On a Saturday afternoon game at the Sanford Jackrabbits Sports Complex in Brookings, the Elkton-Lake Benton Elks held on for a 24-14 win over the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals.
The defenses held strong in the first quarter as neither team could find the end zone. The Elks put a drive together late in the first quarter and scored with 11:16 to go in the second quarter. Devin Sopko scored on a four-yard run to give the Elks a 6-0 lead. Elkton-Lake Benton scored again late in the second quarter. Blaine Hefti threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Bryson Sik to give the Elks a 12-0 lead at halftime.
The St Mary Cardinals scored on their first drive of the third quarter. Eli Longville scored on a one-yard quarterback sneak with 8:52 to go in the third quarter. Luke Brown threw a halfback pass to Weston Geraets for the two point conversion, and the Cardinals cut the lead to 12-8. The Elks were able to push their lead to 10 points after scoring on the very first play of the fourth quarter. Hefti connected with Sik again, this time for an 18-yard touchdown with 11:53 to go in the game to give the Elks an 18-8 lead. The Elks scored three and a half minutes later on a one-yard run by Hefti with 8:23 to go to push the lead to 24-8. St Mary scored again with 3:52 remaining in the game when Longville threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Geraets. The two-point conversion was no good, and the Cardinals trailed 24-14. St Mary was able to get the ball back with just over 2:00 to play, but an interception by Taryn Krog sealed the win for the Elks.
St Mary (1-6) will close out their regular season on the road in Rutland. The Cardinals will face the Oldham-Ramona/Rutland Raiders on Friday, October 13th. The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media.