play in the first quarter. Kaden Fast scored the two-point conversion, and De Smet led 8-0. The Bulldogs scored again on the first play of the second quarter. Carlson threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Trace Van Regenmorter to push the Bulldog lead to 14-0.
The game then turned into a defensive battle between the two teams. Neither team would score the rest of the first half giving the Bulldogs a 14-0 halftime lead. The score would remain 14-0 in favor of De Smet after the third quarter as well. The Bulldogs seemed to put the game out of reach after a four-yard touchdown run by Van Regenmorter, making the score 20-0, with 6:46 to play in the game. Kadoka scored on a 20-yard run and also converted the two-point conversion with 1:13 to play in the game. De Smet was able to run out the rest of the clock for the win.
The Bulldogs will now travel to Tulare to play the #2 seed Hitchcock/Tulare Patriots on Friday, November 4th. The winner of the game will advance to the 9B championship game.
